how to write a business plan for a tv show pdf

Sample TV Station Business Plan Template PDF

Here is a sample business plan for a TV station.

The media industry is huge, with loads of opportunities for investors seeking to launch their operations. For persons interested in starting a TV channel, a lot of groundwork is necessary.

Such would include writing a plan of action for your TV station. This is what we’re going to be discussing.

Need to write a plan for your venture? Download a FREE Business Plan PDF Sample to develop a template for your own startup.

TV STATION BUSINESS PLAN SAMPLE

If you’ve wondered how to put together a comprehensive and implementable media production plan , we welcome you to read on. Here, you’ll find information on what it takes and how to go about it.

This template is a guide and targets persons with limited knowledge of TV business plan writing.

Organizing your TV Station Business Plan

To do a good job at writing your plan, you’ll need to have different aspects of your plan systematically written.

Here, we’re talking about including basic sections without which your TV station business plan won’t be adequately and comprehensively covered.

These sections include the executive summary, company description, products & services, as well as market analysis sections.

Others include the strategy & implementation section, organization & management team, and the financial plan & projections.

This outline also applies to a radio station business plan .

i. Executive Summary

Consider the executive summary section as being the summary of your plan. Why do you need a summary? To give your audience a concise overview of your TV station business plan.

With a well-written executive summary, your readers get to know what the plan is about and what it stands for.

Usually, the executive summary gives an idea about the viability of your business idea. You should also be able to hold the reader’s attention to make them interested.

Key additions to the executive summary include the business name & location, as well as the services and/or products offered.

Other subsections to be discussed include the mission & vision statements and the specific purpose of your TV station business plan.

Business Name & Location

Every serious business idea should have a name. This is where you introduce or unveil your TV station business idea by giving its identity. What is it going to be called? Also, providing its location also matters.

As a broadcast business, it should be strategically situated for better reception of its signals.

Services and/or Products

What niche area will your TV station business be focused on?

How does such serve the needs of your clients? Are there any products you wish to offer? These are key points that must be discussed within your executive summary.

However, you won’t have to elaborate on these points as your executive summary needs to be limited to a few pages. All such information will be discussed in greater detail within the products and services section.

Mission & Vision Statements

Anyone going through your executive summary section can know what the business stands for and where it’s headed. This is only possible when your mission & vision statements are well written.

Your mission statement should clearly define the purpose for which your business exists.

It should capture your goals as a business. In the case of your vision statement, such should state your dream for the TV station. It’s written in a general sense and highlights the company’s goals.

Specific Purpose of the Plan

Without a clear purpose, your business is bound to fail due to a lack of clarity.

State the specific purpose for which your plan is written. Do you wish to attract funding? Is it written for the sole purpose of strategizing? Whatever it is, have the purpose written down.

ii. Company Description

The company description section is where you provide a comprehensive breakdown of what your TV station does, or plans to achieve, its goals as well as its legal structure.

What demands do you intend to fill? This has a lot to do with your preferred niche area.

Also, provide an overview of services and products to be offered in addition to critical partnerships to be forged.

What more? The company description section should include a summary of company growth with financial or market highlights. What are your goals as a business, and how do you intend to make profits?

iii. Services and/or Products

The products and services section takes a closer look at what your TV station sells and how such benefits your clients. What’s the market role of your service(s), and how does it measure up in terms of its competitive advantage over those offered by your competition?

iv. Market Analysis

The market analysis section is crucial to the successful launch of your TV station. Here, you’re expected to show an appreciable understanding of the broadcast industry.

For that to happen, thorough market research needs to be conducted.

Such research covers target customer segments, including industry outlook. Provide any supporting statistics for such. Also include data on historical, current, and projected marketing trends.

A key inclusion you shouldn’t leave out has to do with an assessment of your competition.

Having identified your competitors, you’ll need to highlight their areas of strength and weaknesses.

v. Strategy & Implementation

Your marketing strategy and implementation plan should explain how you intend to promote your TV station business. Also, it should include information on how you plan to enter the market.

Provide details about costs, pricing, and promotions for your services.

vi. Organization & Management Team

The successful launch of your TV station business won’t be possible without an organized and efficient management team.

Under this section, you’re to identify and describe your management team with roles played and departments headed.

Begin with an organizational chart describing key employees and departments headed by them. Business owners aren’t left out as their profiles need to be added.

This includes names, level of involvement, percentage ownership, and the likes.

Provide detailed information on your management team with names, positions, departments headed, and past experiences.

vii. Financial Plan & Projections

The financial plan and projections section covers the financial aspects of the business. It will be beneficial to use the services of a financial expert such as a professional accountant when writing this section.

Here, three key areas are considered;

They include historical financial data (mostly applies to established businesses) and also realistic prospective financial information.

Another vital inclusion is a brief analysis of your financial data.

SEE: How Do TV Shows Make Money?

With these details provided, your TV station business plan is set for implementation. It’s important never to rush the process but take the time needed to put down everything necessary for a successful takeoff carefully.

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Free PDF Business Plan Templates and Samples

By Joe Weller | September 9, 2020

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We’ve gathered the most useful collection of business plan PDF templates and samples, including options for organizations of any size and type.

On this page, you’ll find free PDF templates for a simple business plan , small business plan , startup business plan , and more.

Simple Business Plan PDF Templates

These simple business plan PDF templates are ready to use and customizable to fit the needs of any organization.

Simple Business Plan Template PDF

This template contains a traditional business plan layout to help you map out each aspect, from a company overview to sales projections and a marketing strategy. This template includes a table of contents, as well as space for financing details that startups looking for funding may need to provide. 

Download Simple Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Business Plan Template PDF

This scannable business plan template allows you to easily identify the most important elements of your plan. Use this template to outline key details pertaining to your business and industry, product or service offerings, target customer segments (and channels to reach them), and to identify sources of revenue. There is also space to include key performance metrics and a timeline of activities. 

Download Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template PDF

This template is designed to help you develop and implement a 90-day business plan by breaking it down into manageable chunks of time. Use the space provided to detail your main goals and deliverables for each timeframe, and then add the steps necessary to achieve your objectives. Assign task ownership and enter deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track every step of the way.

Download Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

PDF | Smartsheet

One-Page Business Plan PDF Templates

The following single page business plan templates are designed to help you download your key ideas on paper, and can be used to create a pitch document to gain buy-in from partners, investors, and stakeholders.

One-Page Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to summarize each aspect of your business concept in a clear and concise manner. Define the who, what, why, and how of your idea, and use the space at the bottom to create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for your business. 

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

If you’re looking for a specific type of analysis, check out our collection of SWOT templates .

One-Page Lean Business Plan PDF

This one-page business plan template employs the Lean management concept, and encourages you to focus on the key assumptions of your business idea. A Lean plan is not stagnant, so update it as goals and objectives change — the visual timeline at the bottom is ideal for detailing milestones. 

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to identify main goals and outline the necessary activities to achieve those goals in 30, 60, and 90-day increments. Easily customize this template to fit your needs while you track the status of each task and goal to keep your business plan on target. 

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan PDF Templates

These business plan templates are useful for small businesses that want to map out a way to meet organizational objectives, including how to structure, operate, and expand their business.

Simple Small Business Plan Template PDF

A small business can use this template to outline each critical component of a business plan. There is space to provide details about product or service offerings, target audience, customer reach strategy, competitive advantage, and more. Plus, there is space at the bottom of the document to include a SWOT analysis. Once complete, you can use the template as a basis to build out a more elaborate plan. 

Download Simple Small Business Plan Template

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template PDF

This fill-in-the-blank template walks you through each section of a business plan. Build upon the fill-in-the-blank content provided in each section to add information about your company, business idea, market analysis, implementation plan, timeline of milestones, and much more.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Small Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to create a scannable business plan that highlights the most essential parts of your organization’s strategy. Provide your business overview and management team details at the top, and then outline the target market, market size, competitive offerings, key objectives and success metrics, financial plan, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business - PDF

Startup Business Plan PDF Templates

Startups can use these business plan templates to check the feasibility of their idea, and articulate their vision to potential investors.

Startup Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to organize and prepare each essential component of your startup plan. Outline key details relevant to your concept and organization, including your mission and vision statement, product or services offered, pricing structure, marketing strategy, financial plan, and more.

‌Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup

Startups can use this sample 30-60-90 day plan to establish main goals and deliverables spanning a 90-day period. Customize the sample goals, deliverables, and activities provided on this template according to the needs of your business. Then, assign task owners and set due dates to help ensure your 90-day plan stays on track.

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template 

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Nonprofit Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these business plan PDF templates to outline your organization’s mission, your plan to make a positive impact in your community, and the steps you will take to achieve your nonprofit’s goals.

Nonprofit Business Plan Template PDF

Use this customizable PDF template to develop a plan that details your organization’s purpose, objectives, and strategy. This template features a table of contents, with room to include your nonprofit’s mission and vision, key team and board members, program offerings, a market and industry analysis, promotional plan, financial plan, and more. This template also contains a visual timeline to display historic and future milestones.

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization PDF 

This one-page plan serves as a good starting point for established and startup nonprofit organizations to jot down their fundamental goals and objectives. This template contains all the essential aspects of a business plan in a concise and scannable format, including the organizational overview, purpose, promotional plan, key objectives and success metrics, fundraising goals, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template - PDF

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these fill-in-the-blank templates as a foundation for creating a comprehensive roadmap that aligns your business strategy with your marketing, sales, and financial goals.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

The fill-in-the-blank template contains all the vital parts of a business plan, with sample content that you can customize to fit your needs. There is room to include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, financial statements, and more. 

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

This business plan is designed with a Lean approach that encourages you to clarify and communicate your business idea in a clear and concise manner. This single page fill-in-the-blank template includes space to provide details about your management team, the problem you're solving, the solution, target customers, cost structure, and revenue streams. Use the timeline at the bottom to produce a visual illustration of key milestones. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

For additional resources, take a look at " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Sample Business Plan PDF Templates

These sample business plan PDF templates can help you to develop an organized, thorough, and professional business plan.

Business Plan Sample 

This business plan example demonstrates a plan for a fictional food truck company. The sample includes all of the elements in a traditional business plan, which makes it a useful starting point for developing a plan specific to your business needs.

Download Basic Business Plan Sample - PDF

Sample Business Plan Outline Template

Use this sample outline as a starting point for your business plan. Shorten or expand the outline depending on your organization’s needs, and use it to develop a table of contents for your finalized plan.

Download Sample Business Plan Outline Template - PDF

Sample Business Financial Plan Template

Use this sample template to develop the financial portion of your business plan. The template provides space to include a financial overview, key assumptions, financial indicators, and business ratios. Complete the break-even analysis and add your financial statements to help prove the viability of your organization’s business plan.

