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Strategic Business Recommendations: How to Write and Present Them Effectively

recommendation example in business plan

Writing and presenting strategic business recommendations can be a challenging task. To ensure success, it is important to follow a structured process and present your recommendations clearly and persuasively. This article provides valuable tips and strategies to help you write and present your recommendations effectively and achieve your desired outcomes.

recommendation example in business plan

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Effective strategic business recommendations can make or break a company’s success. Whether it’s proposing a new product or service, outlining a marketing strategy, or presenting operational improvements, the way in which these recommendations are presented can be the difference between approval and rejection. In today’s fast-paced business world, it is crucial to be able to communicate ideas clearly and effectively. This article will provide guidance on how to write and present strategic business recommendations to communicate your vision better, inspire confidence in your ideas, and ultimately achieve your goals.

Table of Contents

1. understanding the importance of strategic business recommendations, 2. identifying the key components of effective recommendations, 3. conducting in-depth research to support your recommendations, 4. analyzing data and statistics to validate your recommendations, 5. assessing current market trends and competitors, 6. developing a clear and concise action plan, 7. crafting a convincing executive summary to present to stakeholders, 8. presenting your recommendations with confidence and clarity, 9. tailoring your presentation to your target audience, 10. incorporating visuals and supporting materials to enhance your presentation, 11. addressing potential objections and criticisms from stakeholders, 12. evaluating the success of your recommendations and adjusting as necessary, our readers ask, final thoughts.

In today’s fast-paced business world, making the right strategic decisions can mean the difference between success and failure. That’s why having a team of experts to guide you through this process is so important. Business recommendations, based on thorough research and analysis, can be the key to making smart, informed decisions that will help your company thrive.

Strategic business recommendations can help you evaluate various options, assess the potential risks and benefits, and determine the best course of action for your organization. Whether you are considering new product lines, expanding into new markets, or reorganizing your company, having access to expert business recommendations is critical. These recommendations can provide you with the insights and advice you need to confidently move forward, knowing that you are making the best choices for your business. So, if you’re serious about success, make sure you prioritize the importance of strategic business recommendations in all of your decision-making processes.

To ensure that your recommendation stands out and convinces its recipients, it is crucial to identify the key components that make recommendations effective. Here are some of the components that you need to focus on:

– Background Information: Before you dive into the recommendation itself, make sure that you provide context that explains why the recommendation is needed. This helps create a framework for understanding and sets the tone for your proposal. – Specificity: Avoid being vague or generic. Instead, be specific about what your recommendation entails, why it is necessary, and what steps need to be taken. Use concrete examples and data to add credibility to your proposal. – Actionable: The recommendation also needs to be actionable. Ensure that you provide clear instructions on how implementation can be carried out, along with timelines, resource requirements, and responsibilities. – Benefits: Conveying the benefits of the recommendation is also essential. Explaining how the proposal will affect business outcomes, costs, customer satisfaction, or employee morale – whatever the case may be – will help underscore its value.

Another essential component of effective recommendations is understanding your audience and tailoring your proposal to their needs. Whether you are making recommendations to your boss, team members, customers, or partners, make sure that you use language that they can understand and resonates with their pain points. Plan your style and approach based on your audience to ensure the highest chance of acceptance. By taking all these components into account, your recommendations will be sure to garner a positive response and create actual results.

When it comes to making recommendations, conducting in-depth research is critical to making informed decisions. Research helps to uncover the underlying issues, identify potential solutions and validate assumptions. It also provides a basis for creating robust and actionable recommendations that can lead to meaningful change.

To conduct thorough research, it’s essential to start with a clear understanding of the problem or opportunity at hand. A well-defined problem statement can help guide your research by outlining the key issues and questions you need to explore. This helps to focus your efforts and resources, ensuring that you’re gathering the correct information to support your recommendations. Additionally, it’s essential to use a variety of sources when conducting research, including primary and secondary sources. This approach helps to ensure that you’re getting a broad and diverse range of perspectives that can inform your recommendations.

When it comes to making recommendations for your business or organization, it’s essential to back up your ideas with solid data and statistics. Analyzing this information can help you validate your suggestions and convince stakeholders of the best course of action. Here are some tips for effectively analyzing data and statistics:

1. Define your objectives – Before you start analyzing any data, be clear on your objectives. What are you hoping to achieve? What questions are you hoping to answer? This will help you focus your efforts and ensure that you’re gathering the correct information.

2. Use multiple sources – It’s essential to use a variety of sources when analyzing data and statistics. This can include surveys, customer feedback, sales reports, and industry research. By gathering information from multiple sources, you can get a complete picture of the situation and make more informed recommendations.

To succeed in today’s business world, it’s crucial to keep a close eye on the current market trends and the competition. It’s essential to stay ahead of the game, and this means continually assessing the landscape to stay on top of any developments that could have an impact on the business.

One way to stay on top of the competition is by conducting a SWOT analysis. This involves evaluating the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. By identifying these factors, the business can begin to formulate strategies to strengthen its position in the market. It’s also essential to stay on top of current trends and understand how they are affecting the organization and the industry as a whole. This could involve tracking consumer behavior, analyzing competitors’ actions, and keeping up-to-date with industry news. By keeping a finger on the pulse, the business can adapt quickly to changes and ensure it stays ahead of the competition.

After identifying the goals and objectives, the next step is to develop a clear and concise action plan. A proper action plan will allow the team to visualize and prioritize the steps needed to achieve the goals. Moreover, it will help track the team’s progress, and ensure that they remain focused on their targets.

To develop a clear and concise action plan, the first thing to do is to break down the goals into smaller, more achievable steps. Set timelines and assign responsibilities for each step, and make sure that they are attainable. It is also important to allocate resources, such as personnel and budget, to ensure the plan remains feasible. Furthermore, it is crucial to communicate the plan effectively to all the team members to ensure buy-in and participation. Overall, a well-designed and communicated action plan will guide the team toward achieving their objectives.

It is essential for achieving the set goals and objectives. An adequately designed action plan will allow for better progress tracking, focus the team on their targets, and ensure allocating the necessary resources. By breaking down the goals into smaller, attainable steps, assigning timelines and responsibilities, communicating effectively, and allocating resources, a team can achieve its objectives within the desired timeframe.

When it comes to presenting your business plan to stakeholders, your executive summary will play a crucial role. It’s essentially the elevator pitch of your entire proposal and should be crafted to be persuasive and engaging from its opening sentence. Here are some tips to make your summary stand out:

– Use clear and concise language: Avoid jargon or technical terms that could be confusing for non-experts. Use short sentences and avoid unnecessary explanations or details. – Start with a hook: Your first sentence should grab the attention of your audience and set the tone for the rest of the summary. Consider using a surprising fact, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful statement. – Highlight your key points: Your summary should cover the most critical aspects of your business plan, such as your target market, your unique value proposition, and your financial projections. Use bullet points or bold text to make your main ideas stand out. – Focus on benefits: Instead of just listing features, emphasize the benefits that your business will bring to your stakeholders. Show how your product or service will solve their problems or fulfill their needs. – Be realistic: While you want to make your plan sound exciting, avoid overpromising or exaggerating your claims. Make sure data and research back your projections.

Remember that your executive summary is your chance to make a strong first impression on your stakeholders. Ensure it’s well-written, persuasive, and tailored to your audience’s interests and needs.

When presenting your recommendations, it’s important to exude confidence and clarity. By doing so, you will not only capture your audience’s attention but also instill a sense of trust and conviction in them. Here are some tips for :

Firstly, know your material inside out. Make sure you have a thorough understanding of the subject matter before you make any assumptions or recommendations. Research thoroughly, review all available data, and draw conclusions based on facts rather than speculations. Secondly, use visual aids such as graphs, charts, and diagrams to support your recommendations. These can help illustrate complex ideas and make the presentation more interactive and engaging. Thirdly, use precise and concise language. Speak clearly and use simple, easy-to-understand terms. Avoid complicated jargon and acronyms that may confuse your audience.

In addition, it’s crucial to remain open to feedback and questions from your audience. Encourage them to ask questions and offer their own suggestions. Also, clarify any misunderstandings or gaps in knowledge they may have, and respond with facts, examples, and supportive evidence. Remember, being confident doesn’t mean being rigid or dogmatic. Be open-minded and willing to adapt and adjust your recommendations based on the feedback and input you receive.

Last but not least, practice, practice, practice! The more you practice your presentation, the more comfortable and confident you will feel. Consider rehearsing in front of a mirror, recording yourself, or delivering a dry run for a small group of colleagues. This will help you hone your delivery and fine-tune your message for maximum impact. Finally, make sure you present yourself professionally. Dress appropriately, maintain good eye contact, and use confident body language.

Knowing your target audience is an essential part of tailoring a successful presentation. Understanding the demographics, interests, and needs of your audience will allow you to tailor your message appropriately. This can include using appropriate language and tone, selecting the right images and multimedia, and emphasizing key points that resonate with your audience.

When it’s essential to consider their level of knowledge and experience, you may need to adjust your content accordingly, either by simplifying complex concepts or by adding more detailed information for those with a deeper understanding. Additionally, it’s essential to consider the unique challenges and experiences that your audience may be facing, and how your presentation can help address those issues. By taking the time to tailor your presentation to your audience, you will position yourself as a knowledgeable and thoughtful presenter, increasing your chances of making a lasting impression.

A picture truly is worth a thousand words. Incorporating visuals and supporting materials into your presentation can significantly enhance the overall impact of your message. Effective use of visuals can help your audience understand complex ideas better and retain more information. They make your presentation more engaging, compelling, and memorable.

When using visuals, be sure to choose high-quality images and diagrams that are relevant to your topic. Avoid using low-quality or pixelated images as they can detract from the overall professionalism of your presentation. Consider using graphs and charts to present data or statistics visually. This helps your audience understand the trends and patterns more easily. Keep in mind that less is more. Instead of cluttering your slides with too many visuals, aim to use them sparingly to emphasize your points effectively. With the right balance of visuals and supporting materials, you can make your presentation more dynamic and persuasive.

When implementing any project or initiative, it is vital to anticipate and address any potential objections and criticisms from stakeholders. These objections can range from practical concerns about the project’s feasibility to ethical concerns about its impact on the community. It is essential to take these objections seriously and address them thoughtfully and transparently.

