How to Write a Business Plan

ChApter 8 | WRITE YOUR MARKETING AND PERSONNEL PLANS | 147

Antoinette’s Dress Shop:

Marketing Budget

Preopening promotion

1. Mail 10,000 pieces announcing
   grand opening $ 5,000


2. Advertisement in New City
   Monthly, one month (including
   graphics) 500


3. Publicity from papers, New City
   Monthly, no cost—but much
   time to write articles and contact
   editors 0
   Total preopening costs $ 5,500
   Monthly advertising


4. Newsletter every two months to
   mailing list—approximate cost
   per month $ 650


5. Monthly column in daily paper,
   no cost—but time to write
   column 0


6. Advertising for sale every three
   months, estimated monthly 250


7. Join service clubs, estimated
   monthly lunch and membership
   fees 100
   Total monthly cost $ 1,000

Despite Antoinette’s well-thought-
out marketing plan, her original budget
allowed nothing for an opening promotion
and $1,000 per month for ongoing
advertising. She could, however, decide
to take some of the $15,000 contingency
and use it for preopening promotions. It
looks like Antoinette needs to make some

hard choices about which marketing tools

to drop and by how much to increase the

marketing budget. We’ll leave her now

to solve that problem in peace and quiet

while we move along to the next step.

If you’re in the same predicament,

take your time to balance costs and

effectiveness the best you can, and then

move ahead to the next step.

Write Your Marketing Plan

By now, you have asked some tough

questions and faced some critical issues.

You may wish to combine the major points

of the exercises into a summary narrative,

or you may wish to present the results of

each exercise independently.

If you summarize the work into a

narrative, your plan will read more easily

and look more professional. However,

the potential downside to combining the

answers into a narrative format is that

you may inadvertently leave out a point

of major interest to your backers. If you

do elect to combine the answers into

a narrative, be careful to cover all the

points in each exercise. Use Antoinette’s

marketing plan as a guide.

Discuss the Risks Facing

Your Business

Every business faces risks. The people

whom you will ask for money will want

to see that you can not only face reality

but also deal with possible diffi culties.