The Business Plan column is back! We’re picking up from where we left off, launching into your Marketing Plan. To refresh what was previously covered, you can pull up previous columns on:

* Why You Should Write the Business Plan Yourself: Issue I
* Motivation to Start Writing Today: Issue II
* Knowing Your Plan’s Purpose: Issue III
* Your Business Description: Issue IV
* Your Products & Services: Issue V

Let’s jump in!

After detailing the products and services you will provide, it’s now time to starting the Marketing Section of your business plan. “Market” is one of those tricky nouns that actually have a number of different meanings. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary outlines four definitions: “1. a regular gathering for the purchase and sale of food, livestock, or other commodities. 2. an outdoor space or large hall where vendors sell their goods. 3. a particular area of commercial or competitive activity. 4. demand for a particular commodity or service”.

You can see already that the Marketing Section of your business plan is going to have to cover a lot of ground!

I think the section should include information about the following “markets” for your business:

1. The group of consumers to whom you want to sell your product or service (“target market”), in other words, who are the people and/or businesses who will buy from you? Since there are now so many ways that a customer can learn about your business and purchase from you (online, telephone, fax, etc.), most of the time when someone asks “Who is your target market?” she is asking you to identify your customer base.

2. Your geographical environment (what is it like where your business is located/operates?) Traditionally, it refers to the geographical environment in which you operate your business. For example, if I have a clothing store on 80th Street and 3rd Avenue in New York City , I could say that my market is the “Upper East Side” neighborhood of Manhattan.

3. What is the state of your industry? Is there a flurry of business activity and growth, such as in nanotechnology or the healthcare sector? Has there been a decline or stagnation in growth, such as for many video rental businesses?

4. What is going on with your competition? Is there fierce competition or very little? Who is your competition?

In upcoming issues we will go into each of these subsections of the marketing plan in detail. In the interim, keep jotting down your observations and notes. Remember, writing a business plan is an organic process. You think of an idea, check out to see if your idea matches reality, and then tweak your plan accordingly.