One approach to addressing objections is to engage in open and honest communication with stakeholders. This can involve holding community meetings or focus groups to gather feedback and concerns. It is important to be receptive to feedback and take it seriously, even if it may be critical. Additionally, offering explanations and clarifications about the project can help avoid misunderstandings and address concerns about feasibility. Finally, acknowledging and addressing ethical concerns can demonstrate a commitment to social responsibility and help build trust with stakeholders. By taking these steps, a project can minimize potential objections and build stakeholder support.

Once you have implemented your recommendations, it’s essential to evaluate their success and adjust as necessary. This step is crucial in ensuring that your efforts are aligned with the overall goal of the project. The success of your recommendations can be measured in various ways, including:

– Increased revenue or profit margins – Improved customer satisfaction – Higher traffic or engagement on your website or social media platforms – Better employee retention rates

To evaluate success, it’s crucial to establish clear metrics and KPIs beforehand. This will make it easier to track progress and determine whether your recommendations are working. Don’t be afraid to make adjustments if your initial approach isn’t delivering the desired results. It’s okay to pivot and try something new as long as it’s aligned with the overall goal. Remember, success is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring and tweaking.

Q: Why is writing and presenting strategic business recommendations effectively important?

A: Writing and presenting strategic business recommendations effectively is critical because it helps organizations make informed decisions that can improve their performance and bottom line. Effective recommendations provide insights, solutions, and action plans for resolving business challenges and achieving strategic objectives, which can create value and a competitive advantage for the company.

Q: What are the critical components of a strategic business recommendation?

A: The critical components of a strategic business recommendation include a clear statement of the problem or opportunity, a review of relevant data and analysis, identification of possible solutions and their pros and cons, a recommended course of action, and an implementation plan with timelines and measures of success. Effective recommendations should also consider potential risks and contingencies, stakeholder perspectives, and ethical considerations.

Q: How can you ensure that your recommendation is persuasive?

A: To ensure that your recommendation is persuasive, it is crucial to present it logically and compellingly. This involves building a solid business case with data, facts, and evidence that support your argument, as well as addressing potential objections and counterarguments. It is also essential to tailor your message to your audience’s needs, preferences, and expectations, and to use persuasive language and visuals that enhance your message and engage your audience emotionally.

Q: What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing and presenting strategic business recommendations?

A: Some common mistakes to avoid when writing and presenting strategic business recommendations include: omitting relevant information or analysis; presenting incomplete or inaccurate data; making unsupported or overgeneralized claims; failing to consider stakeholders’ interests and concerns; being overly complicated or jargon-filled; and lacking clarity and coherence in your presentation. It is also essential to avoid being too pushy or defensive in your arguments, as this can undermine your credibility and effectiveness.

Q: How can you improve your skills in writing and presenting strategic business recommendations?

A: You can improve your skills in writing and presenting strategic business recommendations by practicing and seeking feedback from colleagues or mentors. You can also attend training programs, workshops, or conferences focusing on strategic thinking, communication, and presentation skills. Reading books, articles, and case studies on strategic management, marketing, and leadership can provide helpful insights and inspiration. Finally, staying informed about industry trends, market conditions, and competitive threats can help you develop a strategic mindset and identify new opportunities to add value to your organization.

The ability to write and present strategic business recommendations effectively is an essential skill for any business professional. By following the tips outlined above, you can enhance the clarity, persuasiveness, and impact of your recommendations, and increase your chances of success. Remember to tailor your recommendations to your audience, back them up with data and research, and use clear and concise language to drive your message home. With practice and determination, you can become a master at crafting and delivering recommendations that create value and drive business growth. Use these insights wisely, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a trusted advisor and respected leader in your organization.

recommendation example in business plan

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A seasoned business journalist with over 10 years of experience covering startups and entrepreneurship. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for telling the stories of innovative business leaders, this writer’s articles provide valuable insights and analysis for readers looking to stay ahead of the curve in the world of business.

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How To Write A Business Reference Letter (With Examples)

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Business reference letters are exactly what they sound like: a letter recommending a business. Being asked to write a business reference letter is pretty uncommon, meaning that if you haven’t heard of it, you’re not alone. Letters of this type are generally used by people just starting a business as a way to get off the ground.

The stand rules of business writing still apply, meaning that you should treat it like any other professional writing. If you’ve been asked to write a business reference letter, or are considering asking someone to do so, this article will explain what a business reference letter is and what goes into writing one.

Key Takeaways:

A business reference letter is also referred to as a letter of recommendation written on behalf of a professional or a business to let other people know that you believe in the quality of their work.

When writing a reference letter, you can only write a good business reference for an individual or company with whom you had a positive professional relationship.

It’s important to remain as professional as possible when writing these letters, and not to lie just because they are your friend.

Include any specific instances of the person’s skills when writing the letter.

How to Write a Business Reference Letter (With Examples)

What is a business reference letter?

How to write a business reference letter, tips for writing an excellent reference letter, business reference letter example, who to ask for a business reference letter, how to ask for a business reference, business reference letter faq.

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A business reference letter, or business recommendation letter, is just like a reference letter for an employee: it recommends the subject to someone else. In the case of a business reference letter, you’re explaining how the business is professional, has employees with a strong work ethic, and completed the contract to specifications.

These letters can have a couple of different purposes, including:

Encouraging job candidates to apply for or accept a job. If there is a lot of positive buzz about a business, then they’re more likely to attract top-tier candidates. Having good reference letters on their website or a job board can make people more inclined to work there.

Highlight the quality of the goods or services provided. This is a way to appeal to customers, potential employees, and investors. If the business is exceptionally good at what it does, it implies you’ll get a good return on investment.

Attract new customers. Knowing that a business offers high-quality goods and services makes it much more attractive to potential customers. If there are trustworthy references that they can refer to, then they’ll be more inclined to give the business a try.

Advance the career of the owner. If the owner of the business gets enough recommendations it can help advance their career. Not only can they expand their business, but they might be able to move into a different part of it — or a higher level of business.

As with all business writing, there’s an expected format for a business reference letter. If you’ve written either a personal or professional reference for someone, then it’s quite similar. A business reference focuses more on the services or goods a business offers than on personal traits — though positive personal traits aren’t off the table.

A business reference letters should include the following sections:

Your contact information As with all business letters, you want to make sure that you include your name and contact info. Including an address can sometimes be seen as bit old fashioned, but you absolutely want to have your phone number and/or email address, or a social media handle if that’s how you prefer to be contacted.

In emails, contact information is sometimes put at the bottom of the letter, after your name.

Date. Putting the date down is a must. It’s important to record when letters like this were written or submitted.

Recipient’s contact information. If this is an actual letter — even a printed one — then you need to include their contact info. In most cases, letters like this are sent via email, in which case you can omit it. Especially if you know they’re planning to post it on their website or social media page — then they’d just end up removing the address anyway.

Salutation. You always need to include a salutation. Usually Dear is a safe bet, but if this is someone you know well, you can use a less formal greeting, such as hello.

Body of the letter. This is where the majority of the information goes. In a business reference, there are certain things you want to include. Such as:

How you know the person. This should be a professional relationship, as this is a business letter. If you know them outside of their business, don’t focus on that aspect.

What work they did for you. This is important in terms of your recommendation. You want people to know what they did and why they did it well.

Your feelings about the work they did. Don’t write a letter of recommendation for someone if you aren’t happy with the work they did for you. It should be a glowing review — and an honest one.

Would you hire them again. If you’re writing a business reference, the answer had better be yes. It’s important to be as honest as possible in these letters, so you want to actually be willing to recommend their services to others.

Offer to speak with them if they have questions In this case, that’ll be whoever your’e recommending the business to. So be sure to be ready to answer questions or discuss the service you received in more detail. It’s not a bad idea to include your preferred contact info here as well.

Closing If this is a physical letter, be sure to sign it. If it isn’t, then add a closing and type your name. For the closing salutation, it’s best to be fairly formal, using something like Sincerely, or best regards.

While the basics of writing a business reference letter have been covered, there are still some things to keep in mind to make sure your reference letter catches people’s attention. It’s important to be sure that you’re on board with the idea of writing the reference — if you don’t put time and effort into it, it’ll show.

Do people really conduct reference checks ? It’s true, they don’t do it as much as they should. Reference checks are important for any business, but they’re often skipped steps. That said, you still need to be prepared to respond to people if they do call or email.

Keep it positive. Only point out the good things. If Dave showed up late all the time, it’s better not to mention that and to focus on something he did well. You should also always tell the truth. If you feel you can’t give a good review of someone’s work, their professionalism, and the end results — then you should let them know that you don’t want to write the letter.

Ask the person first. It’s a good idea to have a brief conversation with the person asking for the reference before you write it, just to get on the same page.

If it’s going to a specific person, you want to know who, what the scope of the job is, and what they feel would be a good thing to mention to make them stand apart from the competition. If it’s a more generic letter, ask them what they want to highlight. You’re not asking them to write it for you, but a little guidance never hurt.

Be as professional as possible. This might not be something you do regularly, but a little effort will go a long way to help the person who requested the letter. They think enough of you to ask, so it’s your job to do it right.

Keep it short. As with most business letters, it shouldn’t be longer than a page. Make sure you say everything you need to concisely so that the recipient will actually read the entire letter.

Make yourself available. It’s possible that you’ll be contacted by the recipient of the letter to ask for further details. Make sure that you are ready and willing to talk about your recommendation in more detail. Remember that sending this letter — with your contact information — means that you agreed to be contacted.

Proofread. This is necessary for all times of writing, but in business writing it’s an important aspect of professionalism. Make sure that your letter is free of errors, typos, or grammatical issues.

Pat Patterson 123 Main Street Austin, TX 73301 (111) 222-3333 [email protected] September 24, 2020 Mr. Peter Bigwig 456 Park Street Austin, TX 73301 Dear Mr. Bigwig, It is with great confidence that I am writing to recommend the services of Dave Handy. I have known Dave and his family for many years, and he has always been a helpful and enthusiastic young man. Recently, he began his own handyman company and I was happy to hire him for some work around my home. I was so completely satisfied with the work he did cleaning and repairing a few of my windows that I immediately hired him to build a corner breakfast nook in my kitchen. I can’t express enough how happy I was to have both of those projects finally done and with such professionalism, too. Dave was always on time and I felt his bid was quite fair. I am certain that I will hire him again when I need more work done. I’m happy to recommend his services. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, Pat Patterson

Business Reference Letter Template [Your Name] [Your Address] [Your Phone Number] [Your Email address] [Date] To Whom It May Concern: It is with great confidence that I am writing to recommend [job title] of [Person you are recommending] . I have been acquainted with [Person you are recommending] for [years worked with] and was happy to hear that he had started his own business doing [job title] . [Include traits and why he will be good at the business.] . [Include specific instances to add credibility to your recommendations. Also include why you are credible to give him a recommendation. This could be a sentence or two depending on qualifications.] . If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely, [Your name]

This article is primarily dedicated to individuals writing business reference letters, but it’s useful to briefly touch on who you can write a business reference letter for. You can only write a good business reference for an individual or company that you’ve had a positive professional relationship with.

