The next section, themarketing plan, gets into the details of what your business offers and what market it serves. Marketing is the communication of how your products and services "ease customer pain." Show the problem and how your business solves it. Marketing is a necessity for every business because once your doors are open, you must invite customers to come in. Everything you do in your business that affects customers is marketing because it sends a message about your company.
Every Business Needs a Plan _ Without a plan, there is little hope for growth, let alone survival. As my small business development counselor, Terry Chambers says, "If it's not written, it's not real." That doesn't mean it's unchangeable, but it does show that you mean business. In order to accomplish your strategies of improving efficiency, increasing volume, and reorganizing your business, you've got to examine what you have, what you want, and how you plan to get there.
Another key element to the marketing section of your business plan is an outline of your marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics. Writing down the avenues you travel in order to market your business will afford you the opportunity to record what worked and what didn't work. You must be able to measure and calculate the results of your marketing efforts, otherwise, what's the point? If you don't know if something is working for or against you, then it's working against you.
The financial statements section should show the way things are now if you have an existing business, as well as a forward look at your checking account, or projected income statement. The only way a start_up company can provide an income statement and balance sheet is by projecting these figures based upon well defined assumptions. Both start_ups and existing businesses should include a statement of owner's equity.