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The one or two page executive summary is the most important part of your business plan because it offers an overview and briefly summarizes the overall plan for your business. According to Joanne Cleaver, the executive summary “highlights the market need and market opportunity and how you plan to take advantage of that opportunity” (64). It’s the first impression when potential financial backers ask to see what you’re about in writing.

Even though it is the opening pages of your business plan, you should write it last so that you can include a strong summary of your overall plan.

For established businesses include the following:

• Mission Statement
• Company Information
• Growth Highlights
• Your Products/Services
• Financial Information
• Summary of Future Plans

New businesses should focus on experience, background, and a thorough understanding of your place in the market, along with projections for your growth potential.

Resources:

Cleaver, Joanne. Starting a Business: An Easy, Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Barnes and Noble Books: New York (2003).

Pinson, Linda. “Anatomy of a Business Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Business and Securing Your Company’s Future,” 7th Edition. Out of Your Mind . .. and Into the Marketplace, California (2008).

SBA.gov – “Create Your Business Plan: Executive Summary” – http://www.sba.gov/content/business-plan-executive-summary

A mission statement, a few short and sweet sentences that capture the heart and soul of your business, is vital to your organizational philosophy, as well as the overall business plan its entirety. A mission statement includes your business goals and offers a first glance to others about what your business is about and stands for.

Resources:

Cleaver, Joanne. Starting a Business: An Easy, Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Barnes and Noble Books: New York (2003).

Entrepreneur.com. “Starting a Business: How to Write Your Mission Statement.” http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230. October 30, 2003.

Before you get down to the task of drafting your business plan, you need to know a business plan’s major building blocks. A business plan, whether small and simple or long and highly detailed, has basic, distinct parts, which include the following:

• Mission Statement – a few short and sweet sentences that capture the heart and soul of your business, is vital to your organizational philosophy, as well as the overall business plan its entirety.
• Executive Summary – one or two page overview that briefly summarizes the overall plan for your business.
• Business / Company Description
• Business Growth Strategy
• Marketing Analysis / Strategy / Marketing & Sales
• Plan of Operations / Organization
• Service or Product Line
• Financial Statements / Projections
• Management Team

Resources:

Cleaver, Joanne. Starting a Business: An Easy, Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Barnes and Noble Books: New York (2003).

Small Business Association. “Create Your Business Plan” http://www.sba.gov/writing-business-plan

Tiffany, Paul and Peterson, Steven, “Business Plans for Dummies,” 2nd Edition, Wiley Publishing, Inc., New Jersey (2005).

A business plan primarily serves two purposes: (1) planning tool and (2) required document to present to potential lenders for financial backing.

Did you know that one of the major reasons a business fails is because the owner lacked a well-thought out business plan or did not have one at all? A business plan is like a road map or blueprint: it’s your design for where you plan to go with your business to make it profitable.

A business plan is when you put your ideas, goals, and strategies in writing and determine whether or not you have a viable business venture. It helps keep you focused on your short and long term goals. Like any writing exercise, the act of writing a business plan forces you to brainstorm about the current and future plans for your business. Additionally, a business plan is necessary if you plan to seek funding from outside resources.

We understand that more likely than not you are an expert in what you are in business for; however, that does not necessarily translate into good business planning skills. That’s what we’re here for at Dvercity, Inc. We can help you with the administrative side of doing business. Don’t wait until you are under pressure to produce a business plan to get one done. Go ahead and get your business in order today!

How? Download our free template for starters and then we can help you with the developmental editing/writing process. Only you know your business best so we have designed the template to prompt you to think about all the different aspects of your business. Our job is to revise and polish your business plan into a professional, finished product worthy of any presentation.

Click here to learn about 10 traditional lending institutions.

Click here to learn about 20 successful start-up businesses.

Click here to learn about venture capital and other ways to raise capital for your business.

Resources:

Berry, Tim. “The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan,” Entrepreneur Media Inc. (2008).

Cleaver, Joanne. Starting a Business: An Easy, Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Barnes and Noble Books: New York (2003).

Pinson, Linda. “Anatomy of a Business Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Business and Securing Your Company’s Future,” 7th Edition. Out of Your Mind . .. and Into the Marketplace, California (2008).

Tiffany, Paul and Peterson, Steven, “Business Plans for Dummies,” 2nd Edition, Wiley Publishing, Inc., New Jersey (2005).

