With many advantages in the era of technology 4.0, online business is becoming an inevitable trend and a startup choice of many people. However, not everyone knows how to do business effectively, especially those who do not have much experience. To get started, you need to prepare an online business plan. If you invest in a detailed online business plan, the chances of success when applied in practice are higher.
If you do not know how to plan an online business, refer to the online business plan template with the following 9 preparation steps!
Table of Contents
1. Market Research
Whatever business you want to sell online, you need to find out about the market of that item. Suppose you have an idea for an online clothing business, you need to gather enough information such as: Are there many people selling clothes online? Which online channels do they sell? Where is the source of goods for sale? Your online business plan should list the advantages and disadvantages when choosing to sell this item.
Selling clothes online has the advantage that this product is in high demand, the level of access to customers is widespread, especially through social networking channels like Facebook with the live stream feature of sales. However, the advantage is also difficult when you sell on Facebook, there are many people who sell clothes like you. How do you overcome your competitors when they have diverse models, cheap prices, and professional sales?
That is to say when planning an online business, you need to build a detailed online business plan. Because the more carefully planned, the actual implementation will avoid unnecessary errors. If you do not know how to do it, you can refer to the online business plan templates shared widely online.
2. Set Clear Goals
When you step into an online business, what are your goals? In addition to solving the income problem, do you identify this as a long-term job and develop into your career? You are passionate about your business idea, you need to set clear goals for it. Prepare a perfect online business plan before starting.
For example, you will determine to sell cosmetics online but you do not want to stop at improving the income, but you determine this is the job you will pursue in the long run. You have a hobby of beauty so you will become a beauty consultant for everyone. You will become an influential person in society when you bring beauty sharing useful. Thus, you are not only an online seller but also a person with a certain position in the community.
Setting clear goals is an important step you should not overlook when planning an online business. Business planners often rely on the keyword SMART (smart) with the criteria:
S – Specific,
M – Measurable (measurable),
A – Achievable (Can be achieved),
R – Realistic,
T – Timely (deadline),
Applying the story of selling cosmetics online, you can set goals such as selling how long you will pay back? How much will you make a profit? Whether or not you can achieve your goals and measure them. If you are also preparing a business, add a clear business goal definition step to your detailed online business plan. However, even some online business plan templates are unlikely to give accurate results with the revenue and profit calculations of the plan compared to reality.
3. Research Competitors
“Know people – know us, a hundred battles and a hundred wins” this statement is true for business. Online business has flourished in recent years, the family members of online business houses should be increasingly competitive. For example, if you plan to sell shoes online, you need to research carefully the source and quality of competitors that are selling on Amazon or Taobao.
Some competitors have the advantage of importing goods at the processing factory, cheap prices with diverse designs. Does your product pass these criteria? If you sell Guangzhou order, your prices are much different from domestic ones; the model is more beautiful, and the way your Livestream sales are attractive or not.
That, the online business plan needs so much detail! Ask your relatives and people you trust to advise you when planning an online business. You can also consult experienced people who have created an online business plan, detailed online business plan to see what can be applied to your item.
4. Branding
It is also important to locate which products you sell online and brand your online shop. An online world with “hundreds of sellers, ten thousand buyers”, how do you make your mark and differentiate in the market. Whether selling directly or selling goods online, the reputation of the shop is the most important factor determining whether you “should eat and become a household” or not. Therefore, when creating your online business plan, you should pay attention to this factor.
5. Business Philosophy
Each person starting a business defines his goals, mission, and philosophy. You can learn the slogan of famous brands with clear messages about the contribution to society. A consistent message along with the right, appropriate business philosophy will help you advance your online business career. When preparing an online business plan, you should also keep this in mind.
6. Staffing Plan
For those who just started selling online and doing business on a small scale, the personnel will not be a big problem. You can be independent of your business and solve all problems without a partner. If you are doing a large online business or you are a traditional business unit that wants to open more online channels, it is necessary to prepare the management team and support staff. When making an online business plan, you also need to think about human resource plans.
7. Financial Planning
When planning an online business, which is the leading factor to help you prepare the best business. You plan to sell clothes, shoes, cosmetics, or electronics, … you need to determine how much your item will cost. What is the capital to maintain sales for 6 months to 1 year? In the detailed online business plan, you need to give the amount of capital you have or borrowed capital is. You need to ensure the capital circulation of goods, costs for suppliers. If necessary you can take financial management courses for business people to get ready for the job.
8. Online Marketing Channel
Online marketing is no longer a strange phrase for business people. When planning an online business you must also prepare for this problem. You need to learn all the advertising tools like Google Adwords, Facebook Marketing Remarketing, SEO website, Affiliate Marketing. You need to promote referrals so that more people know about the products and goods you sell online. How to attract new customers to buy and retain customers, entice them to buy more new orders from your shop? Regardless of the tool used to advertise sales, you should make a digital marketing plan in 3 steps:
• 1.Segment (customer classification),
• 2.Target (select target customers),
• 3.Position (Positioning) your brand in the mind of the customer).
SEO website: Selling online must have a website, where you display all the items that will sell. An SEO-optimized website that is always at the top of Google search will give you the opportunity to search and increase orders. Example: You own an online clothes selling website, thoitrangcongso.vn. If the article introduces your item to the top when customers search for the keyword “office fashion”, the opportunity for customers to know your product and close the menu is very high. If you have an online business plan but don’t have a sales website, try Sapo’s professional SEO website design service which has been chosen by many customers.
Affiliate Marketing: If you are planning an online business, you will also learn about Affiliate Marketing – a form of using other websites to advertise your product/service. For example, if you sell clothes, shoes, cosmetics, or perfumes, you post ads on another website. If a customer successfully trades with you originating from that ad site, they will be deducted a percentage of the profit.
Running Facebook ads: This is the way many online sellers use and give good results. Note when running ads, you need to choose the right people who need to buy goods by age and occupation. In addition, there are other factors such as the content of the article writing, the time to run the ad, etc.
9. Monitor Results and Come up with New Plans
Once you have an online business plan or an online business plan template, you need to check that the steps to prepare and go into operation are effective. In the early days of business, you may encounter many difficulties when the number of website visitors is low; the transaction conversion rate is not high; an ineffective marketing campaign? Make statistics and monitor all those indicators to adjust your online business plan in time.
Thus, the article has shared with you 9 steps for an online business plan surpassing all competitors. Make an online business plan with the most detailed online business plan to help you overcome all competitors for effective business. Hopefully, the 9 steps in this article have helped you get the best online business plan template. Good luck!
Also Read: Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Lead Generation