Download Business Financial Plan Template

PDF  | Smartsheet

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, check out “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

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How to Write a Business Plan Template for a Broadcast Company Channel

• Small Business
• Business Planning & Strategy
• Write a Business Plan
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Theater Promotion Ideas

How to make an advertising pitch, how to write a good proposal for a non-profit orgnization.

• How to Pitch a Business Plan
• How to Write a Restaurant Proposal

Business plans, which have a traditional structure, can be modified to ensure a clear presentation of your business idea. In television, radio and now in online and mobile broadcast, many of those who will be reading it won't be familiar with the industry. Don't let structure get in the way of explaining your business idea fully and simply so everyone who reads it can understand what's at stake.

Business Model

Start the section on your business model with a page or two explaining the key niches of the broadcast industry your business idea will serve. Potential investors may not fully understand how broadcasting works, particularly if you're proposal deals with an alternative media like mobile or Internet radio. Don't leave any room for uncertainty. Explain why your channel is necessary and show how its intended audience compares to other outlets. Discuss your vision and mission and explain how you will create content, attract employees and build your schedule around it.

Target Audience

Define your target audience in detail and provide examples of how your channel will provide something they can't get elsewhere. Next, explain how you plan to market your channel to them so they're compelled to give it a try. Describe how you plan to keep your audience coming back and how you will build your channel into their lifestyles. Provide examples of how, why and when your audience will be tuning in and how frequently. Include an explanation of how you will attract sponsors and advertising.

Revenue Model

On-air and Internet advertising, subscriptions and sponsorship are among the revenue paths you might use to make money with your channel. However, the size of your audience must be verified by tracking services or a list of subscribers to justify your ad rates. Discuss how much you intend to charge for subscriptions and advertising during your development phase. Unless your content is unique and vital, you might have to offer the service for free until your channel becomes popular enough to attract advertising dollars. Other sources of revenue include special real-world events, charging guests for promotional appearances and running donation drives.

Financial Projections

Focus your financial section on defining what it will cost to build your broadcast channel, including equipment, professional services and operational and marketing activities. Next, estimate how much money you can reasonably expect to earn from your revenue streams. Investor decisions will probably be based on the value of your programming and the likelihood of attracting a substantial audience, so show how you will spend any investment funds and how those expenditures will create audience numbers that result in a steady stream of revenue.

• Startup Biz Hub: Start a Media Company
• AHS Video: Broadcast Video Production I Business Plan Template
• More Business: Entertainment Business Plan
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting: FY 2013 Business Plan

Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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• Free Course

#1 Film Business Plan Template

• Movie Investor Package
• Film Business Plan Template

Our Feature Film Business Plan template has been evolving for over 20 years and successfully used by hundreds of filmmakers around the world to raise their film financing. We have consistently worked with filmmakers and investors and updated our template after every film investor interaction to add all the best practices we come across. After every meeting, we adjust our Film Business Plan based directly on film investor feedback. Our Film Plan allows you to present your film business case using only the VERY BEST of the best information accumulated by film investors, filmmakers and industry trades, and all their years in the film industry.

Our Film Business Plan Template is professionally formatted and includes all the key business plan sections, with dozens of real-world examples in each. Our business plan was created by film investors and top industry producers, with the specific goal of helping filmmakers find film investors and secure funding. The movie business plan template is fully customizable to suit most any indie film project.

• Professional Presentation - The template is key to finding and attracting financing, as it walks you through the nuts and bolts of your project so you present the investment opportunity in the best light possible, without compromising your creativity.
• Business Plan Outline - Includes all key sections of a professional Business Plan, including Company, Project, Industry, Marketing, Distribution, Investment and Financial Opportunity.
• Real World Examples - Examples from other successful business plans are included in every key section of the film business plan template.
• Return on Investment (ROI) - make your compelling case for why a potential investor should invest in your film
• Streaming & Acquisition Deals - we constantly scour the industry's leading resources for release patterns, streaming deals, festival acquisitions and track all the information we can find.

This easy-to-use Film Business Plan Template is included all of our Film Financing Packages and Bundles , along with our Film Proposals and Financing Manual, Film Projections Templates, Indie Film Pitch Deck, Latest Industry Statistics and much more. All of our products are available for immediate download and come with a 60-day full 100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!

NEW! Documentary Business Plan & Documentary Pitch Deck

FilmProposals is thrilled to offer help to documentary producers looking for investors, by enhancing our Film Fundraising toolkits to address the specific needs of documentarians. The highlight is a unique Documentary Business Plan Template included in all of our Film Financing Toolkits and Bundles . Much of the Documentary Business Plan is just like that of our narrative Film Business Plan Template, however, we've also done some major custom work to specifically highlight why documentaries are a great investment and how to best showcase your documentary to investors:

• Documentary Business Plan Template - this new template is completely redone to focus only on documentary films. Recent successes, emerging documentary trends, streaming and studio deals, distribution patterns, audience statistics, revenue generated for sample films and much more. When did Docs become profitable and start selling for $5M or $10M at festivals? We lay it all out for you...
• Documentary Pitch Deck - while our pitch deck template can be used for any type of film, you will use your business plan research to ensure the deck showcases your documentary as a worthy investment opportunity
• Financial Projections/ Comparable Films - our custom database and custom financial projections flow seamlessly for both documentaries and narrative films

The new Documentary Business Plan Template is included in ALL of our Film Financing Toolkits and Bundles , so you can purchase any of them and be well on your way to funding any part of your documentary with private investments.

Film Business Plan Template Screenshots

The film plan template is consistently updated (including 2024). Screenshots may be dated, but our Film Business Plan template is not.

Feature Film Business Plan Template

The film business plan template is a step-by-step guide so you understand your film as a business proposition to film investors. We walk you through the nuts and bolts of your project, and the business side of the film industry, so you present the investment opportunity in the best light possible, without compromising your creativity. We have done all the heavy lifting and all you need is to focus on your film, target audience and marketing/distribution plan.

Film Business Plan Sections

Examples from other successful business plans are included in every key section of the film business plan template.

Executive Summary

You write this section last. It is the one page overview of everything that follows. Just wait until you see your plan all put together and you get to read through how good your investment opportunity sounds out loud, with proven industry statistics, real world examples and well-crafted language. This is always the highlight for every filmmaker - when they get to say, "Wow! I would totally invest in this film and here's why..."

The Company

This is where you discuss the type of company you've set up and why, highlight all the successes of your management team and producers, describe what you're all about and highlight the competitive advantages your team has over any others.

The Project

This is where you get to tell your story, describe your project, use your log-line, compare briefly to other films, development highlights to date, talent attached and more.

The Industry

This is where your business plan gets good! Filmproposals has fine-tuned this section with dozens of known film investors. We highlight all the latest industry trends and awards using references to elite sources, describe how the film industry works, use the latest box office, festival, streaming info and other film industry statistics and describe the overview of the movie industry simply and clearly. This section is updated multiple times per year so it always has the most current information available.

Marketing Plan

Here is where you want to discuss your specific target markets and audience: who are they, how many, their demographics, how you will target them, what are their past habits, etc. We provide a few examples, but leave you plenty of room to get creative with your marketing strategy. Read More: Film Marketing Plan & Distribution Plan Expert Advice

The Investment Opportunity

Ahhh...this is where we really shine! First, we put all the mandatory disclaimers (film investment is inherently risky....) and then we talk about all the ways you have mitigated these risks! You add on exactly how your investment opportunity is structured (Distribution Waterfall, Recoupment Schedule options are included in our Financing Manual) and how you plan to pay your investors back. You then use all the included full explanations and detailed notes and charts for every line item, to explain how you arrived at all your calculations.

Distribution Plan

Here we emphasize how crucial the distribution strategy is to any type of film. We walk through film festivals, theatrical release, digital release (streaming and VOD), TV, other ancillary markets and why independent films have more opportunities and advantages than ever before. You just pick and choose which sections are right for your project and customize them based on your distribution strategy

Confidentiality Notice

Basic legal info to protect you, your project and any potential investors.

You then add on any other relevant documentation, such as your budget (template included in our Film Financing Packages), official agreements, letters of intent and more. Not ready to buy the full template? Try our How to Write a Film Business Plan Free Course.

As it turned out, the business plan WAS the hardest thing I've ever done, but with the tools in the package, it made it much less stressful and the more I got into it, I thought to myself - YES!!! - thank god someone knows what they're doing...

Melissa, I was extremely hesitant in purchasing even your lowest priced package. It all sounded to good to be true. I spent 2 months last year writing a business plan from scratch for a different medium. So I just couldn't imagine getting anything worth while for the prices you were offering. But I have an investor that requested a detailed plan with financial projections within 2 weeks, so I pulled the trigger on your Gold + Financials Filmmaker Bundle .

It was the best money I've ever spent! Can't even begin to tell you what a difference it makes. So concise and on point. Makes putting the plan together so fluid and easy. Not having to worry about what to cover, only how to best state it for my film project. Amazing. Thank you so much. Worth every dollar! - Michael

How a Script Turns Into Film Financing

A Business Plan is a tool that helps you turn your film ideas or scripts into an investment opportunity. Saying “I have a script about XYZ and need $100 to make my film” is exactly like saying “I made this pasta dish and need $100 to open my restaurant”

Being a great chef and being a great restaurant manager are two entirely different skillsets. Can one person be both? Of course. Can you have a successful restaurant without both? No. Would you give someone money to open a restaurant because they made you a great dinner? (We hope not!)

A great chef alone is not enough to get investors. You must have a plan for how you are going build, run and maintain the restaurant. Physical build, marketing, branding, ordering, making menus, publicity, systems, hiring staff and on and on. These are the things that will cost money, and hence they are the investment.

A script is not an investment vehicle. A script may attach top level talent, but film investors don't look for scripts - they look for investment opportunities that will provide them a potential profit on the money they invest (ROI - return on investment). A completed script does not require any money. If you want to sell your script and be done, option it to a studio. If you are looking for film financing, because you want to make your own film, then you want to focus on your business, which is film production.

If any of these sound like you, now is the time to put together your Film Business Plan:

• I have a great script and am looking for film investors
• Where do I find film investors?
• You are searching online for "film investor database" or "film investors seeking scripts" or "investors for filmmakers," or worse, posting on social media for the same

The FASTEST Way to Write Your Film Business Plan

We've been helping filmmakers raise their film financing for over 20 years. One way we do this is by providing a variety of ways for filmmakers to write their Film Business Plans. The different ways have a wide range in terms of budget, time and level of expertise backing. By working directly with filmmakers, we've learned some love the business and money side of the industry, and others, not so much. This is why we've crafted different approaches based on a time/value/skillset formula to suit every type of filmmaker.