According to Joanne Cleaver, “a business plan defines your business, and also serves as your road map to success,” which means that a business plan is where you should write down the plan for your business so that you can stay on track to complete the tasks necessary to start and maintain your business and to reach your goals.

Resources:

Cleaver, Joanne. Starting a Business: An Easy, Smart Guide to Starting Your Own Business. Barnes and Noble Books: New York (2003).

Business plans are important and essential to your business’s well-being. Living documents, business plans are designed to be a planning tool for your business, as well as a professional, informative document to present to potential lenders. Once written, they should not be buried among your books and other documents. Business plans are meant to be used. They should be revised as you revise your ideas, plans, and goals.

What is a Business Plan?

Why Do You Need a Business Plan?

There are steps to the business planning process that can ease the headache of this sometimes daunting task.

• Brainstorming – What is your business idea?
• Information gathering – Check out our free template

Resources:

Berry, Tim. “The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan,” Entrepreneur Media Inc. (2008).

Pinson, Linda. “Anatomy of a Business Plan: The Step-by-Step Guide to Building Your Business and Securing Your Company’s Future,” 7th Edition. Out of Your Mind . .. and Into the Marketplace, California (2008).

Tiffany, Paul and Peterson, Steven, “Business Plans for Dummies,” 2nd Edition, Wiley Publishing, Inc., New Jersey (2005).

In 2013, Patrick Spenner wrote about the top ten marketing trends for 2014. How have they changed in the last year? His buzz words included “big data. Cloud. Mobile. Trust. Direct delivery. Quantified Self. Crowdfunding.”

Kissmetrics.com wrote an article titled “The Future of Content Marketing: Trends and Predictions for 2014,” which discusses how marketers may have gone overboard with “content is king.” “According to a 2012 study by AOL and Nielsen, 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared every day.” Wow! The article talks about how more is not necessarily better and that quality should be the ultimate driving force. When it comes to content marketing, social media, newsletters, and blogs are the leaders; however, the focus may change to not just producing as much content as possible, but insuring that the content is relevant to the intended target — the consumer.

NFIB.com discusses 2014 marketing trends with ideas to boost sales such as reviews, visual appeal, and social scale-back. Marketing is shifting back to basics and just like all politics is local, so is marketing.

In Entrepreneur’s article, “The Hottest Marketing Trends for 2008: Learn about the hottest new marketing trends plus the best ways to increase sales in 2008,” Kim T. Gordon discusses how marketers must embrace new technologies to keep up with the changing trends. She discusses the shift from traditional to “alternative” media (or new media), which includes online and mobile advertising. Interactive marketing is also growing. Gordon writes that “interactive encompasses new marketing channels such as e-mail and search marketing, online video ads and social media. Mobile marketing, also a form of interactive media, is getting hotter as consumers become increasingly comfortable using personal computing handsets. Other emerging channels, including game marketing, podcasts and RSS feeds.”

To read the article on the Web, click here.

MarketingProfs and Forrester Research conducted an interesting study about “B-to-B Marketing in 2008: Trends in Strategies and Spending.” Marketers face a variety of issues from year to year and must address last year’s issues because the same issues can impact their marketing efforts in 2008. New media is gaining traction because of the continued advancement of Internet technology. The report shows that “new media serve multiple purposes within the marketing structure — primarily in product marketing, corporate communications and field marketing — while traditional tactics have, for the most part, continued to serve more traditional branding and advertising needs.”

As marketing professionals we must realize that the future lies in the world wide web and advancing technologies. Can we rise to the everchanging challenge of the marketplace? In the research study, they asked about “the tactics they use to impact several areas within marketing–including lead generation, communication of key messages, and brand awareness.”

Click here to access the report on the Web.

Resources:

Executiveboard.com – “10 Marketing Trends for 2013 You Haven’t Heard”

Forbes.com – “2014 Marketing Trends You Probably Haven’t Heard”

Kissmetrics.com – The Future of Content Marketing: Trends and Predictions for 2014″

NFIB.com – “Top Marketing Trends for 2014: 11 hot ideas to boost your sales in the coming year”

We have started a new blog and hope you like the new format. Our plan is to focus and provide a detailed analysis of different aspects of business, marketing, and communications.