Business planning is all about developing strategies for whatever your business may face. This will include distribution, pricing and promotion strategies that, if you’re prepared, can help you pull ahead of the competition.
Your distribution strategy
You’ll need to assess your company’s distribution capabilities. Include the results of your assessment in the company description portion of your business plan. In your marketing plan — and briefly in the marketing strategy section of your business plan — describe how distribution supports your marketing goals and objectives.
Your pricing strategy
One of the decisions most crucial to business success involves pricing your products. You need to arrive at prices that cover all costs and deliver a reasonable profit margin, while also hitting the sweet spot of what customers are willing to pay for the value they believe they receive from the purchase.
To get your pricing right, you need to match your prices to the image of your business and the nature of your clientele (you can’t charge premium prices if you’ve established your business as a middle-of-the-road option), while also covering your production and operational costs and delivering the profits necessary for your business survival.
After spending time developing your pricing approach, design your pricing strategy that you’ll summarize in the marketing strategy section of your business plan.
Your promotion strategy
The description of your promotion strategy tells how you’ll communicate your marketing message to prospective customers.
In your marketing plan, provide a complete outline of your promotion strategy, including a detailed description of your target customer, your market area, your marketing message, the creative approach you’ll use to convey your message and advance your brand image, the media channels you’ll employ to reach prospective customers, and the budget you’ve allocated to get the job done.
In the marketing section of your business plan, summarize your promotion strategy, taking care to describe how it supports the product, pricing, and distribution strategies your business will follow over the business plan period.
When appropriate, include samples of marketing materials (letterhead, business cards, website screens, brochures, and so on) in the appendix of your business plan. Samples aren’t necessary, but if you have professionally produced materials that contribute to a good, strong image of your company, their inclusion in your plan will contribute to the favorable impression that readers take away from your business plan.