Fastest Business Plan With The Most Industry Expertise

If you want to impress your investors in the most professional way, our Platinum Plus Financing Package is for you. You'll be bringing in the combined expertise of Nash Info Services (the movie data gurus behind the-numbers.com) and FilmProposals, as well as entertainment attorneys and prior successful filmmakers. You will also have your plan done in less than two weeks. NIS will be running your 20 Comparable Films (much more impressive than 10 films, since you get to choose from 20,000+ films), while FilmProposals has done all the heavy lifting in our Film Business Plan Template - the industry (including the latest streaming & festival deals, award winners and industry stats), the market, and the financial (how the film business works and how a movie earns money) section.

You simply write up your management bios, your target audience and your distribution plan. There is also the option outsource your Marketing Plan, with our Business Plan Sections - Done For You , but we have already given you the roadmap on exactly how to approach your Marketing and Distribution Plans using an analytical and proven approach. You'll have a Film Investor Agreement, a real PPM (private placement memorandum), most of the legal docs that prove you're ready to maintain your Chain of Title and a Pitch Deck template. This is our most impressive package, we have seen it work time and again, and is best for those with a high end, professional mindset targeting the same with their investors.

Fastest Business Plan With Some Industry Expertise

You can scale the Platinum Plus back to our Gold Toolkit + Financials Bundle - you get a lot of the above. Key differences are 10 Comparable Films, chosen from our scaled down database of 400+ indie films, no PPM and the Legal Pack (Chain of Title) is an optional add-on. You'll still have the Business Plan Template, Film Investor Agreement and Pitch Deck Template. This package has helped dozens of filmmakers secure investors over the years and is a solid option for those with a lighter budget. A higher time investment on your end, a bit less expertise behind you, but a lower financial investment.

DIY Business Plan With Some Industry Expertise

The Gold Toolkit is best for those who want to really dive in to the film business and do the heavy lifting themselves. You still get a ton of Filmproposals expertise and templates, but you'll get into the nitty gritty of financial projections, comparable films, marketing plan, distribution plan and finding film investors. Just like our other bundles and toolkits, filmmakers have raised millions of dollars of film funding with this package.

FREE Sample Business Plan Template

Our actual Business Plan Template in Microsoft Word is always up to date (this sample is older), fully editable and contains far more detail and text than this short excerpt. You can either share the template below or subscribe to our FREE Business Plan Course and have it delivered to your inbox .

Click to download the FREE Movie Business Plan Sample .

These film business plan tips will help you to attract investors and present the offer that gets their attention. The research process inherent to preparing a business plan forces you to look at the financing of other films and refine your precise film investor offer. This process will lead you straight to finding and securing the right investors for your movie.

Whether you use a film business plan, private placement memorandum, film investor agreement or other fundraising vehicle, the thought process required to complete your film business plan is invaluable and will help you stand out from the crowd and pitch your project in a way that compels investors to want a piece of your investment opportunity!

FREE Course - How to Write a Film Business Plan

How to Write a Film Business Plan is the Number 1 goal of most of our filmmakers, so we wrote a FREE How to Write a Movie Business Plan online course. Writing a business plan can be overwhelming to some, and while our FilmProposals Business Plan Bundles & Toolkits will save you hundreds of hours with prewritten text and templates and speed up your learning curve by showing you how to complete complicated financial projections, there is still a lot of information to process. We designed this Film Business Plan Course to be sent once per week to break the process of writing your business plan into manageable pieces, and to keep you accountable and focused. In case you can't see the sign up form, try here .

Top of Film Business Plan Template

Crafting a Film Distribution Plan

Your Film Distribution Plan just may be the way to unlock the secret pathway to the big screen for your indie film. Dive into our comprehensive guide on crafting a compelling distribution strategy to woo audiences and critics alike! Our definitive exploration of indie film distribution, where we unveil the strategies that will help independent filmmakers navigate the complex terrain of getting their work in front of eager audiences. Learn all about: Crafting the Ultimate Film Distribution Plan .

Top of Film Business Plan

• Indie Film Return on Investment

Discover the secrets behind skyrocketing yours while unraveling the blend of creative storytelling and strategic financial planning. Dive in to learn how to balance artistic passion with profitable entrepreneurship in the world of indie film. Embarking on the journey of independent filmmaking is a challenge in and of itself, but the path to profitability requires an astute blend of creativity and business acumen. The quest for a substantial Return on Investment (ROI) is not merely a financial ambition; it's a necessary strategy to sustain your passion and continue producing impactful stories. More Info: Indie Film Return on Investment

Top of Film Business Plan Tips

How to use a Film Investor Agreement

What does the deal actually look like between you and your investors? Who is getting paid first, when and how much? What does profit participation look like? How do you ensure nothing is standing between you and an interested film investor?

One way is by using a Film Investor Agreement .

Tips on Film Marketing Plan & Distribution Plan

Your Film Marketing Plan & Distribution Plans are the hardest parts of your business plan to complete. FilmProposals has done all the heavy lifting for you for your financial projections, covering the industry, using top tier research and statistics and discussing all the latest release trends and acquisitions. However, Film Marketing and Distribution Plans are unique to every film and this is where a producer has to focus their efforts to be successful. When you have these mapped out, investors and distributors will know you have a solid deal on the table. Luckily, we've helped so many successful filmmakers over the years, and now offer our expert formula for reaching your audience, winning film festivals and getting distribution .

Why Start a Film Production Company

Filmmakers gain a huge advantage when they start a film production company . This process allows them to pursue equity-based crowdfunding for larger sums across a wider base of investors than just typical donation-based crowdfunding. It also helps to protect your film, management team, opens additional financing opportunities and makes your projects far more appealing to film investors. You will, of course, need to secure legal counsel to pursue this path, however, here is a high level overview of some of your options.

Independent Film Companies and How They Got Started

For any indie filmmaker, independent film companies are greatly important. More often than not, these are the only movie companies indie filmmakers have the potential to work with. But the origin stories of your favorite indie movie company in the film industry may surprise you and will definitely enlighten you and provide inspiration as you embark on starting your own independent film company .

Advanced Business Plan Tips

We are going to assume the finer details of your project are worked out, you already have a killer script and dive straight into the lesser-known secrets of business plan writing. Here we look at a few of the common pitfalls, some practical advice on how to avoid them and put you in the stakeholder’s shoes with some hypothetical pitches. Learn more: Advanced Business Plan Tips

• Film Business Plan VOD Projections

The new world of VOD and being able to target your market directly is fantastic news for producers, especially those who could or did not follow the traditional distributor model. However, unlike the traditional theater/distributor model, these opportunities are much more difficult for projections and business plans. Use our outline of the different VOD business models, costs and calculations associated with each, as well as which statistics and case studies you want to use in your business plans. More Info: Film Business Plan VOD Projections

Where To Get Film Industry Statistics

One of the keys to any business plan is to look at historical and projected industry trends. Do you know how well filmed entertainment is doing now and how or if it is projected to grow? Which segments and countries have the most promise? Streaming and VOD trends? Which markets and audiences are succeeding and which are trending down? You can't possibly talk to investors unless YOU know your industry cold. Learn more: Film Industry Statistics

The business plan info really opened my eyes to how a lot of this business is so dependent on a sound business plan... and that creativity does not have to be compromised. -- More Testimonials

... I'm now sending out my completed business plan/film proposal document to potential investors and the one comment I'm getting back almost immediately is that it's so well laid out and professional. Believe me, first impressions really do count. --

More Film Business Plan Tips

• Sundance: Why the Aggressive Indie-Film Market Reflects Real Promise for the Future
• Independent Film Market Rebounds at Sundance Film Festival
• Indie Film Lives, Thrives, Blossoms & Blooms !!

Attract Investors with Your Plan

• Film Marketing Plan & Distribution Plan Expert Advice
• Film Distribution Plan
• Professional Film Financial Projections
• Use a Film Investor Agreement
• Advanced Film Business Plan Tips
• About Independent Film Companies
• Start a Film Production Company
• Film Industry Statistics
• FREE How to Write a Film Business Plan Course

While our FilmProposals Bundles & Toolkits will save you hundreds of hours with prewritten text and templates and speed up your learning curve by showing you how to complete complicated financial projections, there is still a lot of information to process. We designed this FREE Film Business Plan Course to be sent once per week to break the process of writing your business plan into manageable pieces, and to keep you accountable and focused. In case you can't see the sign up form, try here .

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Film & Television Business Plans

Independent video store business plan.

Independent Choice Flicks video rental specializes in art, foreign, and alternative genre films.

Video Production Business Plan

Michael's Video Service is a start-up company providing video production services on a freelance basis to television stations, companies, high schools, and families.

Video Television Production Business Plan

Evergreen TV Productions produces digital video scrapbooks from photographs, travelogues for cities and special interest clients, and video resumes for college communications degree students.

Have you ever dreamed of breaking into the film industry? Now we’re not talking about becoming a famous movie star, we’re talking about those behind the scenes, production companies. If you have a knack for filming, graphics, and editing you may be interested in opening your own film and television production company. Check out our assortment of sample plans to turn your talent into a successful business.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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Entertainment Industry Business Plan Sample

Published Jul.12, 2016

Updated Apr.22, 2024

By: Jakub Babkins

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Table of Content

Sample Business Plan for Entertainment Industry

Starting up a media and entertainment industry business doesn’t only mean to start the production house for producing a variety of different items to simply earn the capital, but it requires a concentrated plan that can lead to the fulfillment of your vision. You must know that you are not just starting an entertainment industry business plan but a center that would provide professional services and a showbiz business. Here your business skills and performance decides your success.

You can take help from consulting services or agencies as they will guide you how to start and promote your entertainment industry business plan in media and entertainment industry. Consult magazines and internet to learn about the recent trends in the production and business. Information related to laws and taxes is another significant aspect that you should know before starting the production business. A sound knowledge and effective planning would help you to start a new business and grow it efficiently.

In the entertainment industry, media production is not the production of a single product. Entertainment and media is a very vast field and the productions options available are variable. You should select one or more productions like promotional products, educational television, news, dramas, films documentaries, music, etc. that you would like to work on before starting any entertainment or media entertainment business plan. You would then write a separate media production business plan for each intended production. Generally, your media entertainment industry business plan should include the answers of following questions:

• What is the purpose or the goal of the production and objective of your entertainment industry business?
• Which is your intended audience or your production will be watched or listened to by whom?
• Is the production related to electronic or print media?
• Does the production include correspondence with other production or media production business plan ?
• Is the content is new, or the production will reproduce already existing content?
• Is the production being produced for the Internet, Cable, Satellite TV or TV?
• Do you have the script for production? If yes, describe the script for the production briefly.
• What is the total estimated time for opening and closing of production and its anticipated location?
• How will be the selection of talent done for the production?
• What are the specifications for the technical equipment and the requirements for the professional knowledge of technical crew for the new production?

