Business Plan Writer Archives - Page 2 of 2

Creativity is Critical to a Marketing and Business Strategy

I am sure each of you has had at least one conversation about what led to a successful business … or why a particular business failed. What makes some startups work and others fail? Obviously, the answer is multi-faceted, with no single reason. I would propose that of all the contributing factors as to why a business survives, there is no more important skill that the management team’s creativity in defining and modifying their business plan, and how they use creativity to execute upon it.

A sound business plan strategy is to choose to excel at either being the low cost, high service or best product provider. But, once a direction has been chosen, it all then depends upon execution of the plan. And, as we all know, unexpected surprises will occur, sometimes even requiring a new strategic direction, product or market. It is the creativity on how these decisions are evaluated and pursued that separates those companies that survive and thrive versus those that don’t.

Creativity is a difficult characteristic to measure or evaluate. The question of whether or not one is creative is often known but seldom fully understood. Willingness to think “outside of the box” is a reasonable description, pointing to an ability to consider new paths previously not considered.

Creativity actually takes a far larger role in our life’s direction, often without our even really realizing it. For example, two identical individuals may both face the same challenge. The creative person may see a different solution that in actuality leads to a positive outcome. The other person may simply not have the vision to see the better solution, so instead takes a different path that is harmful to their personal or family’s future. The irony is that the person in the latter scenario may never learn of the missed opportunity.

How do you rank in creativity? How do you know what you might not know? Perhaps you should try to test your creativity, to see which person you are most like … the one that say the opportunity, or the one that missed it. Next time you are faced with a challenge or “life decision” that doesn’t seem to be all that great, take a perspective that there is a positive outcome – you may simply not see it yet … keep looking to challenge your creativity to see a new perspective that could actually lead to greater success.

Creativity will help you articulate a business plan better, to then have greater success in getting your plan funded. Those with greater creativity will have better success running their business or pursuing their careers. Without creativity, even the best product, service or pricing can only take you so far.

The good news is that, with practice, creativity is a skill that can be expanded upon. But, it takes effort, it may be uncomfortable, and it may take a little more time. But, the sweet taste of success will make it all worthwhile.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

Why Write a Business Plan?

This is a topic that inevitably comes up once an entrepreneur comes up with a new idea and already has a clear vision of what a company might look like to address this market need. The question is whether it makes sense to actually write a business plan if you already have a good understanding of what to do. If you have a strong understanding of the industry and a great idea for a new business, one might argue there is little benefit to write down what you already know in your head. And, if you plan on being self-funded, there is no investor audience you need to speak to … maybe your time would be better spent focusing on actually starting the business?

These are all important considerations, especially if you are very busy, so would have to incur a cost to hire a business plan writer to accomplish the task.

My response would be that there is a very important benefit you gain when going through the process of writing a business plan – it forces you to think about the critical details, any one of which might cause you considerable pain if left unaddressed. The critical benefit of writing a business plan is that it forces you to think about exactly how you will start your business, how you will position your value and segment your audience in your marketplace in a unique way that actually resonates well. In other words, by putting the words on paper and discussing your ideas with others, you can flush out your concept into an actual plan that can then be executed.

Let me give you an example. Let’s imagine that you want to start a party balloons business that provides decorative balloons for all sorts of events, both big and small. In your mind, you know balloons and the competition. You start in your garage and begin handing out flyers throughout your neighborhood. How do you know you have identified the best market segment to serve? How long have your competitors been in business, and what are their margins? How seasonal is your business? What is your five year profitability plan? Without a formal plan, you might not spend the time to think about these types of questions. And, if you don’t put these types of issues down on paper, how will you know if you are on track to achieve your objectives? These are the sorts of questions that might not readily come to mind unless you actually go through the process of writing a business plan.

And, if your competitor does go through this process and you don’t, then they might be in a better position for long term survival.

Only after taking the time to dig deep into what your business can become do you have any chance of actually growing it into something that can actually achieve and exceed your wildest dreams. Question such as what types of customers might you reasonably expect to draw? And, from an income and expense perspective, how sensitive are your suppliers and cost of goods sold? What happens if costs increase by ten percent? Will this make your profits disappear? If so, wouldn’t you want to know this fact before you started your business?

It is this “digging deep” philosophy that can make the difference between your business undergoing a slow and painful death, or to survive and thrive, based on the careful review you have already performed by holding yourself accountable by putting your plan in writing. It is amazing what commitment can be achieve when the process of simply putting something down in a printed or digital format. There is a sense of obligation once such a document has been prepared, which then becomes your roadmap for success. If you hire a writer to help guide you on this journey, you will hold yourself even more accountable to what is agreed upon in the plan. Funny how when you pay for something, the desire to get value out of it tends to increase dramatically!

