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Bankruptcy InformationThe Marketing Plan and the Four P’s
by:
Dave Lavinsky
The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a institution wish penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include “the four P’s” – Product, Promotions, Price, and Place.
Products and/or Services
The 1st “P” stands for Product, but includes all products and services that the institution offers. This section of the business plan should detail all the features of the products and services, how they work, their unique/proprietary attributes, etc. For products that are proprietary
and/or technical in nature, drawings and backup materials should be bestowed in the Appendix.
Most growing companies offer certain products and services now but expect to offer much in the future. It is important to mention some
current and futurity products/services here, but to focus primarily on the short-to-intermediate term horizon.
Promotions
Promotions include each of the activities that induce a client to buy the company’s products and services. Promotional activities could include advertising, public relations (PR), free samples, discounts, direct mail, telemarketing, partnerships, etc.
This section of the business plan discusses which promotions wish be used and how they wish be used. For instance, if partnerships wish be used to secure new customers, the plan must explain which companies are partners, how they wish be able to provide new customers, how the partnership wish activity (from operational/ fiscal standpoints), etc.
This section must be as specific as possible, particularly as it relates to discussing futurity promotions. To say that a institution is going to generate PR in trade magazines is just too vague. Rather, the plan must explain the type of article/feature that may be written just about the firm and why, which specific trade journals that wish be targeted and/or the projected publication dates.
In discussing how the institution wish promote itself, it is important to discuss how the institution wish position itself. This positioning statement details the attributes that customers wish assign to the company, its products and services. The select of promotional activities must keep this positioning. For example, discounts mightiness not be consistent with a desire to be considered an upmarket
brand.
Price
This section of the plan should detail the cost point(s) at which the company’s products and services wish be sold. If the products/ services are oversubscribed as bundles, these should be elaborate in this section. Principle for the evaluation should be given once
applicable (e.g., why the institution has chosen an initiation fee plus monthly membership fees versus a one-time life membership fee).
Place
The final “P” refers to “Place” or “Distribution” and explains how a company’s products and/or services wish be delivered to customers. This section is crucial because if customers cannot access products and services, they cannot purchase them.
This section is especially critical for high-growth, capital-constrained companies. Attaining profit-effective distribution channels is often the most vexing challenge for these businesses. Examples of distribution methods include retail locations, website, distributors, wholesalers, direct mail catalogs, etc.
Many companies have multiple distribution methods to deliver their products and services to customers and each should be elaborate here.
Detailing the “the four P’s” in the marketing plan is critical in proving to investors that your institution wish be able to expeditiously and effectively penetrate its market.
Just just about the author:
GT Business Plans has developed over 200 business plans for clients that have jointly raised over $750 million in financing, launched many
new product and service lines and gained competitive advantage and market share. GT Business Plans is the sister site of GT Venture Capital
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