Sample Entertainment and Media Entertainment Industry Business Plan

Entertainment and media production and entertainment industry business is not an easy task, but you should think the industry you would like to work like news industry, music industry, the entertainment industry or any other. Think about your budget and time and select according to that. You may start with low cost consuming business and earn more budget and then spend it on any other business. You must build contacts in the media industry and other media related business. A good relationship with other media houses would help you to grow positively. Also, set your ethical standards for your business.

Below are some sample entertainment industry business plans for Video and Film Production, TV production and Music Production. Review the following sample entertainment business plans and tailor your own entertainment industry business plan as per the sample plans described.

Sample Music Entertainment Industry Business Plan

The music recording and entertainment industry business is the cornerstone of the entertainment and media industry. Setting up a recording and production business is equally demanding as well as require money and time. Having ample knowledge about the business is important. Music Recording and production is the very tricky part of the entertainment industry because it requires heavy equipment. In the recent decade music production and recording witness a steady growth.

By setting up a music recording and production studio, you cannot only attract solo singers, bands but also large scale entertainment industry like drama industry, etc. It is important to write a good business plan for the entertainment industry before setting up the recording or production studio.

Which services will your Music Production and Recoding company provide?

Firstly, you need to finalize the services you are going to provide along with the vision of the music entertainment business.

• Vision and Mission of your Studio: Clearly, think about the vision of your music studio as it would direct you to understand the scope of your studio. Your vision must be defined in a way that you want to excel in this business and become the best choice for the media houses. Your mission must be to equip your studio with the best equipment in the world for recording and production of music to provide excellent services to the clients. Good vision and mission will enhance your morale and attitude towards success.
• What services you would provide? : Think and write clearly about the services you would like to provide in your studio e.g. song recording or production, production of either jingle, soundtracks and audio books, studio sessions, selling of musical equipment and music consultancy services. You should decide what would be the scope of your studio and then enlist the services. You may start with less but don’t compromise on the quality of your entertainment industry business.

Business plan for investors

How to write the business plan for the music entertainment business.

After the vision and services have been finalized the following should be analyzed:

• Analysis of Market Trends : Analysis of current market trends is important for developing the entertainment industry business plan. It should include current trends in the music industry and potential target clients in the media. Analysis of current trends will help you to identify the important equipment for your studio. You may enhance your services to the music artists, authors, advertising agencies, etc.

You should keep in mind about the level and competence of you competitors to excel in the media production business plan . You should take care of your employees to avoid any resignation from the professionals.

• Market Strategy : You should identify and make proper salary packages for your employees to attract them and perform their best. It is very important to understand the nature of work of each employee and set salary according to that. You can also look at the salary packages of your competitors to get an idea. Further, incentives and bonus can also improve your credibility in business. Also, consider your estimated sales projection.

It is also important to develop the pricing strategy of you music studio.  Some Music studio often charges by the hour and some of them charge a flat fee. You can develop different pricing packages for your clients.

• Advertisement Strategy: Publicity of your music recording and production studio is very important to attract the clients from the media and entertainment business. Adopting can cost effective advertisement strategy would help you to promote your studio effectively. You can place an advertisement on billboards, electronic and print media, by using social media and sponsoring a TV or radio show.
• Finance strategy for setting up a music recording and production studio: You should estimate the price of all the equipment’s needed for your studio. Look for the prices of different brands and select the ones that fulfill your requirements in the best way. List the items and prices. You should also look for the pricing of liability insurance, license, rents, gadgets, additional expenses like advertisements and promotions. Choose cost-effective ways to equip your studio without compromising on the quality of the products. You should conduct a market survey before finalizing the financial strategy. Headphones, mixing consoles, microphones, digital audio workstation, music workstation, preamps. Computers, CD duplicator, and printer, etc. are some important equipment for the studio. This business require excellent sound system for better results.

Well defined Business Structure of the Music Entertainment Company

You should understand the business structure of the studio to achieve your entertainment industry business plan. Also clearly define the responsibilities of the personnel engage in your business structure. Your entertainment industry business structure may include the following:

• A chief executive officer who would be responsible for the recruitment, selection, training of the staff, developing strategies, planning, organizing and monitoring of the activities or projects.
• A lawyer or legal secretary who would be responsible for legal documentation of your studio and more responsibilities like drawing up contacts.
• A Studio Manager who would be responsible for tracking hours of the studio session and billing client, management of recording studio and handling of other main responsible.
• Music Producer would be responsible for recording and producing of music tracks, ordering of tracks in the album.
• The recording engineer would be responsible for sound effects in the recording, mixing and adding beats, etc. and selecting good songs to earn money.
• Admin and HR officer would be responsible for administrative tasks, hiring and training of professionals, appointments of the client and last but least arrangements of travel and meetings.
• Marketing and sales executive would be responsible for the promotion of music albums, creating new business opportunities, looking for new partners and last but not least responsible for the growth of the studio.
• An accountant must be the part of your music strategy as he would be responsible for looking after you financial reports, budget, financial analysis and business conditions. He can guide you to make necessary changings in the financial policy.
• Front desk officer handles the duties assigned by the manager, receive and greets the clients, receive important documents and handles phone calls and emails on behalf of the studio.

A good business structure in important for any business. Also, focus on the work environment. A good family and collaborative work environment would help you to avoid workplace conflicts and improve the quality of production and business. You can get this by proper application of rules and regulations.

Thus, setting up a music production and recording studio needs proper well-defined paperwork. This sample entertainment industry business plan will help you in writing an effective plan that will act as a roadmap for future. An effective media production business plan is a key to your success in your business in the media industry. You can develop your entertainment industry business plan yourself or hire consultancy services. The entertainment industry is incomplete without music houses and in recent decade advancement in sound technology has opened new directions for the artists. Following the above-given sample plan will help to achieve your better results in your entertainment industry business plan.

Sample TV, Film and Video Entertainment Business Plan

Film and video production is another pillar of the television entertainment industry and a good business opportunity for the new comers. These days different TV channels have launched their private drama channels as well as making their films thus increasing chances of business.

Sample Video and Film Entertainment Business Plan

If you are thinking of starting your video entertainment business, it’s a brilliant idea to earn, but have you done all paperwork for this? Do you understand the financial and legal issues related to film production? You also need to know that selection of film and video to be produced by you will be closely linked with the growth of production house and business. Here is a sample of what you should include in your business plan for video production.

Your entertainment industry business plan should cover all the key elements that are necessary for setting up a film production house. Following key points should be included in the business plan for the Video Production:

• Non-Disclosure agreement : Confidentiality of the information is the most important thing in the media and entertainment business and should be well maintained. Confidentiality of the script of the production, film recordings, profiles of the actors working in the production, gadgets that are or will be used in the production, etc. should be well maintained. Any leakage of the important and crucial information may hamper your film success before release. Non-disclosure agreement should be done with all related parties that information related to video will be kept confidential and secret.
• Executive Summary: The executive summary should be well written in the entertainment industry business plan. It should include the brief overview of the project (Name, script, key roles) and most importantly the capital required for the video. Capital can be both in terms of money and other physical resources like camera, recording chips, etc. Shooting details should be mentioned. Tentative dates of the film/video shooting and locations where the film/video is likely to shoot should be mentioned. It will help you to have information of your business at a glance.
• Market analysis: The most important thing is to assess the market and industry before starting your business. You should understand the current trends of the market before signing for video production. Produce what actually is demanded by the market and the audience. Select the story or script that can help you to grow as a business and production house. Also evaluate the pay ranges and select pay scale according to that to attract good faces of the industry.
• Production Plan: The media production business plan is the trickiest thing to be done in business before investment. You should estimate the production each and everything properly and try to follow this. Estimated time frame, dates of production, the release of the film/video, legal requirements, screening issues, bookings of the shooting sites and location, contracts with the concerned people should be properly written in the production time. It would save your time and money.
• Hiring of professionals for production: Setting up a production house require hiring of certain professionals like executive members, HR officers, accountants, managers, recording engineers, sound engineers, video engineers, cameraman, photographers, composers, scriptwriters and editors specifically related to video production. Professional dress designers and makeup artists are needed to be hired. The hiring of good and competent employee is the key to the growth of your production house. You must pay market competitive salary to attract good professionals. You must also have list of other professionals or resumes of other possible candidates to call if any current employee suddenly resign.
• Publicity and Advertisement for promoting the production: You must think about the promotion of your video production house and the film/video in the entertainment industry. Think of the dates of the releases of trailer and promos to publicize the. You can also use other methods of promoting movies like billboarding of promos, given tickets, publicity through live programs and media campaigns. You should also estimate the required budget for this. Advertisement in colleges, schools, and universities is also the excellent opportunity. Cost-effective advertisement strategy would help to gain more in less. You can attract the audience through Unique and creative advertisement, discount options on tickets, by arranging concerts, etc.
• Information related to the release of the information and distribution methods of the production: You must decide the issue related to the release of video/movie to the audience. You must schedule date of release and trailers or promos release of the film or video. You should decide the patterns of release like local release worldwide release and modified wide release etc. Methods of potential distribution of the films/ video like airline, VOD, DVD or theatrical should be decided. Specifically, write down the names that are actually good for your production team and best fitted for you. The release of video and promos on the special occasion like festivals, local holidays, etc. would increase the chance of success and more earning.
• Production budget of the film: Evaluating the total cost required in the film production and business is important. It would include all tax credits, rebates, return on investments for business , loss prevention strategy, distribution of profit, salary and all legal issues related to film production and business. You may hire a specialist to help you in making film budget. Other expenses may include legal. Brochures, Stationary, Rent, furniture, etc. Create a comprehensive video budget detailing each and every expense.
• Understanding the requirements of travel : Film production often requires local and outside country traveling. You must know legal and other requirements of the traveling. Passports, visas, duration to apply for a specific visa for the actors and other crew members. You must know the cost-effective reservations to the airlines, hotel, etc. to save your budget.
• Selection of the Cast: Selection of the cast for the production of the video is another major task. Sometimes a good script but wrongly selected cast would end up in a loss. You must select the cast appropriate for the roles and those who are liked and demanded by the society. You must decide how you want to pay your actors. Some actors demand payment per scene and other want per episode. Sign a proper agreement with the actors and have it as a part of movie entertainment business plan.

Thus, business related to film and video production is a difficult task. A proper business plan for video production indicating each detail can help you to avoid any many challenges. A good story to well execution demand a well paper work.  You must remember that providing entertainment to the audience is your key responsibility, so your media production business plan is key to your success.  This video production company business plan would help you to customize your plans for the future and get more customers from the media and entertainment industry.

