First things first, you need to explain your business and what business model you’ll be following. This could be anything from advertising-based, direct sales, retail etc.

This is where you’ll go into a deeper analysis of what your business is actually offering and what the current market conditions are. For example,  let’s say you’re starting an online shop selling phone covers. How many businesses are out there doing the same thing? Are a lot of people buying this product? Is there a high demand?

This is getting down into the nitty gritty. Let’s continue with the phone cover business example. Once someone comes to your shop, how are they going to get the product? Will you be doing print on demand? Have you got a warehouse or fulfilment centre? Who will be managing the process and what does this process look like to you?

How will you find consumers? Marketing is how you get word on the street on what your brand can offer the public. What marketing do you foresee working for your particular business? What channels will you be using and, of course, what will the budget look like?

Speaking of budgets, the financial aspect of a business plan will help you to determine how much money you need to get your business up and running. Will you be getting a business loan? Bootstrapping your costs? Crowdfunding or do you have personal investors?

Market research will let you know if you have a place within the existing market. This is what will dictate how successful your business will be. What’s your target market, and why would they be interested in buying from you? What makes you different from your competitors? Are you offering something that people want and no one is catering to?

You’ve got to look at what others are doing so you know where the gaps are, or what the standard is. When doing competitor analysis, you’re going to want to include the various facets of their business, their lead times, their websites, their service and their marketing. Identify a few key competitors and spend some time seeing what their business does well and not so well.

Knowing your target consumer is key! Who exactly is your ideal shopper? What’s their age? How do they spend their time? Where do they find out about new things?

This is essentially the personality of your business and the promise you make to customers. How are you going to portray your business visually, what does your brand look like? Is your brand identity unique?  Does it carry across all the various communication channels that are consumer-facing?

An online presence is important to building your brand’s reputation. What online channels will you be active on and is this aligned to where your target market spends most of their time? Are you updating your content regularly? Can people interact with you? How responsive are you to consumer queries?