This includes:

Former or current direct supervisors

Mentors who have experience with your work

Former professors (for recent graduates)

Clients you’ve done substantial work for (the main topic of this article)

Vendors and other businesses your business has interacted with professionally

The more recent your professional contact, the better. Whether you’re trying to convince a hiring manager, recruiter , or potential clients to believe in your business, people like to know what you’ve done lately, as opposed to what you did five years ago.

Plus, it’s pretty hard to write a compelling reference for someone if you barely remember the nature of your relationship. If someone approaches you for a business reference letter, make sure you know precisely what they want out of it so that you can draft a document that speaks directly to their target audience.

Even if you’re being asked to write a business reference, it’s helpful to know what to expect from your referee. To ask for a business reference, follow these steps:

Contact your top choice for referral. It’s common to reach out with a brief phone call or email just to feel out your potential referral’s interest in helping you. A referee should approach their referral as soon as possible, to give that person time to write a stellar reference letter.

Explain your needs. As a referee, it’s incumbent on you to basically outline the reference letter. If the reference is for a specific opportunity, the referee should provide all the relevant details (e.g., the job description, their resume , the details of a business proposal, etc.).

Put the reference letter in a broader context. The referee should also tell you their larger goals for the letter. For instance, what are your business’s long-term goals, and what skills need to be highlighted to reach those goals?

They can also fill you in on what aspects of their business they want to be made most plain in the contents of the letter.

Thank your reference. Finally, you should always thank your reference for taking the time and energy to help take your business to the next level.

How long should a business reference letter be?

A business reference letter should be approximately a page in length. That’s a fairly standard length in most business writing. At least, in terms of referrals, references, and other correspondence of that nature. You want to make sure that the recipient can read it quickly, but that it has enough information to answer their questions.

How do you write a good business reference letter?

A business reference letter should be concise, professional, and positive. It’s also important to follow the standard format, as that’s part of what makes it a business letter. Good business reference letters make ti clear why you’re recommending the business, how to contact you, and what the business offers.

What is a business reference letter used for?

Business reference letters are typically used as a way to get a business off the ground, but they have several different possible applications, including:

An established business looking to stand out via positive testimonials.

Someone leaving their job but looking for similar work — such as starting their own business.

As a way to draw in customers.

Bring in new job candidates to a business.

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Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.

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Business Plan Conclusion: Summary & Recap

solid business plan conclusion

You’ve written your business plan, but now you want to wrap it up to make a lasting impact on your reader. In this article, we will define the conclusion to a business plan as well as provide some tips to help you attract and seal the deal with potential investors and lenders.  

What is a Business Plan Conclusion?

This business plan conclusion is a concise summary and recap of all of the components of a business plan , but especially the executive summary. It summarizes your business plan in 2-3 paragraphs, with an emphasis on the most important points.  

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

Is the Business Conclusion Necessary?

It’s good practice for business plans, but not always necessary to be successful in obtaining funding.

If you have a stellar executive summary, it may be unnecessary.

If the business conclusion is written well enough, it can serve as an executive summary of sorts – a short recap that provides more detail than the business plan as a whole, but only includes the most important points. It could also serve as an executive summary that is more concise than an actual executive summary.  

How To Write a Conclusion for Your Business Plan

The conclusion of your business plan is the last thing people read before deciding to invest in you and your business, so it needs to make a lasting impression.  

Determine Location

think about your audience

Depending on your intended audience, there are two common places for the conclusion. If your plan is meant for internal purposes, you may have the conclusion at the end of the entire document. However, if you are seeking funds from investors, you want to place the conclusion at the end of the Executive Summary, increasing the chances that it is actually read.

Review & Concisely Recap 

conclusion reviews key points from the executive summary

    Finish Your Business Plan Today!

Startups might include the following information:.

  • Funding requirements
  • Service or benefit to the investor
  • Target market and audience
  • How products or services solve the target market’s problem
  • Marketing strategy
  • Competitive advantage
  • Management team experience
  • Financial projections
  • Launch plan

Established businesses might include information in their conclusions such as:

  • Mission statement
  • Company’s history
  • Products and/or services
  • Historical growth data
  • Financial summary
  • Company’s goals

Summarize the 3-5 points in a couple of paragraphs. You don’t need to summarize everything that happened in your business plan, just the most important points of the business plan.

Support Your Claims with Stats and/or Visuals

company’s profitable revenue model

Establish a Call-To-Action (CTA)

acquire funds for lucrative returns

Proofread & Spell-Check

grammar and tone carefully considered

The conclusion needs to give your readers a sense of closure by wrapping up all loose ends while making your last pitch effort to obtain the money your business may need.

Business Plan Conclusion Example

Use this conclusion example to help you with how to end a business plan, but keep in mind to make it relevant to your target audience, industry, and funding requirements:

Expanding into the Seattle metro area will allow Skyridge to provide its cutting-edge technology to more people who need it. Purchasing the fabrication plant in Seattle allows us to produce all of our products in-house and in one location, delivering them promptly and efficiently to the northwestern region.

We have the power to change the way people use technology, and we want [Investor’s Name] to be a part of it. By investing in Skyridge’s growth, [Investor’s Name] will benefit in the following ways:

  • Inclusion with a startup that has seen XXX% growth over the past X years and our company’s management team with XX years of experience in the technology industry
  • Contribution to Seattle’s economic growth and its citizens’ access to technology that enhances their lives
  • Participation in company planning meetings and receive an XX% share in all profits earned

We can add to the number of lives Skyridge’s technologies impact, generate more job opportunities in the region, and alter the technology sector if we work together. If you agree with our vision for a better future for everyone, join us.

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Related Articles To Help You Write a Business Plan

  • How to Write an Executive Summary
  • How to Expertly Write the Company Description in Your Business Plan
  • How to Write the Market Analysis Section of a Business Plan
  • The Customer Analysis Section of Your Business Plan
  • Completing the Competitive Analysis Section of Your Business Plan
  • How to Write the Management Team Section of a Business Plan + Examples
  • Financial Assumptions and Your Business Plan
  • How to Create Financial Projections for Your Business Plan
  • Everything You Need to Know about the Business Plan Appendix

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Business Plan Template & Guide for Small Businesses

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Blog >> How to Write a Recommendation Report + Recommendation Report Template!

How to Write a Recommendation Report + Recommendation Report Template!

Making decisions requires the vigilant evaluation of options.   A recommendation report proposes multiple potential solutions to a problem and concludes by recommending the best one. Compared to  white papers , recommendation reports are more overtly persuasive, since they make a final recommendation that is informed by research and evidence. Read our advice all the way to end to download our free recommendation report template. Or better yet, if you’re ready to level-up your professional writing game, definitely check out our expert-crafted  recommendation report template pack —an exclusive item in our   Templates for Busy Professionals™  series.

Watch our video about the reasons why you should write a recommendation report plus get a sneak-peak into our templates. If you’re ready to propel your professional potential, be sure to check out our online, on-demand writing course,   Wordsmith: A Grammar & Writing Course for Busy Professionals . Now let’s jump into recommendation reports…

recommendation example in business plan

What sections are typically included in a recommendation report?

Executive summary.

Begin with an “executive summary” that briefly introduces and summarizes your purpose for writing this report. This section establishes reader expectations for what is to follow. Make sure to state clearly here your reasons for writing this report, and what is contained within the report.

Problem Statement

All recommendation reports address a real and important problem. The Problem Statement is perhaps the most important part of the report because it articulates this problem clearly, providing a strong sense of need for the options you will explore in the rest of the report. The Problem Statement is where you justify the purpose of this report.

To justify the options you recommend, you must first understand the specific needs of the business, organization, or stakeholders you are writing for (i.e. What does the organization need? Why? What is the background of this problem? Who are the major stakeholders? What has been tried in the past? Why didn’t it work?). Your Problem Statement will serve as your introduction to the options discussed in this report.

Description of Options

This is the heart of a recommendation report. In this section, you describe a set number of possible ideas (typically 3) for solving the problem cited at the beginning of your report. Your ideas should be creative and well-planned.  Each option (which should be described in 1-2 paragraphs) should include the following information:

  • a cohesive, comprehensive overview of this option/idea;
  • information about how this option answers the need cited at the beginning of your report;
  • specific details about how this idea could be implemented; and
  • justifications as to why this option will work.

Evaluation Criteria & Evaluations of Each Option

After describing the three options, you should outline criteria for evaluating those options. The criteria should be based on the information outlined in your Statement of Need. After listing and justifying evaluation criteria, you should evaluate each option based on its ability to answer your criteria.

Final Recommendation

After describing and evaluating your options, you will recommend the one you think is best and provide a discussion of the reasons why you recommend it. In other words, defend your recommendation thoroughly in this section.

The conclusion to a recommendation report should re-emphasize the final recommendation and offer suggestions about how the audience/reader could move toward implementation.

Works Cited

Recommendation reports sometimes require in-depth research that can range from conducting interviews and surveys to reading peer-reviewed journal articles or other related documents. You should cite this information so that future readers can find the articles and resources you used. The citation style you use should be based on the industry you’re writing for; the chemical industry will expect ACS Style, medical professionals will expect AMA, humanities audiences will expect MLA, social sciences will expect APA, and so on.

Point of View: Should I Use Third Person or First Person?

Like most business reports, this should be written professionally. This usually means avoiding too much personal narrative, and instead relying on third person. For example (third person): “This report overviews three options for community partnership with Feed My Starving Children.” However, it is perfectly fine to use the collective first person sparingly throughout the report, especially to indicate something practical that you did. For example (collective first person): “ We  designed this campaign with a special emphasis on bold color in order to draw the viewer’s attention to the innocence of childhood imagination, and in order to contrast that with the hopelessness of hunger.” OR “In this report,  we  overview three options…” Notice that these three examples are not opinionated (as one might fear when using first person). Instead, they merely acknowledge that  a real, living, breathing human wrote this report and developed these options.  For this reason, first person is great when it’s used for these rhetorical purposes.