Sample for TV entertainment business plan

TV production is a brilliant idea for the business. Small investors can easily manage to start this business. You can reach many people in a short time via TV and can also convey your thoughts to local people and also to the people living across the border. TV can communicate your message through sight, sound and motion to have an immediate impact on the audience. You can package good programs and earn millions of dollars from the show sponsors. Successful TV production is a creative work, and most of our entertainment programs are broadcasted through TV. TV production is not only the source of entertainment but also a source of information in the electronic and digital world.

These days many TV stations and channels are working in the TV business and trying to compete. They are launching many different channels on various types of content like news, sports, dramas, etc. and looking for content and production. Firstly you need to decide which TV shows you would like to produce. The production option for the TV shows are as follows:

• News related programs: You can produce exclusive content for the news TV channels. Be creative in what you are going to build and sell it and grow your business. You can start special documentary programs, interviews with the great leaders which will share positive aspects of their family. You can also give a chance to newcomers in the industry by introducing them through your production. You can share news and information of what happening across the broader and internationally. News related to fashion and sports can be produced.
• Health Related Programs: It is the most important and often neglected part of our TV industry. You can start with the production of informative programs related to different diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and other life-threatening and lifestyle diseases. Production of programs that help people to prevent diseases and give knowledge related to health, exercise, and fitness can also be started. It can attract a large number of audience. You can look for the advertisement of individual hospitals or pharmaceutical industries to grow your business. You can also take an initiative by taking short interviews of the health professionals. Further, the production of videos of other health related practices like herbalists, yoga, traditional health practices, etc. can also be done. You can also create a show on new health-related discoveries to attract people.
• Production of Tourism and enhancement of culture shows: Very few programs are on aired these days to promote your local culture. You may take the initiative by producing programs on historical places of your country, natural and beautiful sites of the country to attract the tourists. Further, you can promote the local culture of your country. Beautiful production may help to achieve success. The production of different culture related programs by showing different traditions, customs, and values can also prove beneficial. For this, you may to travel both locally and internationally and you may take assistance from the embassies, traveling agencies and guides.
• Production of Economics and Real Estates programs: You can attract the businessman and real estate agents through production of valuable programs on current economic conditions, forecasting of the economic situation of the country, stock exchange, etc. Production of the programs related to selling and purchasing of houses and property listings, etc. by collaborating with real estate agents, economists, etc. can also be done. This will give new directions to your business.
• Film and Drama Production: You can earn money and fame through video and drama production because it targets a large audience. A good story with good direction and production is the key to your success. Choose those film and dramas for production that their target audience wants to watch. You can also make the film, documentary and short telefilms on social issues and become a social change agent. Try to produce content out the common locations.
• Production of Fashion shows: The entertainment industry is nothing without fashion and fashion shows. Designers are focusing on both Eastern and Western fashion and also a blend of both. Fashion shows earned a lot of fame these days. Many fashion designer have started their own brands and becoming the part of big fashion industry. Many fashion shows are under production these days. You can also introduce new fashion designers and fashion magazines.  Production of programs on personality developing or makeup tutorials can also attract audience.
• Advertisements: These days many brands are looking for the production of advertisements. You can also produce novel and unique advertisements. Look for the brands and offer a good package to them and earn money.

Here is a step by step guide to writing business plan for TV entertainment:

• The idea with concept and knowledge: Each program on aired on the TV has an idea and concept that reflects your knowledge. So start with programs of your interest, professional background, and orientation. A good idea that is consistent with your passion will help to tailor the program brilliantly.
• Think about what you want to produce: There are many types of content available for the TV production like dramas, short films, documentaries, advertisements, etc. you should have a clear idea about what your production will be based on before planning for the business.
• What would be the number of people required for the production?
• The production will go live or would be recorded?
• What type of advertising would the production require?
• Will you collaborate with the TV station or go for independent sponsors for the production?
• Estimate the budget: It is important to estimate your budget before finalizing anything. Remember that you would probably have to pay to the crew members along with the show directors and the production studio. Your contacts may help you to select a good production house in a cost effective way. A good estimated budget is key to your business growth.
• Production stage: Production stage is the main phase of recording your play/drama/video etc. You need to be very careful at this stage especially if the program is going live. Careful preparations are also necessary and might require traveling locally or internationally. You can take help from other consulting or advertising agency. Try to be perfect at this stage. It would take more than one shooting or recording of a single scene to gain a perfect production in Put your time and effort for good results.
• Editing Stage: It is the most important and crucial stage of production. It is probably the what you want your audience to see and listen out of many other programs. If your recording is of more than an hour, you probably have to cut it short to thirty minutes. In this stage you have to lay the music to mention the names of crew members and other important things.

The above Sample   business plan for TV production would help you to learn the following:

• How to earn money by becoming successful TV producer?
• How to get a partnership with the TV stations?
• How to start a successful TV career in the media and entertainment industry?

So, you can start a good business through TV production. A good production would increase your chances of getting hired by big TV stations and grow business. Think of creative and new ideas to produce TV programs related to the new idea.

Sample Promotional Products Business Plan

Business in media and entertainment industry is all about production and promotion. Both print and electronic media try to compete with each other regarding production and promotion.

How to start a Promotional Products Business?

If you have money and want to start a new business, spending in the media and entertainment industry is worth spending. This industry would broaden the chances of your success and fame. Entertainment  and media industry operates through news, documentaries, films, advertisements and marketing items. You can make capital and enhance revenue of your business through starting investing in either production or selling of the advertisement items

Promotion of any business involves

• Production of the product
• Pricing of the production
• Placement of the production
• Promotion of the production

Promotion is what how you communicate about your business to others. Promotion of the production further includes advertisements, developing and building relations along with sale of the production. It is good to work on the promotion of the production to earn more. The best ways to promote business is through the marketing items. The trend of the promotional product is growing day by day.

Billions are invested on the production of promotional products these days in America on items like T-shirts, pens, hats, etc. These products are given away along with the other main products to increase the value and business. Spending a small amount on the production of promotional items for your media production business plan will actually help to earn more. In actual, manufacturing and production of promotional products is not a big game, but to market, these promotional products are the real one. This business requires good communication, sales and marketing skills. Attracting attention through effective communication, making people recognize your brand and sticking with your brand is what you can do with the effective promotion of products. You can promote a favorable image of your production and brand and grow business. After the successful promotion of any product, you can increase your target audience and expand your products.

Ways to start promotional product business

To start your business of promotional products you should where you are exactly located and take advantage of your locality. You can enter the promotional product business for media and entertainment industry in two different ways. Here are these two options.

• Start production of inexpensive products for sale: To become the manufacturer, you need to establish a production station or shop. You can import items from other cheaper stores or establish your own manufacturing plant. You can also import items from other countries where the products are manufactured for much lesser prices. You must have a plan according to your budget to start your manufacturing factory. Do not forget to take care of your regional climate and laws. It is important to join promotional products associations to increase the chances of getting distributors. Hire sale force who will promote your products. They can be hired through online employment sites too.
• Become the product distributor and Imprinter: You can also start earning through contacting those manufacturers looking for distributors to sell their production. Look for those products you are interested and create a list of potential customers. Understand your client needs first and then select the promotional products.

Sample Business Plan for Promotional Products

The right entertainment industry business plan will be a guideline for you to follow through each step of your business. The right plan is essential for making the business success. Here is a sample entertainment industry business plan for promotional products:

• Firstly write down the executive summary of your promotional company. Introduce your company. Decide and write products to be promoted. To increase the value of their main business entertainment, many companies hold various products for promotion. Your business can supply logo imprinted items and products to distributors or work as a distributor itself. You should write a brief description of the nature of work of your production Company and products and services in detail.
• Understand the market trends. Many industries deal with the promotional products. These products can be of daily usage with imprinted logos or message or slogan.
• Write how you would expand your business. You must know that you have to compete with the larger products industry and for this, you must have to keep on adding your unique promotional products. Similar products can reduce your chance of profit.
• Decide duration of the promotion. You must decide when and how long the promotional product will be offered. You should estimate the target profits, client’s needs, and your location. You promotional production business will be dependent on the quality and on time delivery of your products. Bring originality to your business, not imitation.
• Decide how you would market your products. Successful marketing strategy is the key to your success in promotional products business. Look for those distributors with the good record. Secondly, focus on the marketing where the item is necessary to attract the client. You can also hire dealers or outsource your distribution of the products. Distributors spend a good time for your business so a proper compensation would attract more dealers. Develop a strategic alliance with your distribution.
• Define appropriate milestones. Media industry heavily depends on entertainment sector. Your business can earn more in the media but select real appropriate milestones to help you to achieve target quickly. Always keep track of your sales, starting and closing dates, etc., would help you to achieve growth on your success.
• Your entertainment industry business plan must have a management summary. The proper management of your business is key to your success. Often one business is divided into three to four areas which assist each other in product sourcing, marketing, production, and finance.

Tips for starting a Promotional Product Business

Here are a few tips for starting a promotional product business:

• Choose small size products that are easy to deliver at a low cost. You can also opt to send coupons.
• Decide whether you will offer promotional services round the year or once or twice. Make your budget plan prior.
• Choose and effective promotional strategy and reevaluate your promotional strategy.

Whether you are producing news, dramas, films, etc., you must keep in mind few general guidelines. Equipment takes the time to setup and similarly break down of equipment. You should estimate this time before going to any locations. Electronic devices need a power supply like lighting and cameras. You should keep this in your mind when going for outdoor shooting. You need to take prior permission from the government of local governing body for outdoor shooting and agreements needed to be done. You should select places without ambient noises. Site surveying is a good option as you can resolve any sight issues before production.

About OGScapital

Check out the credentials of our media production business plan consultants and read through our library of sample entertainment industry business plans. One of the main attributes that set OGSCapital apart from the crowd is that we are a team of professionals who are not only focused on making money but helping our clients succeed in establishing their businesses. When you contact us, we will carefully listen to your needs and expectations and come up with an ideal strategy on how to craft the media production business plan or improve your business operations. To meet diverse clients’ needs and maintain a high quality level, we do not use templates. Instead, we take our time and use our resources to create a customized entertainment industry business plan for each of our clients. We have excellent time management skills, so you can be sure that we will complete writing the business plan on time. You can count on OGSCapital to scale your business to greater heights by providing you with professional business consultancy and business plan writing services. Fill out the form below to get in touch with our able and trusted customer care support team.

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• Development

How to Pitch a TV Show Like a Pro [Free Pitch Template]

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I f you want to know how to pitch a TV show, preparation is key. The common assumption is that the pitch process is all about “selling it in the room.” It’s not. In the words of Sun Tzu, “every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.” You have to sell it long before you walk into that room. Using our TV show pitch template, we will cover tips and techniques to help you craft a strong TV series pitch. By the end, you will know how to pitch a TV show.

