Business Plans and Marketing Plans for Small Business

Create a clear plan for starting, financing, managing, and growing your business with our downloadable, fully customizable Business Plan and Marketing Plan templates.

Whether you are starting a new small business, expanding an existing company, seeking financing, or preparing to take advantage of a new business opportunity, a well-prepared business plan can help you turn an idea into a practical and achievable business strategy.

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a written description of a business, its objectives, and the strategies and resources it will use to achieve those objectives.

A good business plan helps you:

• explain what your business does and what it intends to achieve;
• identify your products or services and target customers;
• assess your market and competitors;
• establish realistic business goals and objectives;
• develop strategies for operating and growing the business;
• identify the people, equipment, financing, and other resources required;
• anticipate potential challenges and opportunities; and
• establish a practical roadmap for the future of the business.

In simple terms, a business plan answers three fundamental questions:

1. Where is the business now?
2. Where does it want to go?
3. How will it get there?

Why Do You Need a Business Plan?

One of the most common reasons for preparing a business plan is to obtain financing.

If you are approaching a commercial lender, an investor, a business partner, or other source of funding, you may need to demonstrate that you have a realistic understanding of the business opportunity and a credible plan for achieving your objectives.

A business plan can help explain:

• how the business will make money;
• who its customers will be;
• what products or services it will provide;
• how it will compete in its market;
• what startup or expansion costs it will incur;
• how much financing it requires;
• how borrowed or invested funds will be used; and
• how the business expects to generate revenue and become financially sustainable.

A well-prepared plan does not guarantee that a bank or investor will provide funding. It does, however, give potential lenders a structured way to evaluate the business and the opportunity being presented to them.

A Business Plan Is More Than a Financing Document.

A business plan should not be prepared solely because a bank or investor has requested one. For the business owner, it is an important planning and management tool.

Writing the plan forces you to think through important questions before committing substantial time or money. It can reveal weaknesses in a business concept, identify opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked, and help you establish priorities.

A business plan can also help keep business owners, managers, employees, and other members of the business team focused on and working toward the same objectives by putting them down in writing.

As the business develops, the plan should be reviewed and updated to reflect changing circumstances, new opportunities, financial results, and changing business goals.

What Should a Business Plan Include?

The exact contents of a business plan will depend on the nature and size of the business, but a comprehensive plan commonly addresses matters such as:

• Executive summary — a brief, concise overview of the business and its objectives.
• Business description — information about the business, its corporate structure, activities, products, or services.
• Mission and objectives — what the business intends to accomplish and the goals it has established.
• Market analysis — information about the industry as a whole, market conditions, customers, competitors, and opportunities.
• Products and services — what the business sells or intends to sell and the value it provides to customers.
• Marketing and sales strategy — how the business intends to reach customers and generate revenues.
• Operations — how the business will function on a day-to-day basis.
• Management and organization — the people who are (or will be) responsible for operating the business and their roles.
• Financial information and projections — expected revenues, expenses, financing requirements, and financial performance.
• Implementation strategy — the steps and priorities required to put the plan into action.

Not every business plan needs to be lengthy. The objective is to create a useful, credible plan that is appropriate for the business and its intended purpose.

Business Plans for Startups and Existing Businesses

A business plan can be useful at virtually any stage of a business.

1. Starting a New Business

For a startup, a business plan can help turn a business idea into a practical plan of action. It can help the prospective owner evaluate the market, identify customers, estimate startup costs, determine financing requirements, and establish realistic objectives.

2. Expanding an Existing Business

An established business can use a business plan when considering expansion, opening another location, introducing new products or services, entering a new market, purchasing equipment, hiring additional employees, or seeking additional financing.

3. Evaluating a Business Opportunity

A business plan can also be used to test whether a proposed business opportunity makes commercial sense before significant resources are committed.

The process of preparing the plan may identify assumptions that need to be tested, costs that have been underestimated, or market conditions that require further investigation.

What is a Marketing Plan?

A marketing plan is a written strategy for promoting a business, its products or services, and its brand to its target market.

While the business plan addresses the business as a whole, the marketing plan concentrates specifically on how the business will attract, reach, convert, and retain customers.

A marketing plan can address:

• the business's target market;
• customer needs and buying behaviour;
• market positioning;
• competitors and competitive advantages;
• pricing strategy;
• advertising and promotion;
• online and offline marketing channels;
• social media and content marketing;
• sales strategies;
• marketing objectives; and
• methods for measuring marketing performance.

How a Marketing Plan Works With a Business Plan

The business plan and marketing plan serve different purposes, but they should work together.

The business plan establishes the overall direction of the business, including its objectives, operations, finances, and growth strategy.

The marketing plan explains how the business intends to reach its market and generate the sales necessary to support those objectives.

For example, a business plan might establish an objective of expanding sales into a particular market. The marketing plan would then identify the target customers, competitive positioning, promotional methods, sales channels, and marketing activities that will be used to pursue that objective.

Together, the two plans provide a more complete picture of what the business intends to accomplish and how it intends to attract the customers needed to accomplish it.

Business Plans for Canadian Small Businesses

A business plan can be particularly valuable for Canadian entrepreneurs and small business owners who are starting a new enterprise or seeking to grow an existing one.

Canadian businesses operate in a diverse marketplace, and the appropriate business strategy will depend on factors such as the industry, location, target customers, competition, financing requirements, and business structure.

Our Business Plan and Marketing Plan templates provide a practical starting point that you can customize with your own business information, objectives, market research, strategies, and financial information.

Use a Business Plan as a Working Document

Your business plan should NOT be something you write once and then put away. Canadian businesses in particular understand how quickly the market can change—business conditions, customer expectations, competitors, costs, opportunities, barriers, technology—all of these factors are subject to change, sometimes within days.

Reviewing and updating your business plan periodically allows it to remain useful as a working roadmap for the business.

The same applies to your marketing plan. Marketing strategies that work today may not produce the same results tomorrow, so your marketing activities and priorities should be reviewed as your business and market develop.

Start Planning Your Business

Whether you are preparing to launch a new business, looking for additional operating or expansion capital, or developing a new marketing strategy, a well-organized plan can help you make better-informed business decisions.

Our fully customizable Business Plan and Marketing Plan templates give you an affordable, practical starting point for documenting your business strategy and putting your plans into a professional format.

Download a template, add your business-specific information, and develop a plan that reflects your business, your market, your objectives, and your strategy for achieving them.