The Importance Of A Business Plan

• Teo

As a business owner, you need to understand that having a product or a service to offer is just the beginning. If you go online and look up some information on the first steps in business, you will find out several different approaches, but all of them will include doing research and careful planning. Here are some useful questions to ask yourself as a business owner that will help you avoid making certain mistakes.

Who’s your target audience?

According to Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s a fast-food burger chain, you need three simple things to start a business: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed. You know your product/service better than anyone, so let’s focus on knowing your customers. Your target audience is the result of doing thorough market research, segmenting the market, looking at potential customer regions (geographically), and also looking at the market demographically (gender, age groups, income, occupation, etc). So, to keep engagement levels high and consistent throughout, you will need to examine what your target audience likes, reads, and talks about. You will then need to create posts that are relevant to them to make the most of your ad campaigns. Don’t forget to do your homework! If you find that this is all a bit too much for you, or you simply lack the time to do it yourself, always seek the help of professionals. Here at Yaseo, you can always talk to us about your target audience, market strategy, or the whole package.

A Unique Value Proposition, what is it and why does it matter?

We’ve already established that knowing your product is key, but few of us go beyond the product or services they offer. Let’s elaborate on that, so in a world full of business opportunities we are seeing endless products and services being offered and pulling us to one side saying “Pick me”. As a business owner, you need to think not only about the product but also about a unique value proposition. The term refers to the core benefit or solution that makes you different from the competition and therefore makes you the best possible option on the market. To achieve that, it is essential to incorporate something into your business plan. A UVP (Unique Value Proposition) is the center of three things: what your customers need and care about, what you do very well and what your competition does very well. Where those three things intersect is where your UVP lies. The UVP answers the most important question in a business plan, Why. The reason why a customer should pick you over others is a key element, for example in your business plan you’ve incorporated that customers should pick your product XYZ because it is the easiest to use on the market. People will need proof that this is true otherwise the whole story could potentially turn into a great disaster. This is why customer feedback is a topic you don’t want to overlook. Back it all up with a few reviews and learn from the negative ones too. Your brand must always evolve.

What’s your brand image?

Answering this question also includes answering who your brand is and what you stand for. This is another essential part of your business plan, do not forget to define your mission, values, and vision. And remember, your brand image is not only created by you, It is largely dependent on what your customers have to say. Let’s find out together what are the three main pillars of a brand image:

• Mission – by definition, a company’s mission statement would include why the business exists, what are its main product or service, and the overall goal of the company.
• Vision – a company’s vision statement captures what you would like your business to look like in the future, where you want to take your business, and is crucial in terms of inspiring new or existing employees. The word vision itself holds a certain creative context and is a key element to a successful company.
• Values – company values are the third pillar in your brand image and now these are more important than ever. What your company stands for, the way things are done, the philosophies and principles behind the wheels are something customers pay attention to. Having the right values will ensure a stable start for your company and will get you the right type of customers and employees might choose you instead of the competition.

So choose wisely, your brand image is something not to be taken lightly, but using the right tools will give you a stable foundation. We are also here to help, don’t you forget that.

Where would you like your business to be in 5 years?

Surely you must have heard some of your friends talking about a five-year plan. This normally applies to one’s personal life, but it is also very important to any business owner. Creating a clearly defined step by step plan what is going to happen in the next five years will help you make the most of any business opportunity that comes your way. To create a good business plan, you need to visualize. Sit down and make a list of everything you want to achieve in five years with your company. A lot of the things you wrote might be blurry due to fears, doubts, and uncertainty. All negative emotions must be removed when creating your five-year plan, as they will get in the way of your creativity and prevent your clarity. And then, once you are in the right mindset, you need to start doing more. Have you noticed how sometimes we say we want something but never actually do anything about it? This is what you want to avoid. Since you now have a business plan and clear priorities, just go out there and start doing. Another thing before I leave you, don’t try and do it all by yourself, you will need help and this is perfectly normal, delegate and do it wisely. We are also here to give you professional insights whenever you need to, so please, drop us a message and we can talk.