Watch: How to Pitch a TV Show Idea

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Gathering Material

What you need for a pitch.

When you walk into "the room," you'll need a few essential materials. Sure, the idea is burned into your brain and you know the story up and down — but that's not enough. 

First of all, if you've landed a pitch meeting, your idea needs to be fully developed. The first lesson in how to pitch a TV show is to have a TV show to pitch! If you jumped the gun and need to take a few steps back, don't worry — we've created an entire masterclass on writing and developing a TV show .

Now that you're ready to pitch, let's go over what you'll need. There are three elements that you should have in-hand before stepping through the door: a logline , a show bible , and a  pilot .

The logline is the simplest and most direct sales pitch. It is a one-to-two sentence summary of your entire story. Sound easy, right? But writing loglines is deceptively difficult so start practicing.

Logline Examples:

• Stranger Things — When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his three friends must confront terrifying forces to get him back.
• Ozark   — A financial advisor drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a Mexican cartel.

Let's explore loglines a little further with this breakdown.

Crafting a Logline  •   Join the Masterclass

You should also invest some time learning how to create a show bible . The show bible is an opportunity to flesh out your idea and to prove those executives that you've done your homework. 

Here's a really cool show bible example for Montauk , which would eventually become a little show you may have heard of: Stranger Things .

This video explains how show bibles work in greater detail.

Creating a Show Bible  •   Join the Masterclass

It's one thing to pitch a TV show, it's another thing altogether to actually write one. Writing a pilot , you've successfully taken this idea and put it into a viable form. The logline and show bible simply suggest an idea — the pilot turns it into a reality.

Read some pilots for  The Office ,  Breaking Bad ,  The Sopranos , and  Game of Thrones to see how those successful shows got started.

Generating a Pilot  •   Join the Masterclass

These elements qualify as the "content" of your pitch but now we need to discuss your "presentation" of it. In the next section, we'll provide some tips and strategies for presenting the perfect pitch, including some Q&A's with executives and producers who have seen it all.

PITCHING TO A NETWORK

How to pitch a tv show to a network.

The short answer? Come armed. What does that mean? Visuals. Spoken words and words on the page don't have the same kind of impact as images.

Want to really know how to pitch a TV show idea well? Bring some strong art with you. Make sure some kind of  mood board , or even  preliminary storyboards , are part of the development process.

But visual aids aren't enough — you also need to be able to adapt to the countless variables you'll encounter. Here are executives Charlie Ebersol and Susanne Daniels explaining how modifying your pitch works.

Pitching starts with asking questions

There is a ton of content out there so knowing your audience is very important. When you approach the question of how to pitch a show to Netflix vs. Hulu vs. HBO vs. ABC, keep this in mind.

Here are some executives discussing how they like to be pitched. As you'll see, they each have their own ideas on how to pitch a TV show so just remember there is no single guaranteed method.

Know who you're pitching to

Spend less time memorizing your lines, and more time doing an 'advanced scout' on who will be at this meeting. Use IMDb! What else has he/she produced? Where else have they worked? What does this company have on their slate?

Tailor your pitch towards the company as best you can. What types of ideas do they seem to like? Can you end with a question they might be able to help answer? You want to tee up a collaboration.

WORK THE ROOM

How to pitch a tv show in the room.

We've covered some broad strokes, some essential tools. But what about how to handle the room itself? Learning the actual art of the pitch? If you want to know how to pitch a TV show to Netflix, you need to learn how to handle being “in the room.”

If you used your  show bible template , you know all the elements of your show already. So, why can't you just send them the show bible? It's about interacting with them as people, getting them excited about the project.

How do we know what it's like to be in the room if we've never been in the room? We can start by getting to know the people you'll be dealing with. This Hollywood Reporter Roundtable brings together some of the top executives in TV and streaming to lay their cards on the table — how they approach their job and some of the challenges that come with it.

The more you understand their position, the better

We've heard from executives on how to pitch a TV show. With these tips in mind, it's time to start putting together your pitch. To get started, we've created a TV show pitch template that will guide your presentation with the elements that you'll need to have ready.

Pitch Templates Work

Using a tv show pitch template.

Below, you can download your free TV show pitch template. Use this template to lay out your pitch plan. In the next section, we'll walk you through each step in filling out this TV show pitch template.

Freebie: TV Show Pitch Template

Download your FREE TV show pitch template. Just enter your email address and we'll instantly send it to you!

Pitch Template Instructions

Working with the pitch template.

Now that you've downloaded the template, let's go over the various elements and how they work. From the format and logline all the way down to the synopsis and episode breakdowns.

Mention a few key details about your show. Is it cable or network? Ongoing plot or episodic? Half hour? Hour-long? Single or multi-cam? 

Who is it about, and what happens in their life that sparks the drama that will create a compelling series? Learning how to write a logline is important because the process is more difficult than you think.

Describe the basic outline of the show's concept. Think of this as the logline with a little more meat on its bones. What's the set up for the television pilot? Where does the show go from there? Why is it sustainable over the course of many seasons?

Go a little deeper in this section. Talk about the show's primary themes. Bring up future seasons. Mention tone, mention some of the fun stuff like style and design.

Episode Breakdowns

You'll want 2-3 sentence breakdowns of 5-10 episodes, including the pilot. You do not need to mention all these in the pitch. It's good to have these episodes on hand and in your mind so you can rattle off a few.

Make sure the episodes are all a little different so you can convey that your show won't feel stale or formulaic. Stale and formulaic are not words you want associated with your how to pitch a TV show process.

This TV show pitch template is designed to give your pitch a roadmap. Being "in the room" can be intimidating and there are endless variables that might come into play and throw you completely off balance. 

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Every pitch is a chance to learn.

You're going to hear your fair share of "No's" even if your ideas are fantastic. There are factors beyond your control dictating what can or can't be bought or developed by any given network.

For as long as you are a creative producer and a writer you will need to pitch. It's something you can always hone and perfect. Also, learn to laugh at the experiences you have. Your battle scars will define you. They'll make you stronger, and they'll be fun to recount. Trust me.

Related Posts

• How Long is a TV Show Script →
• How to Create a TV Show Pitch Bible →
• How to Write a Logline for a TV Show w/ Examples →

Producing a proof of concept

Sometimes, pitching a TV show idea needs a little more than mood boards and a show bible. Sometimes, you might have to actually film a proof of concept first. In this original docu-series,  Making It , we follow filmmakers from the original script through the entire pre-production process. From budgeting, casting, location scouting, and hiring crew, this series will get you a jump on mounting your own production.

Up Next: Making It: Pre-Production Series →

Easily create script breakdown sheets online..

Import scripts. Tag elements like props, wardrobe, and cast. Create breakdown summaries and DOOD reports in a snap.

Learn More ➜

Hi there, I have a pitch for a three-part mini series, which isn’t a part of my own writing plans. I simply want to sell the idea to a production company. Do I still have to write the pilot myself as opposed to providing outlines for each episode? Thank you for your help.

I have a pitch for a mini series. I simply want to sell the idea to a production company. Do I still have to write to write the plot or episodes myself? Thank you for your help.

If you pitch an idea, does it stay confidential?

I have a pitch idea for a TV Series and one for a movie. Two completely ideas. On in concept phase. I am not full-on writer. My question is pretty the same as the ithers before mine. Is it confidential, protected, and can I sell it?

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How To Write A Business Plan (2024 Guide)

Updated: Apr 17, 2024, 11:59am

Table of Contents

Brainstorm an executive summary, create a company description, brainstorm your business goals, describe your services or products, conduct market research, create financial plans, bottom line, frequently asked questions.

Every business starts with a vision, which is distilled and communicated through a business plan. In addition to your high-level hopes and dreams, a strong business plan outlines short-term and long-term goals, budget and whatever else you might need to get started. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to write a business plan that you can stick to and help guide your operations as you get started.

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Drafting the Summary

An executive summary is an extremely important first step in your business. You have to be able to put the basic facts of your business in an elevator pitch-style sentence to grab investors’ attention and keep their interest. This should communicate your business’s name, what the products or services you’re selling are and what marketplace you’re entering.

Ask for Help

When drafting the executive summary, you should have a few different options. Enlist a few thought partners to review your executive summary possibilities to determine which one is best.

After you have the executive summary in place, you can work on the company description, which contains more specific information. In the description, you’ll need to include your business’s registered name , your business address and any key employees involved in the business. 

The business description should also include the structure of your business, such as sole proprietorship , limited liability company (LLC) , partnership or corporation. This is the time to specify how much of an ownership stake everyone has in the company. Finally, include a section that outlines the history of the company and how it has evolved over time.

Wherever you are on the business journey, you return to your goals and assess where you are in meeting your in-progress targets and setting new goals to work toward.

Numbers-based Goals

Goals can cover a variety of sections of your business. Financial and profit goals are a given for when you’re establishing your business, but there are other goals to take into account as well with regard to brand awareness and growth. For example, you might want to hit a certain number of followers across social channels or raise your engagement rates.

Another goal could be to attract new investors or find grants if you’re a nonprofit business. If you’re looking to grow, you’ll want to set revenue targets to make that happen as well.

Intangible Goals

Goals unrelated to traceable numbers are important as well. These can include seeing your business’s advertisement reach the general public or receiving a terrific client review. These goals are important for the direction you take your business and the direction you want it to go in the future.

The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you’re offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit in the current market or are providing something necessary or entirely new. If you have any patents or trademarks, this is where you can include those too.

If you have any visual aids, they should be included here as well. This would also be a good place to include pricing strategy and explain your materials.

This is the part of the business plan where you can explain your expertise and different approach in greater depth. Show how what you’re offering is vital to the market and fills an important gap.

You can also situate your business in your industry and compare it to other ones and how you have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Other than financial goals, you want to have a budget and set your planned weekly, monthly and annual spending. There are several different costs to consider, such as operational costs.

Business Operations Costs

Rent for your business is the first big cost to factor into your budget. If your business is remote, the cost that replaces rent will be the software that maintains your virtual operations.

Marketing and sales costs should be next on your list. Devoting money to making sure people know about your business is as important as making sure it functions.

Other Costs

Although you can’t anticipate disasters, there are likely to be unanticipated costs that come up at some point in your business’s existence. It’s important to factor these possible costs into your financial plans so you’re not caught totally unaware.

Business plans are important for businesses of all sizes so that you can define where your business is and where you want it to go. Growing your business requires a vision, and giving yourself a roadmap in the form of a business plan will set you up for success.

How do I write a simple business plan?

