Marketing business plans serve as the starting point for many companies regardless if large or small. Yet, the truth is that corporations have hundreds of pages of marketing business plans while smaller companies hardly have a dozen sheets. These plans are not only informative as they represent a very important part of the business performance and they should be consulted on a regular basis, weekly or monthly to track results.

Marketing business plans ought to cover one year in advance not more because market trends change in time and long-term future evolution is sometimes difficult to anticipate. The bulk of any business plan should thus be focused on the coming year. Do not take this stage of business development lightly because you would make a huge mistake. Even for small companies, marketing business plans take weeks if not months to write.

Corporations keep marketing business plans secret because they provide very valuable information if disclosed to the competition. Various departments contribute to the creation of the plan, from finance and personnel to manufacturing and the supplies department. In the case of small companies, the procedure is not that complex. The good part of having a larger team contribute to the marketing business plans is the possibility to set achievable goals. The more minds at work, the higher the chances of adding valuable dimensions to the plans.

Don’t make the confusion between overall business plans and marketing business plans, because even if they overlap, they are different. While the business plans represents the statement of your business vision, the marketing plan represents just the course of action required to reach some set goals. Moreover, the business plans include all sorts of detailed information on locations, staffing, administrative issues, strategic collaborations and more.

In a very narrow sense, marketing business plans seem like a waste of time. Yet, the other extreme is not good either because without an action plan, the business evolution will be chaotic. Having no destination in mind for your business journey is very risky and unprofitable. Running a business is very complex and without a step-by-step guide to action, your activities could easily go astray.

Then, marketing business plans represent some solid ground in times of transition or change. Let’s say that some of the staff members leave and new people arrive. Written documents will remain a reminder of what actions need to be carried out. It goes without saying that all marketing business plans have to thought over once in a while, in order for the manager to be able to operate changes or improvements.