Once you have achieved your initial stated objectives, it might then be time to seek outside funding. If you can present a plan that was already prepared from a year or two ago, and can then show that you have been following it (more or less), your story and “street creditability” with an outside investor will increase substantially, perhaps even getting to a point where it becomes the difference between securing initial Angel funding – or not.

If you are serious about starting a new business or expanding an existing business in a new direction, the minimal investment of time, resources and cost to sit down and write a plan on how you plan to proceed will offer you a tremendous return on investment, giving your business an important “jolt” of adrenalin that might make the difference between success and failure.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

Express Yourself How You see Fit

Like so many of us that have been following the latest political scandals, such as that involving Anthony Weiner’s twitter escapades and resignation, I have been amused at how quickly a new word can make it into our English language. One of the recent AP news headline read: “Weiner to resign over sexting scandal.”

To the best of my knowledge, I have never seen “sexting” used in a news headline before, and yet, a pretty respected journalism outlet has used it in a title of a story. The joint combination of two known words is a great way to build a new word, should the opportunity arise where a new term is warranted. In this case, I would say that it was warranted, and the inclusion of this term was indeed appropriate, and highly descriptive. We all know what they are talking about!

Upon reflection, I would propose that the fluidity and strength of the English language is greatly helped by the fact that it is entirely acceptable to create a new word, based on the writer’s own perspective. If the market fails to recognize the word or doesn’t understand what it means, the simple consequence is that the term won’t be repeated, fading away into obscurity. No harm, no foul.

Interestingly, the French view their vocabulary differently, with a strict process for when a new French word is “approved” for general use, ultimately by the French Minister of Culture. With the recent explosion of IT related terms and technologies, the French “word police” have been quite busy. According to an article posted in the Wall Street Journal, before a word such as “cloud computing” (“informatique en nuage”) or “podcasting” (“diffusion pour baladeur”) receives a certified French equivalent, it needs to be approved by three organizations and get a government minister’s seal of approval, according to rules laid out by the state’s General Delegation for the French Language and the Languages of France. The process can take years!

Imagine if the same set of rigid rules existed here in the United States. I think our IT industry would be at a loss for words as to what we do. One might even argue that our innovation might even be curtailed, at least with regards to how we talk about new products or services. One thing for certain, those of us tasked with marketing communications or business plan writing would be in for a real challenge when talking about a new start up offering a new service.

Fortunately, it is still the “wild west” in America, at least with regards to coining a new word. And, with all the social media outlets today, the opportunity for a new word to be recognized and go viral is pretty good … so feel free to express yourself how you like, without worry that you will be found guilty by a Minister of Culture, at least for all of us living in the land of free speech and writing!

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

The Age of Communications Transparency

Often the true impacts of technology innovations are not immediately recognized or understood. It took decades for the discovery of electricity to widely impact how we live in a world where electricity and light is readily available. The Internet is no different. Still in its infancy, new social behaviors have already been embraced and adopted, including how job searches are conducted, travel arrangements are booked and social networking through sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Another not so obvious change involves the ownership and privacy of information, specifically our own identities and reputation. Today it is much harder to have privacy or lead a “secret” life. A recent example is the congressman Anthony Weiner twitter scandal. Another is the photo showing Michael Phelps taking a bong hit nearly three months after he wrapped up a record haul of eight gold medals in Beijing. The list goes on and on. Today’s social media venues coupled with smart phones that all now include cameras have made privacy more difficult to maintain.

Marketing communications transparency is a smart choice in today’s world that lacks privacy

This lack of expected privacy has a big repercussion for marketing communications, business plan writers and investor prospectus authors, among others. In just the same way that the truth has a way of getting out to the public, unsubstantiated or exaggerated marketing claims will most likely be discovered or revealed. Today it is critical to communicate with complete transparency. Spokespersons for companies and their products must be genuine. Product claims must be documented and proven.

Third party recommendations have always been important to drive sales. The challenge, however, is that it used to take a bit of effort to find someone who has just purchased the product or service you were contemplating. Often the effort didn’t justify the work, so purchases were not necessarily “qualified” by a third party reference.

Today, a referral is as easy to find as going to Yelp or launching one of the many different smart phone applications with an interactive “rate this” or “comment on this” feature. Buyers don’t expect every review to be perfect … in fact, they might suspect a lack of transparency if every review is perfect. They want to see who had what issues, to then make their decision accordingly to pursue the purchase, or not. The point is that there is now a very efficient, active venue for voicing concern or issues with a product … a “horror” story could take on a life of its own and spread like wildfire.