Get Our Recommendation Report Templates!

If you’re ready to start building a professional-quality recommendation report, be sure to get our   Recommendation Report Template Pack —a robust set of highly designed report templates with expert writing advice built right in. If you’ve ever found yourself needing to argue for a specific course of action in your organization, a recommendation report will help you analyze a problem, product, population, or process and make clear recommendations about the best path forward.

Recommended Readings

Here are some of our favorite resources on recommendation reports:

  • Dr. T. Miles’ Recommendation Report
  • NASA Education Recommendation Report 

Learn more about our online business writing courses.

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

recommendation example in business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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550+ Free Sample Business Plans

550+ Business Plan Examples to Launch Your Business

550+ Free Sample Business Plans

Need help writing your business plan? Explore over 550 industry-specific business plan examples for inspiration.

Find your business plan example

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Business plan template: There's an easier way to get your business plan done.

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View all sample business plans

Example business plan format

Before you start exploring our library of business plan examples, it's worth taking the time to understand the traditional business plan format . You'll find that the plans in this library and most investor-approved business plans will include the following sections:

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally only one to two pages. You should also plan to write this section last after you've written your full business plan.

Your executive summary should include a summary of the problem you are solving, a description of your product or service, an overview of your target market, a brief description of your team, a summary of your financials, and your funding requirements (if you are raising money).

Products & services

The products & services chapter of your business plan is where the real meat of your plan lives. It includes information about the problem that you're solving, your solution, and any traction that proves that it truly meets the need you identified.

This is your chance to explain why you're in business and that people care about what you offer. It needs to go beyond a simple product or service description and get to the heart of why your business works and benefits your customers.

Market analysis

Conducting a market analysis ensures that you fully understand the market that you're entering and who you'll be selling to. This section is where you will showcase all of the information about your potential customers. You'll cover your target market as well as information about the growth of your market and your industry. Focus on outlining why the market you're entering is viable and creating a realistic persona for your ideal customer base.

Competition

Part of defining your opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage may be. To do this effectively you need to get to know your competitors just as well as your target customers. Every business will have competition, if you don't then you're either in a very young industry or there's a good reason no one is pursuing this specific venture.

To succeed, you want to be sure you know who your competitors are, how they operate, necessary financial benchmarks, and how you're business will be positioned. Start by identifying who your competitors are or will be during your market research. Then leverage competitive analysis tools like the competitive matrix and positioning map to solidify where your business stands in relation to the competition.

Marketing & sales

The marketing and sales plan section of your business plan details how you plan to reach your target market segments. You'll address how you plan on selling to those target markets, what your pricing plan is, and what types of activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success.

The operations section covers the day-to-day workflows for your business to deliver your product or service. What's included here fully depends on the type of business. Typically you can expect to add details on your business location, sourcing and fulfillment, use of technology, and any partnerships or agreements that are in place.

Milestones & metrics

The milestones section is where you lay out strategic milestones to reach your business goals.

A good milestone clearly lays out the parameters of the task at hand and sets expectations for its execution. You'll want to include a description of the task, a proposed due date, who is responsible, and eventually a budget that's attached. You don't need extensive project planning in this section, just key milestones that you want to hit and when you plan to hit them.

You should also discuss key metrics, which are the numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common data points worth tracking include conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, profit, etc.

Company & team

Use this section to describe your current team and who you need to hire. If you intend to pursue funding, you'll need to highlight the relevant experience of your team members. Basically, this is where you prove that this is the right team to successfully start and grow the business. You will also need to provide a quick overview of your legal structure and history if you're already up and running.

Financial projections

Your financial plan should include a sales and revenue forecast, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and a balance sheet. You may not have established financials of any kind at this stage. Not to worry, rather than getting all of the details ironed out, focus on making projections and strategic forecasts for your business. You can always update your financial statements as you begin operations and start bringing in actual accounting data.

Now, if you intend to pitch to investors or submit a loan application, you'll also need a "use of funds" report in this section. This outlines how you intend to leverage any funding for your business and how much you're looking to acquire. Like the rest of your financials, this can always be updated later on.

The appendix isn't a required element of your business plan. However, it is a useful place to add any charts, tables, definitions, legal notes, or other critical information that supports your plan. These are often lengthier or out-of-place information that simply didn't work naturally into the structure of your plan. You'll notice that in these business plan examples, the appendix mainly includes extended financial statements.

Types of business plans explained

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. To get the most out of your plan, it's best to find a format that suits your needs. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan

The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used for external purposes. Typically this is the type of plan you'll need when applying for funding or pitching to investors. It can also be used when training or hiring employees, working with vendors, or in any other situation where the full details of your business must be understood by another individual.

Business model canvas

The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

The structure ditches a linear format in favor of a cell-based template. It encourages you to build connections between every element of your business. It's faster to write out and update, and much easier for you, your team, and anyone else to visualize your business operations.

One-page business plan

The true middle ground between the business model canvas and a traditional business plan is the one-page business plan . This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business.

By starting with a one-page plan , you give yourself a minimal document to build from. You'll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences making it much easier to elaborate or expand sections into a longer-form business plan.

Growth planning

Growth planning is more than a specific type of business plan. It's a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, forecast, review, and refine based on your performance.

It holds all of the benefits of the single-page plan, including the potential to complete it in as little as 27 minutes . However, it's even easier to convert into a more detailed plan thanks to how heavily it's tied to your financials. The overall goal of growth planning isn't to just produce documents that you use once and shelve. Instead, the growth planning process helps you build a healthier company that thrives in times of growth and remain stable through times of crisis.

It's faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

Download a free sample business plan template

Ready to start writing your own plan but aren't sure where to start? Download our free business plan template that's been updated for 2024.

This simple, modern, investor-approved business plan template is designed to make planning easy. It's a proven format that has helped over 1 million businesses write business plans for bank loans, funding pitches, business expansion, and even business sales. It includes additional instructions for how to write each section and is formatted to be SBA-lender approved. All you need to do is fill in the blanks.

How to use an example business plan to help you write your own

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How do you know what elements need to be included in your business plan, especially if you've never written one before? Looking at examples can help you visualize what a full, traditional plan looks like, so you know what you're aiming for before you get started. Here's how to get the most out of a sample business plan.

Choose a business plan example from a similar type of company

You don't need to find an example business plan that's an exact fit for your business. Your business location, target market, and even your particular product or service may not match up exactly with the plans in our gallery. But, you don't need an exact match for it to be helpful. Instead, look for a plan that's related to the type of business you're starting.

For example, if you want to start a vegetarian restaurant, a plan for a steakhouse can be a great match. While the specifics of your actual startup will differ, the elements you'd want to include in your restaurant's business plan are likely to be very similar.

Use a business plan example as a guide

Every startup and small business is unique, so you'll want to avoid copying an example business plan word for word. It just won't be as helpful, since each business is unique. You want your plan to be a useful tool for starting a business —and getting funding if you need it.

One of the key benefits of writing a business plan is simply going through the process. When you sit down to write, you'll naturally think through important pieces, like your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you'll need to do to be successful.

You'll also look at where you stand among your competition (and everyone has competition), and lay out your goals and the milestones you'll need to meet. Looking at an example business plan's financials section can be helpful because you can see what should be included, but take them with a grain of salt. Don't assume that financial projections for a sample company will fit your own small business.

If you're looking for more resources to help you get started, our business planning guide is a good place to start. You can also download our free business plan template .

Think of business planning as a process, instead of a document

Think about business planning as something you do often , rather than a document you create once and never look at again. If you take the time to write a plan that really fits your own company, it will be a better, more useful tool to grow your business. It should also make it easier to share your vision and strategy so everyone on your team is on the same page.

Adjust your plan regularly to use it as a business management tool

Keep in mind that businesses that use their plan as a management tool to help run their business grow 30 percent faster than those businesses that don't. For that to be true for your company, you'll think of a part of your business planning process as tracking your actual results against your financial forecast on a regular basis.

If things are going well, your plan will help you think about how you can re-invest in your business. If you find that you're not meeting goals, you might need to adjust your budgets or your sales forecast. Either way, tracking your progress compared to your plan can help you adjust quickly when you identify challenges and opportunities—it's one of the most powerful things you can do to grow your business.

Prepare to pitch your business

If you're planning to pitch your business to investors or seek out any funding, you'll need a pitch deck to accompany your business plan. A pitch deck is designed to inform people about your business. You want your pitch deck to be short and easy to follow, so it's best to keep your presentation under 20 slides.

Your pitch deck and pitch presentation are likely some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. So, you need to be informative and pique their interest. Luckily we have a round-up of real-world pitch deck examples used by successful startups that you can review and reference as you build your pitch.

For more resources, check out our full Business Pitch Guide .

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How to write recommendation slides like a consultant (examples and template).

Alexandra Hazard Kampmann

Table of contents

What is a recommendation slide, what is the difference between a recommendation and a next steps slide, how to write best practice recommendation slides, examples from mckinsey, bcg, and bain.

Recommendation slides are often the most important part of any consulting project, yet are not often discussed. In this post, we’ll go over what a Recommendation slide is, how it is different from a Next Steps slide, how to create a best practice layout, as well as show you examples of what it looks like in McKinsey , BCG , and Bain projects.  

A Recommendation slide is a slide that outlines the main suggestions or proposed actions based on the information presented in the preceding slides. It typically comes after the analysis section of a presentation and is the introduction to the solution/conclusion/roadmap section. The Recommendation slide may be a stand-alone slide just listing suggested initiatives, or it may be several slides that summarizes opportunities and expands them into concrete sub-initiatives. The purpose of a Recommendation slide is to give a clear, concise, and easily understandable overview of initiatives that an organization or team can take to achieve some stated goals or change a situation identified through the analysis. In that sense, the recommendation slide is the “R” of the SCR or Situation-Complication-Resolution framework commonly used by management consultants to structure their presentations. This also means the Recommendation slide is in many ways the most important slide of the entire presentation or project, and presents the most valuable information.  It is important to remember that a Recommendation slide is meant to elicit action and form the basis of a plan going forward and a roadmap for change. It should be a guide that aids decision makers in allocating resources and formulating strategies going forward. In other words, the Recommendation slide ties together the analysis and the plan moving forward. A good Recommendation slide should therefore directly address the issues or opportunities discussed in the presentation and be relevant to the goals and objectives of the audience/client. Furthermore, each recommendation should ideally be supported by data or analysis presented earlier in the presentation. This helps make the recommendations credible and persuasive. Finally, the recommendations should be action-oriented and be both practical and achievable.

