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The ideas linked to an entrepreneurial project summarized and rationalized. A chart that contains all the key points of a project. The business plan has now become an indispensable tool in company work, in the context of project planning and management and external communication to potential customers and investors.
Therefore, it is essential for anyone who approaches work in a large company, but also in a small company, to know how to make a business plan, conceive it, create it and implement it.
In this article, we’ll show you how to make a business plan correctly.
Business plan: definition
The business plan is a “document that defines objectives, strategies, processes, policies and actions with a medium-term orientation and that outlines the economic-financial implications of the same. It is used both for purposes related to business planning and for communication with potential financiers and/or investors“, Treccani’s dictionary of Economics and Finance explains. Therefore, as part of a correct promotion and communication strategy for a project, it is essential to be able to elaborate and expose it in the best possible way.
To carry it forward, it is essential, first of all, to describe in a concise but at the same time very clear way the project and the company that you intend to create or carry out. It is also useful to make a brief analysis of the reference market, with identification of the target, the competition and any critical issues.
How to make a business plan: characteristics
After defining the reference context, you can proceed by entering the heart of the project, defining characteristics and objectives. From the marketing plan to the positioning strategy on the market, up to the design of a communication or advertising campaign.
Everything is useful and necessary to improve the company’s business plan, or the project you have in mind, and to make it as perfect as possible. Finally, where it is plausible, it is useful to enter the description and study of the technical feasibility of the project, the related investments, and the necessary energy funds. These are small steps that, in the development of the business plan, must always be taken into consideration. Other key point is the gift of knowing how to write and present the project in a clear, linear and concise manner. That is why, in the development of the business plan, form and substance are equally important, the way in which the project is presented.
Risk factors and environmental impact
To conclude a business plan in the best possible way, it is useful to insert information on the investments to be made, on the risk factors and on the feasibility. This should be made through hypotheses that are as realistic as possible. These are characteristics that potential investors and all those interested in the project evaluate with extreme attention. Obviously, it is also essential to clarify, in principle, the timing and costs of the plan, and the environmental impact of the project itself. Summarizing, therefore, an excellent business plan needs at least five fixed points:
- Definition of objectives
- Good market research
- Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses and critical points
- Marketing strategies to be implemented
- Definition of the budget