There is still a role for preparing corporate collateral, but its role should not be to try and “sell” the product, but rather, provide details that a company can prepare best, such as specifications, product performance as well as documentation on what can be realistically achieved.

But, it better be accurate and current, as a fair representation of your product’s capabilities. If not, it is now a reasonable expectation that you will be found out, and you will pay the price with a loss of brand integrity for not practicing transparency in your marketing communications.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

5 Questions to Ask Before Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan is an excellent way to discover if your idea for a new business has merit. Going through this exercise will challenge you to see if your idea for a business has the foundation for a viable business, or if it is just a neat idea worthy of a cocktail party conversation. The difficulty, however, is that the whole process of writing the business plan can be quite time consuming, even if you elect to hire a third party business plan writer.

Before you invest the time and effort to write your business plan, there are a few questions you should consider as part of an evaluation process if your idea is worth pursuing.

I just discovered a great blog written by Pamela Slim where she talks about transitioning from the corporate world to starting your own business. As part of this process, Pamela posted “Can you answer these 5 questions about your business?” I would propose that these questions can function quite well as a “filter,” which can then help guide you through your decision making process. If you can answer each of these questions, then you understand your value proposition and are now ready to prepare a business plan.

Who is your ideal client? This is a simplified way of stating “who are you going to sell to?” Specificity is needed, to help you hone and refine your message. From a marketer’s perspective, the question here is “Who is your target market?” Who will buy your goods or services, and why would they buy it from you? Most importantly … do you have the skills and background to SELL it to them? Great first question to consider before you decide to write your business plan.
Where do I send people who are interested? This question is stating that you better be ready to make an investment in building an online presence, no matter what it is you are selling. Do you have a site already? As part of evaluating the decision to write a business plan, have you thought about the investment of your time and resources to build an online presence? What would that website’s URL be? What would your business name be? How would you portray yourself and what sort of message would you include on the site? The answers to these questions will layout a framework for you to establish a marketing communications style and plan of how your message is communicated to your ideal client.
Who would you really love to meet? I see this question as a gauge to the level of passion you have for your idea. Without the passion, your new business idea is doomed. So, who would you be really excited to meet that is a “player” or key influencer in your industry? Once you have identified that person, are you ready to reach out and try and meet them? One of the biggest attributes of a successful entrepreneur is if they feel they can change the world by doing something better, faster, easier, etc. than everyone else … you can’t do that unless you are a guru in your space and have a passion for meeting the other key players in your industry.
Which media would you love to cover your business? This might be a question asked when it comes time to write your marketing plan … where will your message be displayed, how will you market to your customers and what medium is best for establishing this marketing communication? But, if you are ask this question early in the process, it can reveal quite quickly if your business plan will be tough or easy to launch. If you don’t know the answer to this question, maybe you don’t know your target audience as well as you should, which then poses the question “Is there really a viable market out there for your goods or services?” This is a pretty important question to consider.
How do you make money? Or, what is your revenue model? Another great question. This should be on the top of your list when evaluating a new business or expanding a new division. Challenge yourself to answer this question with detail. For example, if your business is web-based e-commerce site, saying “I will sell banner ads” really isn’t sufficient of an answer. You need to know what traffic levels are needed before anyone considers placing an ad. How long will that take? What revenues are possible, and what level of traffic do I need to achieve X dollars of banner ad revenue? These are the types of questions that should be considered in great depth before spending the time and resources to get your business plan written.

Don’t worry if it takes some time to answer these questions … the knowledge you will gain will be well worth the effort. Not only will this exercise help you better understand if you really have a viable business model, but it will give you an outline of what your business plan should look like.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

When Taking a Step Backward can Yield an Innovative Business Plan

I read a most interesting article today in the Wall Street Journal about a business start up in Chapel Hill, N.C. called Rent-a-Goat.com. What they offer is a completely environmentally friendly way for home and business owners to clear fields of unwanted shrubbery, grasses and any other prickly plants that need to be removed. What is remarkable is that this company has figured out a way to execute upon a business plan first launched thousands of years ago, and still make money today.

As I read further, I learned that Google has hired a similar company to clear their corporate campus of un-needed plants. Other end users include the Vanderbilt estate, where goats were hired for $9,000 to clear seven hilly acres, according to Dave Hayes, the estate’s natural-resource program manager. See the video. Apparently this price tag was two-thirds the cost to hire workers to do the same job … with a zero carbon footprint!