When you’re working on a business plan, make sure you have as much information as possible so that you can simplify it to the most relevant information. A simple business plan still needs all of the parts included in this article, but you can be very clear and direct.

What are some common mistakes in a business plan?

The most common mistakes in a business plan are common writing issues like grammar errors or misspellings. It’s important to be clear in your sentence structure and proofread your business plan before sending it to any investors or partners.

What basic items should be included in a business plan?

When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business,  an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.

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Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.

How to Start a Reality Show Business

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Media Industry » TV Station & TV Shows

Do you want to start a reality show from scratch? If YES, here is a complete guide to starting a reality show business with NO money and no experience .

In the past few decades, reality shows were thought to be just a trend in the entertainment and TV industry. But the advent of technology and our way of life as humans have changed that idea, because reality shows are now the current staple on television; they have become the standard and everyone is jumping on board to get their concept televised to ready viewers.

Indeed starting this business may not be easy, but it is not out of reach of anyone who wants to stage one. It all boils down to developing your concept, going through the production process, and then airing your show. The keyword here is uniqueness.

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If you are looking to start a reality show, then you have to read on to understand the various points and stages you need to get accustomed to.

It is very important to note that TV programs are for the most part unique stories, stunts, or social experiments reflecting our world. Now, with the Internet connecting producers to the rest of the world, Reality Television has become the most viable genre for new writers, creators and everyday people with great ideas to break into the Industry.

We believe that producers in this look for interesting subjects, people, professions, and original formats to purchase and produce as new shows. You have got to read on to get more comprehensive information on how to start a reality show effectively.

Steps to Starting a Reality Show Business

1. understand the industry.

First and foremost, reality shows or reality television is a genre of television programming that documents supposedly unscripted real-life situations, and often features an otherwise unknown cast of individuals who are typically not professional actors.

Have it in mind that this show differs from documentary television in that the focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers.

Note that in this business, the genre has various standard tropes, including “confessionals” (also called talking heads or interview segments) used by cast members to express their thoughts, which often doubles as the shows’ narration. In a competition-based reality show, there are other common elements which may include one participant being eliminated per episode, a panel of judges, and the concept of “immunity from elimination.”

According to facts and history, the 1991 Dutch series Nummer 28, indeed was the first show to bring together strangers and record their interactions. With time and rapid attention, it then boomed into a phenomenon in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global success of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother.

We believe that then all these shows and a number of others (usually also competition-based) became global franchises, hitting out local versions in dozens of countries. In this current age, reality shows as a whole have become a fixture of television programming.

Just in the united states, a lot of channels have retooled themselves to focus on reality programs, most famously MTV which began in 1981 as a music video pioneer, before switching to a nearly all-reality format in the early 2000s.

A lot of experts have argued about what to call a reality show and the necessary incentives to ground it. Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, and traditional game shows are not classified as reality shows, although they are made up of elements of the genre, such as unscripted situations and sometimes unknown participants.

While other genres that predate the reality show boom have sometimes been retroactively grouped into reality TV, including hidden camera shows such as Candid Camera (1948), talent-search shows such as:

The Original Amateur Hour (1948), documentary series about ordinary people such as the Up Series (1964), high-concept game shows such as The Dating Game (1965), home improvement shows such as This Old House (1979), and court shows featuring real-life cases such as The People’s Court in 1981.

The reality show industry has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. A lot of the criticisms centred on the use of the word “reality”, as such shows attempt to present themselves as a straightforward recounting of events that have occurred.

A lot of industry critics have argued that reality television shows do not accurately reflect reality, in ways both implicit (participants being placed in artificial situations), and deceptive or even fraudulent, such as misleading editing, participants being coached in what to say or how to behave, storylines generated ahead of time, and scenes being staged or re-staged for the cameras.

We also noted that other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are made to humiliate or exploit participants (particularly on competition shows); that they make stars out of either untalented people unworthy of fame, infamous personalities, or both; and that they kick start vulgarity, materialism and deception.

2. Conduct Market Research and Feasibility Studies

• Demographics and Psychographics

It is very important to state that this business is not just about the segment of the population you plan to target but the focus and agenda of your reality show.

When planning this business, you need to research this industry critically. Note that your first step towards starting a successful reality show is to brainstorm for ideas for your show and picking the best. You need to decide what your series will be all about.

Indeed it may be similar to other formats, but you must have elements and methods that are clearly original so that the content created is something unique and exciting to watch.

We have noted that a lot of producers do create original concepts with their development team, but most often than not, producers scout aggressively for new concepts and reality show ideas from writers and concept creators. This is the reason why you don’t need to be afraid to work on several show concepts at once. Things to think about when choosing your show focus may include;

• First think of what makes your idea unique
• Decide on what will get your audience excited
• Know which sub-genre of reality programming your show idea falls into
• Would it be a competition and elimination series, or a relationship series, or a lifestyle series, or something else?
• What do you want to achieve with the show?
• For how long will the show run?

3. Decide Which Niche to Concentrate On

When planning to start a reality show, we believe that you already have chosen the sub-genre you wish to pitch. But first you are going to propose either a formatted concept, or a documentary style concept.

Have it in mind that a format has a specific structure that takes place in each episode and provokes dramatic or compelling competition, typically resulting in one person winning. “Survivor”, “Top Chef”, “Wipe Out”, and “The Bachelor” are all competition formats, each with a different structure and premise.

We believe that one is about survival, another is about cooking, another is about stunts, and the other is about romance and relationships.

“Survivor” pitched all contestants against each other, with one person voted off each week by the group as a whole. While “The Bachelor” has contestants competing for a relationship with one or more voted off each week by the star of the show.

All these things and many more are what draw viewers close to a show. You need to choose what will attract people and make them stay. Niches to choose from may include;

• Documentary style
• Soap opera style
• Subcultures
• Professional activities
• Structured reality
• Special living environment
• Court shows
• Investments
• Outdoor survival
• Self-improvement and makeover
• Social experiment
• Hidden cameras
• Supernatural and paranormal
• Reality competition and game shows
• Dating based competition

The Level of Competition in the Industry

The level of competition in this industry cannot be overemphasised. Just in the year 2010, The Tester became the first reality television show aired over a video game console. But two years later – 2012, a lot of the long-running reality television show franchises in the United States such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor, had begun to see declining ratings.

But we believe that reality television as a whole remained durable in the U.S., with hundreds of shows across many channels.

While researching this industry for the sake of this article, we discovered that in 2012, the New York Magazine’s Vulture blog published a humorous Venn diagram buttressing popular themes across American reality shows then running, including shows set in the U.S. states of Alaska, Louisiana and Texas, shows about cakes, weddings and pawnbrokers, and shows, usually competition-based, whose title includes the word “Wars”.

Also we were able to note that The Voice, a singing competition franchise created by John de Mol that started in 2010, is the newest highly successful reality television franchise, with almost 50 international adaptations even in Africa.

Also Duck Dynasty, a hunting-themed reality series featuring the Robertson family that founded Duck Commander in 2013 became the most popular reality series in U.S. cable television history. Reports have it that its fourth-season premiere was viewed by nearly 12 million people in the United States, most of which work in rural markets.

Then in the year 2014, the entertainment weekly and Variety again noted stagnation in reality television programs’ ratings in the U.S., which they attributed to “The diminishing returns of cable TV’s sea of reality sameness”.

They even went further to explain that a number of networks that featured reality programming, including Bravo and E!, were launching their first scripted shows, and others, including AMC, were abandoning plans to launch further reality programs; though they clarified that the genre as a whole “isn’t going anywhere”.

All these may seem as a playground to you, but do not be deceived as new reality shows are kicking up every day around the globe.

4. Know Your Major Competitors in the Industry

Just like other businesses that have gone ahead of others and are thriving well, the reality show business isn’t an exception. There are shows that have surpassed challenges and have become a household name. Here is a list;

• Keeping Up With the Kardashians
• The Apprentice
• An American Family
• The Real World
• Sylvania Waters
• The Living Soap
• The Band-Josie 7
• Making the Band
• Project Greenlight
• Scariest Places On Earth
• U8TV: The Lofters
• Making the Band 2
• Sorority Life
• American Chopper
• Fraternity Life
• Jamie’s Kitchen
• The Restaurant
• Starting Over
• American Casino
• American Hot Rod
• Amish in the City
• Bands Reunited
• College Hill
• Dog Whisperer
• Family Plots

Economic Analysis

Let us start by stating that the Voice and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars both drew over 11 million viewers on the first night of the new season, far more than most of the heavily hyped, scripted newcomers bowing this week. Cable networks, meanwhile, remain far more reliant on reality than scripted fare, hosting literally hundreds of series that fill thousands of hours of airtime. But look a little deeper and there are signs of trouble.

The television last great reality hit, A&E’s Duck Dynasty, premiered more than three years ago. A slew of recent big bets to shake up the genre — such as Fox’s Utopia, CBS’s The Briefcase, and ABC’s The Quest — went nowhere. We believe that with networks increasingly taking a long-tail approach to their business, prioritizing scripted series that have a (profitable) digital afterlife on streaming services, reality shows are taking a great hit.

Experts believe that even though modern reality TV is barely a teenager, and far younger than programming staples such as comedy and drama, the sheer tonnage of unscripted content produced in the past decade and half has left the people who make it — and, arguably, those who watch it — struggling to recapture the excitement of a once-vibrant genre.

The industry seems to be running out of ideas, and if you have plans to take over the industry with something unique, the best time is now.

5. Decide Whether to Buy a Franchise or Start from Scratch

In case you don’t know, franchises are a booming business; which is why they are attractive to entrepreneurs who want to operate a storefront without investing too much in the traditional costs of starting a business. We believe that these traditional costs may include research, development and advertising, just to name a few.

But even with saving on traditional costs, buying into reality show franchise is still a big investment and far better than starting from the scratch due to brand awareness and cooperate identity. But before investing in a franchise of your own, carefully consider the pros and cons of franchise ownership.

Proven model

One of the biggest draws to opening a franchise is that you already know you will be working with a proven business plan. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Standard operating procedures

With an established business plan also comes procedures that have fared well at other locations. Additionally, employee training systems are typically already in place.

Assistance is part of the package

By participating in a franchise, you can share the challenges with others and get assistance on everything from real estate and operations to sales and marketing.

Be part of a brand

Many franchises are easily identifiable to consumers. So, while you will still need to partake in some advertising to let consumers know about your new location, chances are that consumers already know you by name. That is an enormous benefit that start-ups don’t have.

Price breaks

By its very nature, a single franchise location is part of a larger organization. As such, inventory costs can be lower due to bulk buying power.

