Describe Your Analysis Of Product
And Market Segments Here!

Our Main Menu

Ideas For Marketing Home

Web Marketing Strategy

Web Site Development

Web Marketing Mini-Courses

Free Web Marketing Courses

Writing a Business Plan

You're in the "Writing
a Business Plan"
section of
our Web site...

Business Plan Guidelines

Business Plan Outline

Executive Summary

Company Summary

Product Summary

Market Analysis Summary

Marketing Strategy

Management Summary

Financial Statements

Business Plan Software

In order for readers to understand your business plan, they need to understand your industry and the market.

When writing a business plan, in this section you will discuss:

the overall size of your industry;
key product and market segments;
customer buying criteria and processes;
the types of businesses in the industry;
key industry trends; and
the outlook for your industry.

What Market Research Have You Done?

When writing a business plan, it is important to have a good understanding of the industry in which the company will operate. Discuss what research you did to write your plan.

For example...

have you surveyed current and potential customers,

reviewed research reports and statistics prepared by others,

read magazine and newspaper articles, or

spoken to people particularly knowledgeable about the industry?

Have you conducted a feasibility study to determine your pricing model?

What's The Size Of The Industry You're In?

How big is the industry in which your business will operate?

Size can be defined in many ways including sales, the number of units sold, number of producers, and/or total employment.

Be sure to highlight any statistics you have on how fast the industry is growing and discuss the size of the industry in the particular area that will be served by your business.

What Are The Key Product Segments That You'll Be Competing For?

Industries can be divided into a number of product segments.

For example, product segments within the automobile industry include...

cars,

trucks,

vans,

sports utility, and

recreational vehicles.

Divide your industry into key product segments, highlighting the size and characteristics of the segments in which your business will compete.

Describe Your Key Market Segments

Industries can also be divided by market segments. Within your industry, to whom are businesses selling products and/or services?

Divide the market into customer groups, highlighting the size and characteristics of those groups.

For example, markets can be grouped...

by type of customer,

geography, or

other characteristics.

Segment the markets on the basis that makes the most sense for your business.

Describe Industry Participants

Describe, in general terms, the types of businesses that compete in your industry.

For example...

where are they located,

how broad are their product and service lines,

how large are they,

how are they positioned on the Internet, and

how do they distribute their products?

What Are The Current Trends In Your Industry?

The only thing that is constant in business is change. What are the key trends in your industry?

These trends could include...

changes in technology,

products,

markets,

regulations, or

economic conditions.

What trends will affect the supply of, or demand for, your products/services? Your writing should highlight the factors and trends that could have the largest impact on your business.

What's The Outlook For Your Industry?

For your industry, discuss what types of products have the greatest opportunities for growth over the next three to five years and why? What products or product groups are expected to see a decline in sales?

Next we're going to see what goes into describing your Marketing Strategy. Click here to continue...