Some examples of Recommendations slides from our Slideworks templates

Some examples of Recommendations slides from our Slideworks templates

Recommendation slides are sometimes confused with Next Step slides, however the two types are quite different.

A Recommendation slide lays out the key actions needed to reach an established goal. These include both short and long term actions. The recommendations are typically unfolded in a longer roadmap or implementation plan.

A Next Steps slide typically focuses on the immediate next steps that need to be taken to start putting the implementation plan/roadmap into action.

A good way to distinguish between the two is to think of them as answering two different types of questions:

  • Recommendation slide: What do we need to do to achieve our goal(s)?
  • Next steps slide: What do we need to do on Monday to start taking actions on those recommendations?

Find ready-to-use PowerPoint slides for creating best-practice Recommendations in our Consulting Toolkit Template .

Recommendation slides come in many different formats, with a simple text slide being one of the most common forms.  However, even if it is a simple slide there are some basic best practices that help make your Recommendations slide clear and impactful:

  • Group your recommendations: Group your recommendations into logical categories or areas to make it easier for your audience to digest where and what the main recommendations are. Try to group them in enough different categories that each group is small enough to get an overview of everything needed within that category, but not so many categories that each one only ends up with a couple of sub-initiatives in it. A rule of thumb is to aim for somewhere between three and nine main groups in total, with between three and eleven sub-initiatives in each group. An intuitive way to do this is to use categories or areas that correspond to the way your company or team are already organized. E.g., if you’re presenting cost improvements and your company is organized by functions, then you might have categories like “HR”, “Procurement” or similar. Depending on your type of presentation, you may also choose to use categories that mirror the way you’ve conducted the analyses that have led to the recommendations, e.g., by presenting the recommendations as responses to key challenges or issues that have been identified through previous analysis. Regardless of the way you decide to group the recommendations, make sure they are MECE .  
  • Divide your recommendations into main recommendations and sub-initiatives: Make sure your recommendations are generally on the same “level”. This means your main recommendations/initiatives should have expected impacts at the same order of magnitude. In other words, you do not want one main recommendation to be “Cut HR costs by 10%” and another to be “Switch to private label bottled water in the HQ break rooms”, as these two are on two different levels of impact and granularity. You can do this by dividing your recommendations into main recommendations/initiatives and sub-initiatives, and moving any recommendations that are too granular to sub-initiatives.  
  • Use active language: Try to ensure that all recommendations start with verbs like “Implement…”, “Set up…”, “Define…” so your recommendations read like a to-do list or plan. Remember, recommendations are supposed to inspire immediate action.  
  • Be concise: Make sure that your recommendations are written in a concise, straightforward manner to avoid any ambiguity. Read through them and trim down any excess words or unclear statements. In addition, make it easier for your audience to grasp the recommendations by bolding key words or sentences.  
  • Use an action title for your recommendation slide: Use action titles on your recommendation slides to help guide your audience to the key points and fit the slide into your overall storyline .  
  • Make your recommendations visually easy to follow throughout your presentation: Add some formatting that will make it easy to distinguish each recommendation going forward and for your audience to quickly refer back to whatever main recommendation you are discussing once you start digging into more granular solutions. This can be done with either numbers, colors, or icons.

Below is an example of how a simple text slide of recommendations is made easier to understand and digest by following the simple steps above. The slide on the left is a simple bulletpoint text slide but it is difficult to see what type of recommendations are put forth and what each recommendation is. The slide on the right contains the same information but has been grouped in categories with bolded text summarizing the recommendation and added numbers to get an easy overview.

An example of a simple Recommendations slide before and after applying best practices

Below we bring you a series of examples from McKinsey, BCG, and Bain to show you how recommendation slides are presented in top-tier consulting houses.

The first example if a slide from McKinsey from this deck . Here you can see how they highlight key points in each recommendation with bolded text, as well as adding numbers to make the recommendations easier to grasp.  In addition, notice that the title is an action title and does not simply say "Recommendations".

A simple recommendation slide from McKinsey & Co

A simple recommendation slide from McKinsey & Co

Our second example is a similarly succinct and simple recommendation slide from BCG from this project . 

Here, they have used simple boxes to group the recommendations into main categories that mirror the client's strategic priorities. By adding contrasting number balls to each recommendation they make it easy to get an overview and follow the recommendations in the rest of the deck.

A simple recommendation slide from Boston Consulting Group

A simple recommendation slide from Boston Consulting Group

Below is also an example from BCG, from this classic deck . Here, they start off by recommending seven overarching areas of action to effectively communicate where the burning platforms are. They then expand on these areas with specific, granular initiatives to create the "to-do" list, and finally present a prioritization of initiatives to aid decision makers in where to start allocating resources.

An example of a recommendation slide from Boston Consulting Group that starts with the overarching areas of action...

An example of a recommendation slide from Boston Consulting Group that starts with the overarching areas of action...

...that are then expanded into concrete initiatives...

...that are then expanded into concrete initiatives...

...and finally prioritized according to effort and impact

...and finally prioritized according to effort and impact

Finally, here is an example from Bain (find the full deck here ). Similarly to the previous BCG example, they start off by summarizing the five opportunity areas they have identified through their analysis. This gives the client a clear idea of where the most impactful recommendations will be and helps frame the following initiatives.

Within each opportunity area, the Bain consultants then frame recommendations/initiatives by contrasting them to their key findings. This gives the client an assurance that the recommendations are data-driven and helps anchor each recommendation in a known context.

They end by summing up the expected results of implementing each recommendation to both help the client understand which areas bring the most savings and support the "case for change".

An example of a recommendation slide from Bain & Co that starts off with an overview of opportunity areas...

An example of a recommendation slide from Bain & Co that starts off with an overview of opportunity areas...

...before deep-diving into each area and listing specific recommendations...

...before deep-diving into each area and listing specific recommendations...

...and finally summing up the impact of these recommendations

...and finally summing up the impact of these recommendations

These are just some examples of what recommendation slides can look like. If you need to create your own Recommendations slide, you can find ready-to-use, best-practice template slides in our Consulting Toolkit , along with many other useful slide layouts.

Find ready-to-use template slides in our Consulting Toolkit

Find ready-to-use template slides in our Consulting Toolkit

Download our most popular templates

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Top 10 Recommendation Plan Templates with Examples and Samples

Top 10 Recommendation Plan Templates with Examples and Samples

Ananya Bhaduri

author-user

In today's competitive market, personalized recommendations are the key to retaining customers and driving sales. Recommendation plans have become an essential aspect in product development, I.T., retail, and other industries to provide stakeholders with the best solutions for solving any problem. These plans help businesses deliver a more tailored, efficient, and effective customer experience while increasing sales and revenue. Also, these are critical tools for staying competitive in today’s data-driven business environment.

On this note, if you own a business struggling to enhance customer experience and retain your customers, we have a helpful solution!

Introducing Slide Team’s cutting-edge Recommendation Template for businesses, designed to revolutionize customer experiences and boost your revenue stream. This template is not just about selling; it's about creating meaningful connections with your clients, understanding their needs, and anticipating their desires.

Are you looking for recommendations for your business? No worry! Here's our top recommendation template. Click here to know more.

These top 10 recommendation templates are content-rich, editable, and customizable. You can update the information on the slides according to your needs.

Let’s explore it.

Template 1: Recommendation Plan Template

Introducing a template that helps you connect with your audience. This template helps you convey your thoughts in a concise manner. It also helps you to attain a competitive advantage because it has a unique design and aesthetics. Moreover, you can use this PPT Template to elaborate on information and educate your audience on related topics. It includes content-ready slides on a revenue growth recommendation plan, increasing online sales, store sales, FMCG company sales, staff training & development, etc.

Recommendation Plan

Download now!

Check out our guide to Recommendation Report Template to make your project a successful one.

Template 2: Five Years Revenue Growth Recommendation Plan Template

Wouldn't you want to record the revenue growth of your business? Use this PPT Template that covers the estimation of the revenue growth of a start-up for five years. This slide showcases the business goals and objectives and the recommendation or strategic plan to achieve these goals of raising revenue along with daily active user counts. You can use this template to understand the company priorities, and it also helps you to set SMART goals for your business.

Five Years Revenue Growth Recommendation Plan

Template 3: Recommendation Plan to Increase FMCG Company Sales 

Enhance your FMCG company sales with our ready-to-use Powerpoint template. This slide includes the strategic action plan to achieve the objectives of increasing sales and revenue. It includes predefined objectives, recommendations, assigned person, and end date. Use this template to communicate your FMCG sales plan to your stakeholders and develop the best strategies and tactics to increase your sales.

Recommendation Plan to Increase FMCG Company Sales

Template 4: Recommendation Plan for Staff Training & Development Template

Here, we have developed another recommendation plan, an excellent asset for your staff training and development. This slide shows the strategic action plan to offer training to staff for achieving short and long-term team goals. Apart from this, it also includes predefined objectives, recommended training, assigned persons, and end dates. You can use this template to foster a culture of continuous learning and development within your company.

Recommendation Plan for Staff Training & Development

Download now

Template 5: Recommendation Plan to Boost Website Traffic and Improve Conversion Rates 

This PPT Template can help you boost website traffic and improve conversion rates. Using this template, you can make a strategic action plan to increase website & referral traffic and improve sales conversion rates. This slide includes objectives, recommendation strategies, proposed deadlines, and progress status. It helps you to create a systematic and effective strategy to optimize your website for conversion.

Recommendation Plan to Boost Website Traffic and Improve Conversion Rates

Template 6: HR Recommendation Plan to Improve Hiring Process 

This template offers a structured approach to strengthen your company's recruitment strategy and bring the right talent on board. It presents a comprehensive view of objectives, recommendations, responsible team members, and proposed timelines. By leveraging this template, you can develop and execute an efficient candidate screening process. It serves as a valuable tool for crafting a well-defined and successful plan to elevate your recruitment strategy and attract the best talent. Download it now to get started!

HR Recommendation Plan to Improve Hiring Process

Template 7: Recommendation Plan to Achieve Marketing Objectives Template

This slide aims to help you expand the company's email list and to gain new followers for social media profiles. You can achieve your marketing objectives by distributing sign-up forms to new customers, posting daily about the company's product, etc. This template is helpful because it helps you to create a clear and actionable plan for your marketing goals.

