Sales and Marketing

This section of your business plan describes the strategy you will use to get customers to buy your products or services. A strong sales and marketing section can serve as an assurance to angel investors that you have a practical plan and the resources for promoting and selling your products or services. The three components that should appear in your sales and marketing section include:

• Strategy
• Method of Sales
• Advertising and Promotion

ENTREPRENEURS-OFFERED ADVICE ON MARKETING

Many start up businesses fail in the first few years, not because of poor ideas but because of a poor understanding of the market. International businessman, Peter Cunningham, discussed the key elements in marketing and sales in successful start-ups in a workshop series hosted by the Cayman Angel Investors Network. Read Article

STRATEGY

In previous sections, you have defined your product, positioning, pricing, target customer, market, and competition. You should now combine all of these elements to create a strong sales and marketing strategy. When you are speaking about strategy, give a plan for how you will get customers to buy your products. Important elements for a sales and marketing strategy include who you are targeting initially and what customers you have designated for later phases. Other elements of a sales and marketing strategy are:

• How you will find prospective customers and how you will educate them about your product.
• What features of your product or service you plan on emphasizing to get customers to notice your product.
• Any sort of innovative marketing or sales techniques you will employ.
• Where you will focus your efforts, i.e. locally, regionally, internationally.

METHOD OF SALES

In this section you should demonstrate to angel investors that you have the ability and knowledge to get your products into the hands of your target customers. Describe available distribution channels and how you plan to use them. How you get your products to the end user is one of the most important elements of your plan. Tips

• Don't confuse sales with marketing. Sales focuses on how you get your products into the hands of your customers, whereas marketing address how you educate potential customers.
• If you're using an outside sales force describe the companies that will be carrying your products and why they are a good choice.
• Don't assume a distribution network will give your products or services equal sales time as similar existing products. It may be necessary to create an incentive structure that will encourage your network to push your products or services.

ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION

Your advertising and promotion campaign is how you plan to communicate information about your product or service. This section should include a description of the advertising vehicles you plan to use as well as your public relations program, sales/promotional materials, package design, trade show efforts, etc. If you're using an advertising and/or a public relations agency, be sure to discuss and what efforts they are contracted to make on your behalf. Tips

• Make sure that your advertising and promotion plans support your sales tactics. For example, if you use sales representatives, you will need to talk about what promotional materials you will supply.
• Think about using examples or samples to support your discussion of promotional materials and product packaging. If you have a copy of an ad you've run, or a mock-up of an ad you plan on running in the future, include it in your business plan.
• If you have a public relations plan in place, include a copy of your press kit and a list of targeted media.
• If trade shows will be an important part of your marketing strategy, be sure to include a trade show schedule outlining at which expos you'll be exhibiting.