6. Know the Possible Threats and Challenges You Will Face

Indeed pitching a tent in the reality show industry is notoriously difficult, but the advent of cheap technology and internet distribution has made it easier than ever to get views. Almost anyone can get noticed, but it takes a lot of commitment and hard work. Possible challenges you will face when starting your own reality show business may include;

• Coming up with a compelling niche
• Choosing the genre and format of your show
• Developing your characters
• Writing up a treatment for your show
• Building some content around your ideas
• Understand basic screenwriting formatting, conventions and the need for a good plot
• Getting the show on air

7. Choose the Most Suitable Legal Entity (LLC, C Corp, S Corp)

We all know that LLCs are one of the most popular legal entities because they are relatively easy to set up and can offer favourable tax advantages. First and foremost, Setting up an LLC gives a business owner limited liability in protecting his or her personal assets.

This simply means should anything go wrong with the business and should a legal issue arise, your personal assets will be protected; as long as you haven’t made any personal guarantees to the business. You can select whether you want to set up your LLC as a sole proprietor or as a partnership with more than one member.

Also, one of the most important features of an LLC is that income is not taxed at the corporate level, but rather it is passed directly to the individual members who own a percentage stake in the company. (The form used to send individual members’ their profit and loss allocation percentages is the K1 form.) This tax feature can be favourable because it avoids double taxation (corporate and personal income tax) and can keep more profits in the company for further growth.

Have it in mind that an LLC needs to have at least a standard operating agreement, which lays out the rules for how the managing member will conduct the affairs of the business. A lot of business attorneys have experience in drafting operating agreements, which dictate terms such as allocation of profit and loss, and stipulate the duties and limitation of liability of members and managers.

Note that the operating agreement is also an important document because most financial institutions will require a copy when you open a business bank account, and certainly if you take on outside investors. Some operating agreements are very simple for companies that have few members. Other agreements can be quite exhaustive depending on the terms of the deal and the nature of the investors.

8. Choose a Catchy Business Name

If you are looking to adopt a name for your reality show, it becomes really needful that you go for the very best. Here is some inspiration;

• Frey Theatre
• Vision Vault
• Distress Village
• Life Vigour
• Family time

9. Discuss with an Agent to Know the Best Insurance Policies for You

Just like we must have noted, the reality show business is the fastest growing genre of television production. This category of television production has vastly expanded to encompass many types of programming including game shows, variety shows, webisodes, mobisodes, documentary-style filming to series and pilots. Also with the rapid growth of “reality programming”, it is crucial to have a broker who understands the process and risks related to reality filming.

No production can ever come from movie and television studios without an insurance policy. It is for this reason that when filming regular television shows, an all-risk TV show insurance policy would suffice. But filming episodes of a reality TV show does invite much more risk than the shows that are shot in the studio.

There was a lot of doubt if the reality TV genre would last. The math is simple: a broken limb or a bruised ego could result in claims that would hurt the profits of insurance providers, which could result in insurers shying away from reality TV show insurance altogether. But in all, you need to consult a broker well experienced in this field to help you out.

10. Protect your Intellectual Property With Trademark, Copyrights, Patents

Indeed while the rights in a book or piece of music can be easily identified and protected, a reality show format is less tangible. Most features of the shows include universal appeal, manipulated emotions, big prizes, intensity, slick presentation, and the “attainability” of winning.

We believe that legal protection lies not in one simple piece of legislation but in a range of intellectual property rights. If a format is taken up by an overseas TV network without permission, it may be difficult for the company that developed the original show to achieve redress though the courts.

Reality show theme tunes, jingles, scripts and storyboards may be protected by copyright, while catchphrases and slogans may be protected by trademark registration or by an action for passing off. Most experts will argue that there is copyright in the questions used in a game show, and in the technology that allows lights, questions and screens to work in sync.

There might be copyright in certain parts of the scripted lines of the host, and in set design plans. Confidential information about the manner in which the show fits together may be policed by a series of contractual undertakings between the contestants, hosts and the TV companies.

11. Get the Necessary Professional Certification

It is very important to state that professional certification is a process by which a person develops the knowledge, experience, and skills to perform a specific job. Immediately the individual completes a course of study, he or she receives a certificate earned by passing an exam that is accredited by an organization or association that monitors and upholds prescribed standards for the particular industry involved. Professional certification in this industry may include;

• ASIS certification
• ATD Certification
• MCP certification
• Certified Professional in Learning & Performance (CPLP)

12. Get the Necessary Legal Documents You Need to Operate

While it is tempting to dig into the vision of your business and start making your idea a reality, it is important that you pause and cover all the necessary legal bases. Below, we have outlined the core legal documents that you will need when starting your business;

• Intellectual property protection agreement
• Article of Incorporation
• Operating Agreement
• Shooting permit
• Non-closure agreement
• Employee contracts and offer letters

13. Raise the Needed Startup Capital

Note that starting a reality TV show needs pre-production with all hiring crew, obtaining shooting permits, and many other things that will gulp a lot of money. If you cannot pool together all the required funds from your own end, then you will have to seek financing from third parties such as investors. If your idea or concept is really interesting and unique, you should be able to find interested investors without much stress. Possible ways to get funding may include;

• Personal savings
• angel investors
• Partnership
• Venture Capital
• Loans and grants
• Alternative funding source like Crowdfunding

14. Choose a Suitable Location for your Business

Having a good location can be vital for any business, but choosing the right one can be something of a balancing act. Ideally, the location should be convenient for your employees – without being too expensive. You should also consider;

• the level of passing trade
• the number of competitors
• transport links and parking
• planning restrictions
• local council charges and business rates for services such as waste collection
• local amenities

Despite the option you go for, there are likely to be advantages and disadvantages to the business location. An office in a rural setting might be relaxing, but could be awkward for staff or suppliers making deliveries. Being right in the middle of the city could be very convenient, but might also be expensive. Location has a major impact on cost. If you need premises in a prime location the extra costs may be justified.

15. Hire Employees for your Technical and Manpower Needs

Note that a typical reality show field crew would be made up of a camera person (handheld), a sound person carrying a boom mic, and a producer taking notes for story and interviews. Also, the on-camera “talent” would be mic’ed with lavalieres.

But it all depends on how much action there is to cover, at least two crews are ideal, to have cross angles on say, a conversation between two people. And, as always, get lots of b-roll! When it comes to the post and broadcast, a laptop, NLE editing software, and the internet are all you need.

It is very crucial that you understand the importance of a reality camera person that knows how to capture good image and sound. A steady camera, handles (let camera roll long before and long after the action), well-composed shot, good lighting, and knowledge of coverage (various size angles: close up, medium, wide.

Face shots of people speaking, hand shots of action, inserts of topics spoken about, b-roll (lots!), and room tone.) so note that good sound is probably more important than a good image. Indeed your viewers will forgive a bad image if they can clearly hear what is going on but not the other way around. Even if you have a beautiful image of two people speaking, it will not do if you can’t hear them. And don’t forget the room tone.

The Service Delivery Process of the Business

After you must have chosen your business location and are ready to start your show, your next step is to write a full synopsis, future episode guide and plot guide script for the pilot episode script for the host or voice-overs. You need to make sure to break down your script and decide how to go about the filming process.

You also need to protect your idea by registering with the appropriate agency for copyright protection in your state or country. Have it in mind when writing your synopsis that the key is efficiency in describing the elements and action involved, and also creating enough detail to be original.

Then following a shooting schedule you would have created earlier, shoot your reality TV show as planned. Always ensure to employ a professional editor to go through the footage and edit it into a compelling and interesting piece of entertainment. We advise that if you want everything to be done in line with your preferences, sit with the editor as he reviews and edits the footage of the show.

After you are done with the shooting and editing, the next thing is to promote. You can start by shopping it around to networks and production companies, and sending them tapes of the show when requested. It is also important to state that your major targets are leading production companies that are always scouting for new interesting projects to invest in.

Immediately you are able to get a deal with one of such companies, then your work stops right at that point because the company will be responsible for delivering the show to the network for airing, and you will be remunerated handsomely depending on the agreement you reach with the company.

However, have it in mind that a lot of networks and production companies will not accept your pitch for review if it doesn’t come through an agent. This is why if you are going through the traditional route of broadcasting your show on TV, you should consider pitching an agent with connections to TV production companies or TV networks around your location.

One more thing also important to note is that you can post your video online using sites like YouTube, and then promote the show to gather a huge following of loyal fans. We believe this is a cheaper and less strenuous option to adopt if you want to forget the traditional way of getting your show on TV.

Immediately you have struck a good deal with a TC network or production company, or you have successfully gathered a large audience online with your first episode, you need to go back to shooting additional episodes and promoting the show until your audience grows well enough to be noticed by large networks, advertisers, and studios.

16. Write a Marketing Plan Packed with ideas & Strategies

Most entrepreneurs will think that marketing is irrelevant for a reality show. If you really believe it, then you are sure deceiving yourself. The reality show business needs marketing as well as any other business known to man. Marketing this business might be expensive, but that doesn’t mean that you should give up. Have it in mind that nothing good comes easy. Ways to market your reality show includes;

Traditional advertising

Print, TV, outdoor media, etc.

Online adverting

Allows a more demographically targeted campaign with measurable interaction.

Social media

(Remember social media is about people not advertising) building engagement with information, trivia and even having characters (not the actors but the illusion of the characters) from the show interact via social media. This makes the show a multimedia experience and adds depth to the show.

Cross promotion with other shows or products

Sometimes selling a product endorsed or branded with the show or characters builds identity and engagement.

17. Develop Iron-clad Competitive Strategies to Help You Win

In this industry, one of the best ways to shine in the spotlight is to bring something new to the table. It is advised that you check out what your competitors are doing, and then look for something else. Try to search for something that may have the potential to sell but is yet to be filmed. The world is always looking for something new, the next best thing that can add even more to the uniqueness of the industry. Some ways to win your competitors in this business may include;

• Do something unique – publicity stunt
• Be smart with press junkets
• Pre-Roll Video Advertising
• Let your viewers enjoy the story
• IMDB Listings & Advertising
• Involve your audience in the making of the film
• Make your social media pages interactive
• Auction props used in the show

18. Brainstorm Possible Ways to Retain Clients & Customers

Note that this stage is a stage every business wants to attain. Having customers who stick to your show and preach how good your shows are can go a long way to help your business get to the top. So to retain your customers in your show, you need to;

• Make them part of the show
• Take your advertisement to the people
• Keep them interested
• Give them clear pictures and sound
• Don’t be boring

19. Develop Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness and Create a Corporate Identity

There are a few things unique about marketing reality shows. Timing is incredibly important – you must build up as much hype in the short space of time leading up to and around the launch as possible. Ways to boost your show brand awareness may include;

• Start with reputation
• Use your personality
• Tailor the message
• Take questions
• Be concrete
• End with a memory cue