Recommendation Plan to Achieve Marketing Objectives

Template 8: Recommendation Plan to Spread Brand Awareness Template

Use our ready-to-use PPT slide to spread your brand awareness. This premium PPT Template helps you to enhance your brand's profit margin and improve customer satisfaction ratings with the help of a strategic action plan. It showcases brand objectives, recommendations, assigned person, and end date. By using this template, you can ensure that your brand awareness strategy is well-organized, realistic, and aligned with your business objectives. You can also communicate your plan to your stakeholders and team members and monitor your progress and outcomes.

Recommendation Plan to Spread Brand Awareness

Template 9: Recommendation Plan for Digital Marketing Campaign Template

This template outlines the roadmap for a digital marketing campaign in a strategic manner. The action plan aims to increase sales, revenue, followers, and subscribers per month. This slide includes objectives, recommendations, assigned persons, and end dates. It recommends you offer discount vouchers and free delivery services to customers who purchase online and also modify product prices as per season.

Recommendation Plan for Digital Marketing Campaign

Template 10: Problem and Recommendation Table for Project Planning

Do you need a professional-looking PPT Template to focus on the problems and recommendations for your project planning? This ready-to-use template includes problems related to your project planning and recommendations to solve those problems. This essential tool helps you identify project challenges and offers actionable recommendations for smoother execution. Enhance decision-making and project success with this must-have solution. Get organized and stay on track – try it today!"

Problem and Recommendation Table for Project Planning

Summing it up

In a world driven by data and tailored experiences, our Recommendation Plan Template is your key to unlocking enhanced customer satisfaction and business success. Take the proactive step toward providing personalized solutions, increasing sales, and staying ahead of your competition. Don't miss out on this valuable tool – download SlideTeam's Template now, and start creating recommendations that will drive your business forward. With a little amount of creativity and customization, you'll get one of the most successful businesses in your industry!

P.S . Check out some more Learning Plan Templates to reach your destination.

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Business Reference Letter Examples

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  • What to Include in the Letter

How to Start Your Letter

The body of the letter, letter closing.

  • Business Reference Letter Samples

Business Reference Letter Template

Business reference letter example, business reference email examples, more reference letter examples.

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A business reference is a recommendation provided on behalf of a client, vendor, or other business associate or contact. You may be asked to provide a business reference letter to verify the quality of a contract company’s work to a new client.

The reference you write may recommend the business to other clients or, in general, provide an endorsement of a contact for business purposes. It’s important to be honest in your assessment of the company’s offerings: Don’t agree to write one if you haven’t had a good experience with the company. Instead, gracefully decline to provide a reference if you don’t feel that you can provide a strong recommendation.

What to Include in a Business Reference Letter

A reference letter can be sent via post or email and should maintain a professional appearance, tone, and formatting. Use standard business letter format  when you’re writing a reference.

Your recommendation needs to be professionally written and formatted to ensure it will make the best impression.

A business reference letter should begin with an appropriate salutation, end with a  professional close , and include the following:

  • The writer’s contact information (name, title, company, address, phone, email)
  • The recipient’s contact information (name, title, company, address) (in a printed letter only)
  • Professional salutation
  • The body of the letter (a few paragraphs highlighting why you are providing a recommendation)
  • Professional closing

In a printed letter, the writer’s contact information is at the top of the page. In an email, the contact information is at the bottom. The recipient's contact information can be omitted from an emailed letter.

  • A traditional, “snail mail” business letter should begin with your contact information and the contact information of the person to whom the recommendation is being sent.
  • When sending an email, include “Reference” or “Recommendation” in the subject line in addition to the company’s or person’s name. This will help ensure the recipient instantly understands what the content of your message is and opens the letter for review.

Start your letter by explaining how you know the individual or company that you’re recommending. If you’ve used them repeatedly or have an ongoing relationship, mention that as well.

The body of your letter should provide information and detailed examples of the high quality of the product or service you have been provided.

Be specific so you can show the reader why you are recommending the product or service.

You should also mention how pleased you were with the work and offer to elaborate on or clarify any points in the letter.

Include your contact information in the final paragraph of a letter or your email signature, so it’s easy for the recipient to follow up if they need more information.

End your letter with a professional closing and your signature:

  • For a printed letter, leave a space for your written signature then type your name.
  • For an email, add a closing then type your name.

Examples of Business Reference Letters

The following are examples of business reference letters recommending the services provided by a company or individual. They can be used to help you create your own letters, but be sure to tailor them to your specific situation.

Download the letter template (compatible with Google Docs and Word), or read the text version below.

The Balance

Business Reference Letter Example (Text Version)

Jason Lee 123 Business Rd. Business City, NY 54321 555-555-5555 jason.lee@email.com

April 12, 2024

James Smith Sparkleshine Cleaning Service 321 Business Ave. Business City, NY 54321

Dear Mr. Smith,

It is with much enthusiasm that I am writing to recommend the services of the Sparkleshine Cleaning Service.

I have been using Sparkleshine to clean my offices for the past five years and have always been completely satisfied with their performance. They do an excellent job, are always punctual, and offer the most competitive rates in town.

We have also hired them on occasion for extra jobs, such as cleaning after a move, cleaning the Venetian blinds, deep cleaning the kitchenette, etc. They have been very reasonably priced, and always do exactly what we ask of them.

I'm happy to recommend the services of Sparkleshine. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Signature (printed letter)

The following are examples of business references sent via email.

Email Business Reference Example #1

Subject:  Stephen Davison Reference

Dear Ms. O’Malley,

I have been acquainted with Stephen Davison for three years in his capacity as a web designer for my small business. He completely overhauled my website and has been responsible for its ongoing maintenance and search engine optimization as well.

Stephen’s design and optimization, I believe, are largely responsible for the dramatic increase in traffic to my site, and for the resulting increase in profits for the business. He is easy to work with, thinks creatively, and effectively communicates his ideas. He has been a true game-changer in identifying and enhancing the areas of my website that weren’t performing as well as they could have, and thus he has my highest endorsement.

If you have any additional questions or need clarification, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards,

Tawny Birkenstock tawnybirk@email.com 777-777-7777

Email Business Reference Example #2

Subject:  Reference for Kip’s Kennels

Dear Mr. Small,

As a dedicated pet owner, I searched long and hard for a kennel where I felt comfortable leaving my precious companions. After doing plenty of research, and visiting several other kennels in the area, I found Kip’s Kennels about two years ago. My pets haven’t been boarded anywhere else since.

The staff at Kip’s is knowledgeable, courteous, and friendly. They truly care about every pet as they do their own, and the facility is always spotless. Unlike most of the kennels in our area, they also offer daily updates via email or text to reassure you while you are separated from your pet.

I highly recommend Kip’s Kennels to care for your pets while you are out of town. If you have any further questions or would like to speak with me about my experience, please feel free to contact me.

Tom Sparks thomas.sparks@email.com 222-222-2222

Review more examples of reference letters for a variety of circumstances and get free templates to download.

Key Takeaways

  • A business reference is a recommendation provided on behalf of a client, vendor, or business associate.
  • Don't agree to write a reference if you can't provide a strong endorsement. Instead, politely decline the request.
  • In your letter, share examples of the quality of the product or service and offer to provide additional information on your recommendation.

What is a Marketing Plan & How to Write One [+Examples]

Clifford Chi

Published: December 27, 2023

For a while now, you've been spearheading your organization's content marketing efforts, and your team's performance has convinced management to adopt the content marketing strategies you’ve suggested.

marketing plan and how to write one

Now, your boss wants you to write and present a content marketing plan, but you‘ve never done something like that before. You don't even know where to start.

Download Now: Free Marketing Plan Template [Get Your Copy]

Fortunately, we've curated the best content marketing plans to help you write a concrete plan that's rooted in data and produces results. But first, we'll discuss what a marketing plan is and how some of the best marketing plans include strategies that serve their respective businesses.

What is a marketing plan?

A marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that businesses use to organize, execute, and track their marketing strategy over a given period. Marketing plans can include different marketing strategies for various marketing teams across the company, all working toward the same business goals.

The purpose of a marketing plan is to write down strategies in an organized manner. This will help keep you on track and measure the success of your campaigns.

Writing a marketing plan will help you think of each campaign‘s mission, buyer personas, budget, tactics, and deliverables. With all this information in one place, you’ll have an easier time staying on track with a campaign. You'll also discover what works and what doesn't. Thus, measuring the success of your strategy.

Featured Resource: Free Marketing Plan Template

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Looking to develop a marketing plan for your business? Click here to download HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template to get started .

To learn more about how to create your marketing plan, keep reading or jump to the section you’re looking for:

How to Write a Marketing Plan

Types of marketing plans, marketing plan examples, marketing plan faqs, sample marketing plan.

Marketing plan definition graphic

If you're pressed for time or resources, you might not be thinking about a marketing plan. However, a marketing plan is an important part of your business plan.

Marketing Plan vs. Business Plan

A marketing plan is a strategic document that outlines marketing objectives, strategies, and tactics.

A business plan is also a strategic document. But this plan covers all aspects of a company's operations, including finance, operations, and more. It can also help your business decide how to distribute resources and make decisions as your business grows.

I like to think of a marketing plan as a subset of a business plan; it shows how marketing strategies and objectives can support overall business goals.

Keep in mind that there's a difference between a marketing plan and a marketing strategy.

recommendation example in business plan

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

  • Pre-Sectioned Template
  • Completely Customizable
  • Example Prompts
  • Professionally Designed

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Marketing Strategy vs. Marketing Plan

A marketing strategy describes how a business will accomplish a particular goal or mission. This includes which campaigns, content, channels, and marketing software they'll use to execute that mission and track its success.

For example, while a greater plan or department might handle social media marketing, you might consider your work on Facebook as an individual marketing strategy.

A marketing plan contains one or more marketing strategies. It's the framework from which all of your marketing strategies are created and helps you connect each strategy back to a larger marketing operation and business goal.

For example, suppose your company is launching a new software product, and it wants customers to sign up. The marketing department needs to develop a marketing plan that'll help introduce this product to the industry and drive the desired signups.

The department decides to launch a blog dedicated to this industry, a new YouTube video series to establish expertise, and an account on Twitter to join the conversation around this subject. All this serves to attract an audience and convert this audience into software users.

To summarize, the business's marketing plan is dedicated to introducing a new software product to the marketplace and driving signups for that product. The business will execute that plan with three marketing strategies : a new industry blog, a YouTube video series, and a Twitter account.