This story is an excellent example of how technological progress and innovation can sometimes take a “U” turn, especially when the social green movement is involved, despite the typical technology innovation cycle we so commonly see and write about (see my prior post on how technology innovation can be treated as a constant). Goes to show that there are no true constants in life, but some highly probably outcomes!

When seeking a business plan writer or preparing a strategic marketing plan, at times it can be helpful to take a completely opposite perspective with regards to what your new service or product should be. This strategy can be quite effective in markets and industries where a growing backlash is starting to gain momentum.

A good example of a business plan that has taken advantage of going “against the mainstream” is the latest offering from Knock Knock, a Los Angeles-based company that sells specialty paper products. They are now offering paper tweet pads, which limit you to a message of 140 characters that you can write down on a piece of paper. Their messaging in the product descriptions is quite good: “Get on the social networking bandwagon with a cutting-edge notepad! The wireless miracle of pen and paper will have you expressing your mundane, or even pressing, thoughts anytime, anywhere!” In a way, they are making fun at all the notoriety and excitement around Twitter, and becoming just the opposite, pointing out that good old fashioned pen and paper is not a bad communications medium.

It turns out that maybe change is the only constant, rather than always counting on technology to drive innovation. Taking a step backward after several strides forward gives us a pause and time for reflection. People are always looking for something new and improved; the “new” maybe simply an old idea that has now gained new awareness and a fresh perspective.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.

Applying Humor to Your Business Communications

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”

Pablo Picasso

When considering the question of “How do I improve my business communications?”, humor may be the answer. The decision should be based on what type of communications you seek. There are several roles humor can take … to grab attention, to make a lasting impression or to build a longer term relationship with your readers. Alternatively, a more serious and “professional” sounding message may be better suited to a more formal communications, in which case humor may not be appropriate.

Let me explain. It might not be the best idea to use humor when talking about a financial institution’s lending practices, or the way that a customer’s money is managed.

When we write or speak to an audience, often we are really trying to build a relationship with our audience in order to convey a thought, a message or a suggestion to purchase a product r service. As part of establishing that message and gaining credibility, it can be quite effective if you are communicating more as a friend or advisor. In that case, humor can definitely play a role in helping to build the relationship, earn trust and communicate on a more personal level.

South West Airlines (SWA) is an excellent example. They have effectively used humor in their verbal communications. Each flight attendant was clearly encouraged by their peers and supervisors to include humor as part of their pre-take off, FAA required announcements at the beginning of every flight.

In today’s YouTube age, there is another incentive: to become the next big hit. Watch this video for an example of a video that has gone viral, with nearly 1 million hits so far. Interestingly, SWA’s practice began before the age of the Internet. Now these videos are actually a form of advertising, helping to increase brand awareness – and might even generate a ticket sale or two. Clearly, humor can lend itself to social networking marketing quite nicely.

While SWA’s topic is serious, the message has been effectively conveyed in a joyful, playful manner, with short one-liner jokes intermingled with information on what to do in an evacuation, and how the seat cushions also works as a life vest. In the end, passengers felt more relaxed and at ease, trusting that SWA had things under control in the passenger’s best interest while helping to pass the time during the boring announcements that business travelers all know by heart.

TD Ameritrade is an example of when a more serious communications was best. Their selection of Sam Waterston as a spokesperson conveys a serious message that TD Ameritrade is a secure institution you can trust, based on our associating him as being a District Attorney for Law and Order, even though it is just a character he plays on a television show. But don’t expect Sam to crack a joke during his endorsement during the ad.

Similarly, if you are writing a business plan to demonstrate intimate knowledge of your industry or market opportunity, it is trust that you are trying to build. As you might not have the opportunity to build a relationship over time with multiple interactions of your readers and prospective investors, you might only have one chance to make a first impression. In this case, your tone should probably be authoritative and professional, demonstrating you are serious about your business plan and the investment funds you are requesting. Probably not a good place for humor in your communications.

Each of these examples offers best-in-class leveraging of humor – or a lack of it – to accentuate and exemplify business communications. Deciding whether or not to use humor, however, is harder and riskier. Your message must indeed BE funny, or else the opposite effect will occur, possibly even alienating you from your target audience, and clearly hurting your communications objectives. As it is more riskier to use humor, the choice is often to simply avoid it.

Next time you ask yourself whether humor might be appropriate in your next business communications, the answer won’t come from a computer. It should be based on your subjective decision, half-based on theory and half-based on a gut feel if it really is appropriate.

Gordon Benzie is a marketing adviser and business plan writer that specializes in preparing and executing upon business plans and marketing strategies.