Strategic planning is essential for the success of any growing small business. This guide provides a practical framework for matching your business’s strengths to available opportunities. Learn how to collect and analyze information about your business environment and gain a clear understanding of your business’s strengths, weaknesses, mission, goals, and objectives.

Key Benefits of This Guide:

• Proactive Planning: Understand why proactive planning is crucial in today’s business environment.
• Real-World Examples: Learn from the “A Tale of Two Businesses” example, illustrating the importance of strategic planning.
• Step-by-Step Guidance: Follow the outlined steps in developing your strategic plan, from creating a mission statement to setting goals.
• Comprehensive Business Plan: Discover the key elements of a well-structured business plan.
• Effective Implementation: Learn how to implement your strategy through communication, scheduling, and control systems.

Download our guide to get started today!

Want to boost your business skills? Check out our self-paced SMART Programs! These free courses are designed to help you understand key concepts, work through interactive case studies and complete activities that apply the learning to your own business. Learn more >>>

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Our Business Advisors hear this question a lot: How do I write a business plan? We’ve designed this resource to help you tackle the key questions you’ll need to answer, and you’ll save time and energy in the process, creating a viable business that makes both you and your customers happy.

This workbook asks the questions you need to ensure you’re building a business that fits your life. First, you’ll discover what you want, then you’ll explore whether you have a viable idea. When you’re ready to create your business plan, this workbook will guide you through a simple step-by-step process:

• Step 1: What will your business look like?
• Step 2: What do you know about your industry, competition and potential customers?
• Step 3: How will you find customers and help them buy your product or service?
• Step 4: How will you run the business?
• Step 5: Let’s talk about money
• Step 6: What could possibly go wrong?
• Step 7: Action plan
• Step 8: Say it in 1000 words or less
• Step 9: Supporting documents
• Step 10: Final checklist and business plan outline

The Creating Your Business Plan Workbook is accompanied by starting documents so you can work through each step in word or excel and then transfer your responses into a final business plan.

Please note: While this workbook is presented in our old branding, the content is still valid. For a limited time, as we update the look and flow of this book, we’re offering the download for free!

Check out our Starting a Business Info Session

If you think you’re ready to start a business, we encourage you to participate in one of our FREE Starting a Business Info Sessions, held every Wednesday at noon. We will answer the most common start-up questions our Business Advisors hear!

Explore Our Smart Programs

Learn at your own pace! With WeBC’s SMART Programs, you can expand your knowledge on topics like HR, Financial Fitness and Strategic Marketing through self-paced learning, plus gain wrap-around support through advisory services and resiliency training. Learn more >>>

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Effectively marketing your business is a skill all entrepreneurs need. Focused marketing means concentrating on your best potential customers and delivering a clear, consistent and appealing message.

If you’ve asked yourself these questions before, then this workbook is for you:

• Am I getting results from my marketing?
• Is my marketing getting me the return on my investment?
• Is my marketing efficient and targeted to get the best results possible?

This guide covers marketing basics, then walks you through the process of writing a marketing plan by working through seven steps:

• Step 1: Personal foundations – Understand your business priorities
• Step 2: Segment your customers – Identify your types of customers
• Step 3: Target your best customers – Establish your best customers
• Step 4: Understand how & why they buy – Determine why customers buy from you
• Step 5: Create the message – Make your business attractive to your customers
• Step 6: Choose your marketing tools – Select the most impactful platforms for your message
• Step 7: Map your marketing – Create your marketing action plan

Free for WeBC loan clients!

Would you like to make better marketing decisions that maximize your time and budget? Check out our free On-Demand SMART course, “Strategic Marketing: Build a Marketing Plan for Your Business.”

The post Focused Marketing Workbook: Targeted Effort, Tangible Results appeared first on WeBC.

This document will help you create a marketing strategy and write a marketing plan, including determining objectives, breaking down the Marketing Mix and setting sales goals & targets.

It covers:

• MARKET RESEARCH
• TARGET MARKET SEGMENTATION
• CREATING THE MARKETING STRATEGY
• CREATING THE MARKETING PLAN
  • Objectives
    • Market Positioning
    • Market Share
  • Marketing Mix
    • Product
    • Pricing
    • Placement
    • Promotions
    • People
    • Processes
  • Sales Goals & Targets
    • Sales Projections
    • Sales Strategies

Would you like to make better marketing decisions that maximize your time and budget?

Check out our free On-Demand SMART course, “Strategic Marketing: Build a Marketing Plan for Your Business.” It includes interactive exercises to help you work through each step of building a marketing plan. Learn more >>>

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