Of course, the business might consider these three things as one giant marketing strategy, each with its specific content strategies. How granular you want your marketing plan to get is up to you. Nonetheless, every marketing plan goes through a particular set of steps in its creation.

Learn what they are below.

  • State your business's mission.
  • Determine the KPIs for this mission.
  • Identify your buyer personas.
  • Describe your content initiatives and strategies.
  • Clearly define your plan's omissions.
  • Define your marketing budget.
  • Identify your competition.
  • Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

1. State your business's mission.

Your first step in writing a marketing plan is to state your mission. Although this mission is specific to your marketing department, it should serve your business‘s main mission statement.

From my experience, you want to be specific, but not too specific. You have plenty of space left in this marketing plan to elaborate on how you'll acquire new customers and accomplish this mission.

mission-statement-examples

Need help building your mission statement? Download this guide for examples and templates and write the ideal mission statement.

2. Determine the KPIs for this mission.

Every good marketing plan describes how the department will track its mission‘s progress. To do so, you need to decide on your key performance indicators (KPIs) .

KPIs are individual metrics that measure the various elements of a marketing campaign. These units help you establish short-term goals within your mission and communicate your progress to business leaders.

Let's take our example of a marketing mission from the above step. If part of our mission is “to attract an audience of travelers,” we might track website visits using organic page views. In this case, “organic page views” is one KPI, and we can see our number of page views grow over time.

Also, make sure to check whether your current reporting software facilitates the KPIs you need. Some reporting tools can only measure a set of pre-defined metrics, which can cause massive headaches in particular marketing campaigns.

However, other tools, like HubSpot’s analytics software , can offer full flexibility over the KPIs you wish to track. You can generate custom reports that reveal anything from average website engagement rates to page visits via organic, email, social media traffic, and more.   

These KPIs will come into the conversation again in step 4.

3. Identify your buyer personas.

A buyer persona is a description of who you want to attract. This can include age, sex, location, family size, and job title. Each buyer persona should directly reflect your business's current and potential customers. So, all business leaders must agree on your buyer personas.

buyer-persona-templates

Create your buyer personas with this free guide and set of buyer persona templates.

4. Describe your content initiatives and strategies.

Here's where you'll include the main points of your marketing and content strategy. Because there's a laundry list of content types and channels available to you today, you must choose wisely and explain how you'll use your content and channels in this section of your marketing plan.

When I write this section , I like to stipulate:

  • Which types of content I'll create. These might include blog posts, YouTube videos, infographics, and ebooks.
  • How much of it I'll create. I typically describe content volume in daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly intervals. It all depends on my workflow and the short-term goals for my content.
  • The goals (and KPIs) I'll use to track each type. KPIs can include organic traffic, social media traffic, email traffic, and referral traffic. Your goals should also include which pages you want to drive that traffic to, such as product pages, blog pages, or landing pages.
  • The channels on which I'll distribute my content. Popular channels include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
  • Any paid advertising that will take place on these channels.

Build out your marketing plan with this free template.

Fill out this form to access the template., 5. clearly define your plan's omissions..

A marketing plan explains the marketing team's focus. It also explains what the marketing team will not focus on.

If there are other aspects of your business that you aren't serving in this particular plan, include them in this section. These omissions help to justify your mission, buyer personas, KPIs, and content. You can’t please everyone in a single marketing campaign, and if your team isn't on the hook for something, you need to make it known.

In my experience, this section is particularly important for stakeholders to help them understand why certain decisions were made.

6. Define your marketing budget.

Whether it's freelance fees, sponsorships, or a new full-time marketing hire, use these costs to develop a marketing budget and outline each expense in this section of your marketing plan.

marketing-budget-templates

You can establish your marketing budget with this kit of 8 free marketing budget templates .

7. Identify your competition.

Part of marketing is knowing whom you're marketing against. Research the key players in your industry and consider profiling each one.

Keep in mind not every competitor will pose the same challenges to your business. For example, while one competitor might be ranking highly on search engines for keywords you want your website to rank for, another competitor might have a heavy footprint on a social network where you plan to launch an account.

competitive-analysis-templates

Easily track and analyze your competitors with this collection of ten free competitive analysis templates .

8. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

With your marketing plan fully fleshed out, it's time to explain who’s doing what. I don't like to delve too deeply into my employees’ day-to-day projects, but I know which teams and team leaders are in charge of specific content types, channels, KPIs, and more.

Now that you know why you need to build an effective marketing plan, it’s time to get to work. Starting a plan from scratch can be overwhelming if you haven't done it before. That’s why there are many helpful resources that can support your first steps. We’ll share some of the best guides and templates that can help you build effective results-driven plans for your marketing strategies.

Ready to make your own marketing plan? Get started using this free template.

Depending on the company you work with, you might want to create various marketing plans. We compiled different samples to suit your needs:

1. Quarterly or Annual Marketing Plans

These plans highlight the strategies or campaigns you'll take on in a certain period.

marketing plan examples: forbes

Forbes published a marketing plan template that has amassed almost 4 million views. To help you sculpt a marketing roadmap with true vision, their template will teach you how to fill out the 15 key sections of a marketing plan, which are:

  • Executive Summary
  • Target Customers
  • Unique Selling Proposition
  • Pricing & Positioning Strategy
  • Distribution Plan
  • Your Offers
  • Marketing Materials
  • Promotions Strategy
  • Online Marketing Strategy
  • Conversion Strategy
  • Joint Ventures & Partnerships
  • Referral Strategy
  • Strategy for Increasing Transaction Prices
  • Retention Strategy
  • Financial Projections

If you're truly lost on where to start with a marketing plan, I highly recommend using this guide to help you define your target audience, figure out how to reach them, and ensure that audience becomes loyal customers.

2. Social Media Marketing Plan

This type of plan highlights the channels, tactics, and campaigns you intend to accomplish specifically on social media. A specific subtype is a paid marketing plan, which highlights paid strategies, such as native advertising, PPC, or paid social media promotions.

Shane Snow's Marketing Plan for His Book Dream Team is a great example of a social media marketing plan:

Contently's content strategy waterfall.

When Shane Snow started promoting his new book, "Dream Team," he knew he had to leverage a data-driven content strategy framework. So, he chose his favorite one: the content strategy waterfall. The content strategy waterfall is defined by Economic Times as a model used to create a system with a linear and sequential approach.

Snow wrote a blog post about how the waterfall‘s content strategy helped him launch his new book successfully. After reading it, you can use his tactics to inform your own marketing plan. More specifically, you’ll learn how he:

  • Applied his business objectives to decide which marketing metrics to track.
  • Used his ultimate business goal of earning $200,000 in sales or 10,000 purchases to estimate the conversion rate of each stage of his funnel.
  • Created buyer personas to figure out which channels his audience would prefer to consume his content.
  • Used his average post view on each of his marketing channels to estimate how much content he had to create and how often he had to post on social media.
  • Calculated how much earned and paid media could cut down the amount of content he had to create and post.
  • Designed his process and workflow, built his team, and assigned members to tasks.
  • Analyzed content performance metrics to refine his overall content strategy.

I use Snow's marketing plan to think more creatively about my content promotion and distribution plan. I like that it's linear and builds on the step before it, creating an air-tight strategy that doesn't leave any details out.

→ Free Download: Social Media Calendar Template [Access Now]

3. Content Marketing Plan

This plan could highlight different strategies, tactics, and campaigns in which you'll use content to promote your business or product.

HubSpot's Comprehensive Guide for Content Marketing Strategy is a strong example of a content marketing plan:

marketing plan examples: hubspot content marketing plan

At HubSpot, we‘ve built our marketing team from two business school graduates working from a coffee table to a powerhouse of hundreds of employees. Along the way, we’ve learned countless lessons that shaped our current content marketing strategy. So, we decided to illustrate our insights in a blog post to teach marketers how to develop a successful content marketing strategy, regardless of their team's size.

Download Now: Free Content Marketing Planning Templates

In this comprehensive guide for modern marketers, you'll learn:

  • What exactly content marketing is.
  • Why your business needs a content marketing strategy.
  • Who should lead your content marketing efforts?
  • How to structure your content marketing team based on your company's size.
  • How to hire the right people for each role on your team.
  • What marketing tools and technology you'll need to succeed.
  • What type of content your team should create, and which employees should be responsible for creating them.
  • The importance of distributing your content through search engines, social media, email, and paid ads.
  • And finally, the recommended metrics each of your teams should measure and report to optimize your content marketing program.

This is a fantastic resource for content teams of any size — whether you're a team of one or 100. It includes how to hire and structure a content marketing team, what marketing tools you'll need, what type of content you should create, and even recommends what metrics to track for analyzing campaigns. If you're aiming to establish or boost your online presence, leveraging tools like HubSpot's drag-and-drop website builder can be extremely beneficial. It helps you create a captivating digital footprint that sets the foundation for your content marketing endeavors.

4. New Product Launch Marketing Plan

This will be a roadmap for the strategies and tactics you‘ll implement to promote a new product. And if you’re searching for an example, look no further than Chief Outsiders' Go-To-Market Plan for a New Product :

marketing plan examples: chief outsiders

After reading this plan, you'll learn how to:

  • Validate a product
  • Write strategic objectives
  • Identify your market
  • Compile a competitive landscape
  • Create a value proposition for a new product
  • Consider sales and service in your marketing plan

If you're looking for a marketing plan for a new product, the Chief Outsiders template is a great place to start. Marketing plans for a new product will be more specific because they target one product versus its entire marketing strategy.

5. Growth Marketing Plan

Growth marketing plans use experimentation and data to drive results, like we see in Venture Harbour’s Growth Marketing Plan Template :

marketing plan examples: venture harbour

Venture Harbour's growth marketing plan is a data-driven and experiment-led alternative to the more traditional marketing plan. Their template has five steps intended for refinement with every test-measure-learn cycle. The five steps are:

  • Experiments

Download Now: Free Growth Strategy Template

I recommend this plan if you want to experiment with different platforms and campaigns. Experimentation always feels risky and unfamiliar, but this plan creates a framework for accountability and strategy.

  • Louisville Tourism
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • Visit Oxnard
  • Safe Haven Family Shelter
  • Wright County Economic Development
  • The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County
  • Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • Visit Billings

1. Louisville Tourism

Louisville Tourism Marketing Plan

It also divides its target market into growth and seed categories to allow for more focused strategies. For example, the plan recognizes Millennials in Chicago, Atlanta, and Nashville as the core of it's growth market, whereas people in Boston, Austin, and New York represent seed markets where potential growth opportunities exist. Then, the plan outlines objectives and tactics for reaching each market.

