Keep Your Business Plan Simple By Using The 5W’s

Don’t make things complicated. Stick to the basics

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

When it comes to finding a business strategy, most people seem to overthink the process. At the start, we want everything to be perfect — which is our biggest mistake. Nothing is ever perfect.

Many startups end up getting nowhere fast by trying too many strategies at once. While trying to get their name out there, they end up trying to do more than they need to.

“Plan your work and work your plan.”

Marketing is anything but simple. Marketing can be very complicated due to the changing culture and trends in society. Just when you think you’ve come up with a good marketing strategy, things change. In this case, it’s best to start with basic information. Dare I say, an elementary approach to a marketing plan.

What are the 5w’s anyway? They’re a simple way to figure something out. You may have heard them in school:

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Using these 5W’s has helped me figure out difficult tasks in a way that I can understand. The more simplified things are, the better. Once you’ve covered the basics, you’re able to build and grow from there. Let’s see some examples of how to use the 5w’s.

For hypothetical purposes, let’s say I wanted to start a sports beverage company, yet I don’t know where to start. Using the 5W’s will help me narrow down the specifics of what I’m trying to do and how to execute the business plan.

Who?

The “who” is all about identifying. Who are we? Who is our target customer? Who are my teammates? Who are our competitors? This can be applied to many different things.

Who are we? A sports beverage company.

Who is our target customer? Athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

Who are my teammates? My teammates are 2 friends I met at the gym. Person 1 has marketing experience and Person 2 is good at product design.

Who are our competitors? Our competitors are Gatorade, Powerade, BodyArmor, Vitamin Water, and Propel.