Appendix 1: The Marketing Plan

1. MARKET ANALYSIS
1. Target Market--Who are the customers?
1. We will be selling primarily to (check all that apply):

	Total Percent of Business
a. Private sector	______	______
b. Wholesalers	______	______
c. Retailers	______	______
d. Government	______	______
e. Other	______	______

2. We will be targeting customers by:

a. Product line/services.     We will target specific lines:	________________
b. Geographic area? Which areas?	________________
c. Sales? We will target sales of	________________
d. Industry? Our target industry is:	________________
e. Other?	________________

3. How much will our selected market spend on our type of product or service this coming year?

$________________

2. Competition
1. Who are our competitors?

NAME	________________________________________
ADDRESS	________________________________________
	________________________________________
Years in Business		___________________
Market Share		___________________
Price/Strategy		___________________
Product/Service Features		___________________

2. How competitive is the market?

High	____________________
Medium	____________________
Low	____________________

3. List below your strengths and weaknesses compared to your competition (consider such areas as location, size of resources, reputation, services, personnel, etc.):

Strengths	Weaknesses
1._______________________	1._______________________
2._______________________	2._______________________
3._______________________	3._______________________
4._______________________	4._______________________

3. Environment
1. The following are some important economic factors that will affect our product or service (such as trade area growth, industry health, economic trends, taxes, rising energy prices, etc.):
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
2. The following are some important legal factors that will affect our market:
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
3. The following are some important government factors:
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
4. The following are other environmental factors that will affect our market, but over which we have no control:
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
1. PRODUCT OR SERVICE ANALYSIS
1. Description
1. Describe here what the product/service is and what it does:
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________
2. Comparison
1. What advantages does our product/service have over those of the competition (consider such things as unique features, patents, expertise, special training, etc.)?
   __________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does it have?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

3. Some Considerations
1. Where will you get your materials and supplies?
   __________________________________________________
2. List other considerations:
   __________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________
2. MARKETING STRATEGIES--MARKET MIX
1. Image
1. First, what kind of image do we want to have (such as cheap but good, or exclusiveness, or customer-oriented or highest quality, or convenience, or speed, or...)?
   __________________________________________________
2. Features
1. List the features we will emphasize:
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
3. Pricing
1. We will be using the following pricing strategy:

a. Markup on cost	____	What % markup?	_____
b. Suggested price	____
c. Competitive	____
d. Below competition	____
e. Premium price	____
f. Other	____

2. Are our prices in line with our image?
   YES___       NO___
3. Do our prices cover costs and leave a margin of profit?
   YES___       NO___
3. Customer Services
1. List the customer services we provide:
1. ____________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________
2. These are our sales/credit terms:
1. ____________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________

3. The competition offers the following services:

1. ____________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________
4. Advertising/Promotion
1. These are the things we wish to say about the business:
   ____________________________________________________
   ____________________________________________________
   ____________________________________________________
2. We will use the following advertising/promotion sources:

1. Internet	________
2. Television/Radio	________
3. Direct mail	________
4. Personal contacts	________
5. Trade associations	________
6. Newspaper	________
7. Magazines	________
8. Yellow Pages	________
9. Billboard	________
10. Other	________

3. The following are the reasons why we consider the media we have chosen to be the most effective:
   __________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________
   __________________________________________________