Why This Marketing Plan Works

  • The plan starts with a letter from the President & CEO of the company, who sets the stage for the plan by providing a high-level preview of the incoming developments for Louisville's tourism industry
  • The focus on Louisville as "Bourbon City" effectively leverages its unique cultural and culinary attributes to present a strong brand
  • Incorporates a variety of data points from Google Analytics, Arrivalist, and visitor profiles to to define their target audience with a data-informed approach

2. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University Illinois

For example, students who become prospects as freshman and sophomore will receive emails that focus on getting the most out of high school and college prep classes. Once these students become juniors and seniors — thus entering the consideration stage — the emails will focus more on the college application process and other exploratory content.

  • The plan incorporates competitive analysis, evaluation surveys, and other research to determine the makeup of its target audience
  • The plan lists each marketing program (e.g., direct mail, social media, email etc.) and supplements it with examples on the next page
  • Each marketing program has its own objectives, tactics, and KPIs for measuring success

3. Visit Oxnard

This marketing plan by Visit Oxnard, a convention and visitors bureau, is packed with all the information one needs in a marketing plan: target markets, key performance indicators, selling points, personas, marketing tactics by channel, and much more.

It also articulates the organization’s strategic plans for the upcoming fiscal year, especially as it grapples with the aftereffects of the pandemic. Lastly, it has impeccable visual appeal, with color-coded sections and strong branding elements.

  • States clear and actionable goals for the coming year
  • Includes data and other research that shows how their team made their decisions
  • Outlines how the team will measure the success of their plan

4. Safe Haven Family Shelter

marketing plan examples: safe haven family shelter

This marketing plan by a nonprofit organization is an excellent example to follow if your plan will be presented to internal stakeholders at all levels of your organization. It includes SMART marketing goals , deadlines, action steps, long-term objectives, target audiences, core marketing messages , and metrics.

The plan is detailed, yet scannable. By the end of it, one can walk away with a strong understanding of the organization’s strategic direction for its upcoming marketing efforts.

  • Confirms ongoing marketing strategies and objectives while introducing new initiatives
  • Uses colors, fonts, and formatting to emphasize key parts of the plan
  • Closes with long-term goals, key themes, and other overarching topics to set the stage for the future

5. Wright County Economic Development

marketing plan examples: wright county

Wright County Economic Development’s plan drew our attention because of its simplicity, making it good inspiration for those who’d like to outline their plan in broad strokes without frills or filler.

It includes key information such as marketing partners, goals, initiatives, and costs. The sections are easy to scan and contain plenty of information for those who’d like to dig into the details. Most important, it includes a detailed breakdown of projected costs per marketing initiative — which is critical information to include for upper-level managers and other stakeholders.

  • Begins with a quick paragraph stating why the recommended changes are important
  • Uses clear graphics and bullet points to emphasize key points
  • Includes specific budget data to support decision-making

6. The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County

marketing plan examples: cultural council of palm beach county

This marketing plan presentation by a cultural council is a great example of how to effectively use data in your plan, address audiences who are new to the industry, and offer extensive detail into specific marketing strategies.

For instance, an entire slide is dedicated to the county’s cultural tourism trends, and at the beginning of the presentation, the organization explains what an arts and culture agency is in the first place.

That’s a critical piece of information to include for those who might not know. If you’re addressing audiences outside your industry, consider defining terms at the beginning, like this organization did.

  • Uses quality design and images to support the goals and priorities in the text
  • Separate pages for each big idea or new strategy
  • Includes sections for awards and accomplishments to show how the marketing plan supports wider business goals
  • Defines strategies and tactics for each channel for easy skimming

7. Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau

marketing plan examples: carrabus county

Cabarrus County’s convention and visitors bureau takes a slightly different approach with its marketing plan, formatting it like a magazine for stakeholders to flip through. It offers information on the county’s target audience, channels, goals, KPIs, and public relations strategies and initiatives.

We especially love that the plan includes contact information for the bureau’s staff members, so that it’s easy for stakeholders to contact the appropriate person for a specific query.

  • Uses infographics to expand on specific concepts, like how visitors benefit a community
  • Highlights the team members responsible for each initiative with a photo to emphasize accountability and community
  • Closes with an event calendar for transparency into key dates for events

8. Visit Billings

marketing plan examples: visit billings

Visit Billing’s comprehensive marketing plan is like Cabarrus County’s in that it follows a magazine format. With sections for each planned strategy, it offers a wealth of information and depth for internal stakeholders and potential investors.

We especially love its content strategy section, where it details the organization’s prior efforts and current objectives for each content platform.

At the end, it includes strategic goals and budgets — a good move to imitate if your primary audience would not need this information highlighted at the forefront.

  • Includes a section on the buyer journey, which offers clarity on the reasoning for marketing plan decisions
  • Design includes call-outs for special topics that could impact the marketing audience, such as safety concerns or "staycations"
  • Clear headings make it easy to scan this comprehensive report and make note of sections a reader may want to return to for more detail

What is a typical marketing plan?

In my experience, most marketing plans outline the following aspects of a business's marketing:

  • Target audience

Each marketing plan should include one or more goals, the path your team will take to meet those goals, and how you plan to measure success.

For example, if I were a tech startup that's launching a new mobile app, my marketing plan would include:

  • Target audience or buyer personas for the app
  • Outline of how app features meet audience needs
  • Competitive analysis
  • Goals for conversion funnel and user acquisition
  • Marketing strategies and tactics for user acquisition

Featured resource : Free Marketing Plan Template

What should a good marketing plan include?

A good marketing plan will create a clear roadmap for your unique marketing team. This means that the best marketing plan for your business will be distinct to your team and business needs.

That said, most marketing plans will include sections for one or more of the following:

  • Clear analysis of the target market
  • A detailed description of the product or service
  • Strategic marketing mix details (such as product, price, place, promotion)
  • Measurable goals with defined timelines

This can help you build the best marketing plan for your business.

A good marketing plan should also include a product or service's unique value proposition, a comprehensive marketing strategy including online and offline channels, and a defined budget.

Featured resource : Value Proposition Templates

What are the most important parts of a marketing plan?

When you‘re planning a road trip, you need a map to help define your route, step-by-step directions, and an estimate of the time it will take to get to your destination. It’s literally how you get there that matters.

Like a road map, a marketing plan is only useful if it helps you get to where you want to go. So, no one part is more than the other.

That said, you can use the list below to make sure that you've added or at least considered each of the following in your marketing plan:

  • Marketing goals
  • Executive summary
  • Target market analysis
  • Marketing strategies

What questions should I ask when making a marketing plan?

Questions are a useful tool for when you‘re stuck or want to make sure you’ve included important details.

Try using one or more of these questions as a starting point when you create your marketing plan:

  • Who is my target audience?
  • What are their needs, motivations, and pain points?
  • How does our product or service solve their problems?
  • How will I reach and engage them?
  • Who are my competitors? Are they direct or indirect competitors?
  • What are the unique selling points of my product or service?
  • What marketing channels are best for the brand?
  • What is our budget and timeline?
  • How will I measure the success of marketing efforts?

How much does a marketing plan cost?

Creating a marketing plan is mostly free. But the cost of executing a marketing plan will depend on your specific plan.

Marketing plan costs vary by business, industry, and plan scope. Whether your team handles marketing in-house or hires external consultants can also make a difference. Total costs can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands. This is why most marketing plans will include a budget.

Featured resource : Free Marketing Budget Templates

What is a marketing plan template?

A marketing plan template is a pre-designed structure or framework that helps you outline your marketing plan.

It offers a starting point that you can customize for your specific business needs and goals. For example, our template includes easy-to-edit sections for:

  • Business summary
  • Business initiatives
  • Target market
  • Market strategy
  • Marketing channels
  • Marketing technology

Let’s create a sample plan together, step by step.

Follow along with HubSpot's free Marketing Plan Template .

HubSpot Mktg plan cover

1. Create an overview or primary objective.

Our business mission is to provide [service, product, solution] to help [audience] reach their [financial, educational, business related] goals without compromising their [your audience’s valuable asset: free time, mental health, budget, etc.]. We want to improve our social media presence while nurturing our relationships with collaborators and clients.

For example, if I wanted to focus on social media growth, my KPIs might look like this:

We want to achieve a minimum of [followers] with an engagement rate of [X] on [social media platform].

The goal is to achieve an increase of [Y] on recurring clients and new meaningful connections outside the platform by the end of the year.

Use the following categories to create a target audience for your campaign.

  • Profession:
  • Background:
  • Pain points:
  • Social media platforms that they use:
  • Streaming platforms that they prefer:

For more useful strategies, consider creating a buyer persona in our Make My Persona tool .

Our content pillars will be: [X, Y, Z].

Content pillars should be based on topics your audience needs to know. If your ideal clients are female entrepreneurs, then your content pillars can be: marketing, being a woman in business, remote working, and productivity hacks for entrepreneurs.

Then, determine any omissions.

This marketing plan won’t be focusing on the following areas of improvement: [A, B, C].

5. Define your marketing budget.

Our marketing strategy will use a total of [Y] monthly. This will include anything from freelance collaborations to advertising.

6. Identify your competitors.

I like to work through the following questions to clearly indicate who my competitors are:

  • Which platforms do they use the most?
  • How does their branding differentiate?
  • How do they talk to their audiences?
  • What valuable assets do customers talk about? And if they are receiving any negative feedback, what is it about?

7. Outline your plan's contributors and their responsibilities.

Create responsible parties for each portion of the plan.

Marketing will manage the content plan, implementation, and community interaction to reach the KPIs.

  • Social media manager: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
  • Content strategist: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
  • Community manager: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]

Sales will follow the line of the marketing work while creating and implementing an outreach strategy.

  • Sales strategists: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]
  • Sales executives: [hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations]

Customer Service will nurture clients’ relationships to ensure that they have what they want. [Hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations].

Project Managers will track the progress and team communication during the project. [Hours per week dedicated to the project, responsibilities, team communication requirements, expectations].

Get started on your marketing plan.

These marketing plans serve as initial resources to get your content marketing plan started. But, to truly deliver what your audience wants and needs, you'll likely need to test some different ideas out, measure their success, and then refine your goals as you go.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2019, but was updated for comprehensiveness. This article was written by a human, but our team uses AI in our editorial process. Check out our full disclosure t o learn more about how we use AI.

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