146 | HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN
for a moment and think about it. Ask
yourself these questions:
- How much money do i need for an
opening promotion? I suggest that you
allow enough money to tell all your
target customers one time that you are
open for business. If you tell them all
once, they can decide when to come
see you. And if you have designed
your business so that it truly addresses
a customer need and is different from
the competition, your target customers
will be very alert to your opening. Even
if they don’t see your first message, they
will hear about you by word of mouth.
If your opening promotion plan
exceeds your budget, you’ll need to go
back and revise your Capital Spending
Plan to allow for the promotional
expense. If that’s your situation,
complete this chapter, then go back to
Chapter 7 and revise the cash totals. - Are my methods of promotion cost-
effective? Once you’ve estimated the
cost of reaching all your target customers
with the first message, compare that
cost with the amount of money in your
budget. Your job is to get the most
exposure for the least outlay. Making that
final decision may mean that you have
to refine your promotion cost estimates
from rough guesses into bids and quotes
from suppliers. Normally, unless you’re
really unsure of promotional costs, you
shouldn’t take the time to obtain those
quotes for now. Just balance your wish
list against your budget to develop your
marketing plan.- Have i allowed enough money in my
monthly expense budget for ongoing
advertising and promotion? Take a
look at the advertising expenses you
forecast in the Profit and Loss Forecast
in Chapter 6. If that amount needs
changing, you’ll need to change both
your Profit and Loss Forecast and the
Cash Flow Forecast (Chapter 7). If that’s
your situation, do it after you complete
this chapter. But, if you’re not sure
about how much money to allow for
monthly advertising and promotion, go
back and reread the discussion about
advertising in Chapter 6, “Complete
Your Profit and Loss Forecast” line 4d,
“Marketing and Advertising.”
To create a marketing plan, start by
listing each of the promotional items you
decided on for your preopening promotion
together with their costs. Then add up the
preopening promotional costs and fill in the
total.
Next, list each of the promotional items
you plan to use during the first two years
of your business together with the monthly
cost of each.
Those two groups of specific actions
and costs, preopening promotion and
monthly marketing, advertising, and pro-
mo tional costs, will become the blue print
for your marketing plan.