Small Business Blog

What information should be included in my plan?  The table of contents for a complete marketing plan should look something like this:

1. Executive Summary

2. Mission

3. Opportunity Overview

a. Product Description

b. Target Market

c. Consumer Research

4. Competitive Landscape

a. Industry/Market Description

b. Competition

c. Gap Analysis

d. S.W.O.T. Analysis

5. Marketing Strategies

a. Product

b. Pricing

c. Promotions

d. Place (Distribution)

6. Marketing Objectives

a. Objectives

b. Benchmarks

c. Measuring Progress

7. Budgets

Before getting started…

In the sections of this article that follow, we will walk through each of the above items in a similar format. First, I will define the item and what it entails. Then I will note the information you need to collect, if any. Next, I will discuss the questions you need to ask before you begin writing. Finally, for most sections I will provide a condensed example of the finished section. The Executive Summary is easiest to write last, so we will cover that after the Budgets section.  As you go through the writing process, you may decide that certain topics aren’t applicable to your business. If this happens, keep the topic in your plan and make a few notes as to why it isn’t applicable. This keeps you from skipping over topics and forgetting about them.

Note: Examples included are based on a fictitious company called KidsWorld. The company’s goal is to launch a kid-safe Web site that would initially offer a membership-based, user-friendly search engine designed to help elementary and middle school students with their homework. Over time, the site would add more services, such as instant messaging among members, personal profiles, games, and lifestyle content.