Page 108 - Business Plans that Work A Guide for Small Business

Marketing Plan: Reaching the Customer • 99

As a service business,
Reaching the Customer distribution is often direct.
In this section, Lazybones
lays out its distribution
There are two primary ways of reaching the customer. strategy, focusing on on-
The first is to directly approach students on campus campus efforts as well as
by reaching out to fraternities and sororities as mentioned securing university endorse-
ment. A product business,
on the other hand, would
earlier. However, since parents ultimately make the buying rely on different distribution
decision, reaching them through university endorsement is channels, such as retailers.
often more effective. We need to earn university
endorsements, so we first need a critical mass of students. A table showing what
It is the role of the franchisee to go and sell the service these costs typically are by
item (brochure, flyer, etc.)
on the campus. Lazybones will provide the franchisees over the first several years
of a franchise’s life would
sales training as well as brochures, flyers, and advertising help Lazybones strengthen
its pro forma projections.
via Google and Facebook to support their efforts. We suggest putting such a
In exchange for a university endorsement, the mailing table in the marketing plan.
labels for freshman and sophomore students, a link on the It will directly correlate to
the marketing expenses in
school Web site, and the use of the front desks in the financials.
dormitories, we will pay a commission to University
Housing on each student we service. We use this strategy Notice how their
at Syracuse and a similar agreement with the landlords distribution strategy strives
for a competitive advantage.
of the privately owned dorms on the University of Lock up the university
channel through commis-
Wisconsin’s campus. These agreements solidify an effective sions and it becomes more
difficult for competitors to
monopoly on campus. Universities are typically more supplant Lazybones. Sophis-
concerned with our reliability and quality of service than ticated investors will ask
about contract length so
with the money we will generate for them, and this is why Lazybones should be ready
it took about two years to earn the endorsement in with an answer.
Syracuse. We expect that once the company reaches a
certain critical size and level of brand recognition, these
endorsements will come more quickly.
Pictures throughout
the plan are good visual
Exhibit 4.2: Full-Body Vehicle Graphics catch-points that draw the
reader in.