Advertising Consulting Business Plan

Introduction

Marrowstone Advertising Consultants exists to provide marketing consultations and develop advertising campaigns that benefit the nonprofit sector. It is our long-term goal to become THE preferred advertising agency for nonprofit institutions nationwide. Our firm is not focused on producing a service to our clients. We want to establish a long-lasting relationship with our clients so that they can receive their message in a thought-provoking and effortless way that inspires action.

The Company

Marrowstone Advertising Consultants LLC will be a limited partnership registered in Delaware for tax purposes. Mr. Curtisss Cole, a former Boy Scouts of America market executive, founded the company. Mr. Cole gathered a respected group of graphic arts, marketing, and development specialists, who together have 35 years of combined experience with non-profit organisations.

The company has a limited number of private investors and does not plan to go public. The company’s main office is located in Reston, Virginia. The facilities include a design lab, conference rooms and office spaces. The company will start offering its services from January.

The Services

The company offers complete custom advertising campaigns that cover all media (audio-visual and printed). This includes radio and TV ads, billboards as well building advertisements, brochures, direct mail, business cards, and billboards. Management has developed a seven-step proven process for building winning campaigns.

Local governments and small nonprofit organizations will be the main clients of the company. By focusing on institutions such as these that have special needs, we believe we will be able to better serve our clients and produce a superior service that is more effective that other advertising firms.

The Market

Marrowstone Advertising Consultants focuses on three main types: those that work in the cultural awareness, youth development, or environmental fields. This is because these types of organizations have the greatest needs and/or are the best capitalized in the nonprofit industry.

As demonstrated by the rise in non-profits, in particular in environmental awareness, in the U.S. over the past fifteen years, profitability and growth are expected in this untapped market. Furthermore with the greater capitalization of such agencies, we are seeing a widening gap between these organizations needs and what conventional advertising companies can provide.

Financial considerations

Required start-up assets are $122,300. This includes cash required to support operations up until revenues reach an acceptable amount. The start-up costs are $31,700. Most of the company’s liabilities will come from outside private investors and management investment, however, we have obtained $16,000 in current borrowing from Bank of America Commercial Investments, the principal to be paid off in two years. Charter Bank of Richmond has a $45,000 long-term loan that will be paid back in ten year.

The company expects to reach profitability in Year 2 and does not anticipate any serious cash flow problems. Our conservative estimate is that the break-even point will be achieved by three projects per year for the first three years.

1.1 Objectives

The three year goals for Marrowstone Advertising are the following:

• You can break even in 2 years
• Establish a long-term contract with The Nature Conservancy.
• Establish minimum 95% customer loyalty rate in order to build long-lasting relationships and spread word-of–mouth marketing.

1.2 Keys for Success

These are the keys to profitability and long-term survival of Marrowstone Advertising.

• Our services should be differentiated from those offered by nonprofits to ensure that clients see that we can better meet their needs than any other competitor.
• To maintain a close relationship with clients and to establish a long-lasting, productive relationship with them in order to generate repeat business.
• Our clients receive a complete service experience that includes consultation, analysis and targeting of their nonprofit’s goals. Creation of streamlined and custom advertising campaigns based on needs, total design work of all audio-visual advertising tools, implementation, and follow-up analysis.

1.3 Mission

Marrowstone Advertising Consultants has as its mission to provide marketing advice and the creation of advertising campaigns for nonprofit organizations. Our firm is not interested in simply producing a service for our clients. We value a long-term partnership with them in order to ensure that the delivery and interpretation of their messages is a thought-provoking, effortless experience that encourages action. Marrowstone understands that institutions and nonprofit groups have specific needs in order to communicate their messages and information to the people and inspire them to take action.