I was recently asked to write a quick guest article for Michael Erickson PC’s Newsletter. Below is a copy of the article:
It is that time of year again… Think about your Business and Marketing Plans
Guest article by Leif Jensen
Typically I suggest that a business/marketing plan has three phases included. The first phase is a two sentence Mission Statement including the purpose and aim(s) of the organization. The second phase is a one page Business Plan. The third phase can be one of many variations: if you plan to look for a loan in the foreseeable future, I encourage you to follow the Small Business Administration Small Business Administration model.
I am currently working with many of my clients to update their business/marketing plans. We evaluate their completed and uncompleted goals for the current yet soon to be past year.
The existing plans include many categories with goals aligned to them. We first pull out all of the completed goals from each category. Then we update the categories for the upcoming year.
Categories in a business/marketing plan include:
Gross revenue goal
Identified clients possibilities pipeline
New services
Social media goals
Advertising opportunities
Presentations
Give-a ways
Target marketing
Networking targets
Technology
Facilities
Policies and procedures
Personnel
Centers of influence
Business/marketing plans should be living documents that are referred to on a regular basis and tweaked along the way as business environments change all the time.
For more information on writing and tweaking your Business/Marketing plans feel free to contact:
Leif J. Jensen, CPA
Elk Grove Village
(P) 847-690-9458
(C) 847-361-0194