Business Plan

The first area addresses who is doing the buying. There are many ways to fracture customers. Some common ways are by geography, personal features, life situation, and character traits. Major groupings of people often buy similar products and services. How small or large of an area will you cover? Are you interested in a country, region, city, or neighborhood? What general things do your potential customers use on a regular basis? What is their life-phase (e.g. young, old, mature, active, physically or mentally limited, educated, with family, financially secure, retired, etc.)? To what does this group aspire or portray? What character traits can you align your product or service with? To whom or what do they relate? There are many choices and the question you need to answer is how to narrow the world of choices to those that you can sufficiently and realistically service. Then, these are incorporated into the business plan.

Second, decide what the customer group is buying. How does this information fit into your general business plan? What offering features, benefits, and price are important? How is their present need not being fulfilled? How will you position your business to fulfill their need? What price range are you planning to cover? Is your competition servicing customers and what is their price range? What can you do to provide features or benefits that competitors can't or aren't presently supplying? If customers are buying from your competitor, what degree of loyalty do they have? How can you not only acquire a customer but also instill loyalty to your offering? Can you create features or benefits for which the customer is willing to pay a premium?

Finally, why are your customer groups buying? You have already answered some of these questions in the previous two areas, but they leave several additional areas to be considered. How can your offering improve their life? What hobbies or habits can you tap? Are they risk-takers, innovators, or do they lag the market? Can you offer delivery options that are attractive or that they are willing to accept premium pricing to receive? Are they price conscious and willing to accept basic offerings? Are there marketing options that allow others to market your offering for you (e.g. doctors, lawyers, friends, etc.)? How will you reach these other groups? How will you document this in your business plan?

These are primary areas of concern relevant to market segmentation. A thorough review of these questions, potential answers, and marketing methods will suggest ways to reach your customer segment. You will identify your customer segments and know why they are important. The questions will also point to areas where more research, development, and future growth can be achieved. This will help you tailor your business plan to the exact area you wish to service. Also, because of the knowledge, you will be in a position to defend why this is an appropriate course for your business offering.