Whether you’re trying to reach a personal fitness target or want to travel across the world, a detailed plan is the main factor that determines whether you reach your business goal or not — when it comes to business, an effective business plan determines its success and future potential.
But before you write a good business plan, it’s important to understand what the objective of a plan is. A clear and well-defined business plan will cover all the important milestones when you start your business and acts as a blueprint on which you can build, monitor, reflect and improve.
With that in mind, here are 5 questions every effective business plan should answer:
1) What Does Your Business Do?
This question is not as simple as it may seem. You need to really zero in on your niche so that customers know what to expect from your service. For example, let’s say you’re a tree surgeon looking to provide a standard tree-surgery service: pruning, hazard assessments, etc. But later you realize you’re capable of landscaping and designing gardens which could attract a bigger customer base and increase your profits. You have to now adjust your stance from “Tree Surgery Service” to something like, “Garden Designer and Tree Care”. Be clear in your definition in order to tap into your market effectively.
2) Do You Know Your Customers?
Imagine that a filmmaker was assigned to pitch a script to a studio. He wrote the script with expletives and violence galore, only to realize it was supposed to be a PG-rated movie. The studios will not be giving the green light to his hard work and instead, he’ll have to return to his desk to start over.
In business, if you don’t know who your target audience is, you’re in trouble. You’ll be left with a shelved product because you’re not calling out the right names! Knowing your market can help you tailor your design and product development to align with their specific wants and needs. Understanding your customers will also help you fine-tune your marketing strategy so that you “speak to them” in their voice. Always run a thorough marketing research strategy as you can never know too much about your customer.
3) How Will You Target Your Customers?
Unlike yesteryear, contemporary businesses can reach out to their customers in a variety of ways. Your business plan should outline the various marketing strategies and mediums through which you’ll reach out to your customers. You have an endless amount of options, including websites, social media (start-ups can get significant traction from social media campaigns), newspaper ads, billboards, signs, and posters.
Even if you’re a brick and mortar company, you should be utilizing social media and the internet to digitally “display your shop sign”. For instance, people use platforms like Gumtree and Yelp because they’re relevant to their local area, and will most likely be seeking local services.