Trade Association Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Trade Association Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Trade Association business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
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Trade associations are important businesses as they are able to bring together a number of companies within the same industry in order to pursue common goals. Many of these organizations operate in a not-for-profit capacity but there are a number of businesses that operate in a trade association capacity with the intent to generate a profit. These businesses often generate extremely highly recurring strings revenue given that most trade associations operate on a subscription basis. The startup costs associated with the new trade association can vary greatly by the type of industry being targeted. For instance, a trade association targeted towards a highly established industries such as manufacturing may have startup costs ranging anywhere from $1 million to $5 million whereas a smaller trade association for a cottage industry can be started for as little as $50,000 to $100,000. The major cost and starting a new trade association is the underlying marketing that is required in order to get people to enroll in the organization. A significant portion, usually upwards of 50% of the startup costs, are used for this business. One of the nice things about owning and operating a for-profit trade association is at once subscriptions come in and people become members then these businesses are able to maintain their profitability in any economic climate. This is especially true if the trade association engages in a broad-based marketing campaign where co-branding opportunities are available for members who are looking to increase their brand-name visibility.
As with all business planning activities, a trade association business plan is going to be required. This document should feature a three year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. Most financial institutions will provide a limited level of support, usually in the form of a working capital line of credit, in order to get a new trade association off the ground. Additional financing opportunities will be substantially available once the organization reaches two years of age and is producing a significant amount of profit. Within the business plan, a full demographic analysis of the companies to be targeted for enrollment in the association should be developed as well. This includes examining the industry, average annual revenues, average annual profits, and where the majority of these businesses are located. Special attention should be paid to the marketing efforts that will be used in order to enroll people as members within the organization which includes attending trade shows, maintaining an expansive online presence, and using social media platforms in order to increase the visibility of the trade association. Of special importance to marketing will be the use of the Internet as well as social media as many companies and individuals within any specific industry now use these online platforms in order to connect with other people.
The trade association marketing plan should focus significantly on both face-to-face interaction as well as use of the Internet. For most, a presence on social media platforms such as FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+ should be used aggressively in order to target companies within any specific industry. As many people now use these platforms for networking – a strong investment in social media can produce a very high return on investment as it relates to the underlying marketing budget. Usually, a social media consultant will be hired to manage his aspect of the trade associations marketing operations. This is due to the fact that trial and error for the use of social media can be very expensive. While hiring a social media consultant or employee who will provide the services in-house is expensive, it can be far less costly than mistakes made a made when experimenting with different social media marketing activities. For each new platform that is developed on the Internet, a social media presence should be established for that new platform.
A website that allows individuals to easily enroll in the trade associations membership should be developed as well. This website should be marketed via search engine optimization as well as pay per click marketing. The proprietary website should be listed among all major search engines. A social media consultant or web development firm usually has a significant amount of experience as it relates to search engine optimization. As such, by combining these two jobs for one person to complete – this can provide an even further return on investment on the trade associations underlying marketing budget.
Finally, as it relates to marketing, the trade association is going to need to attend trade shows throughout the country and on a worldwide basis depending on the industry. Of special importance to these operations will be acquiring booths that can be rented out at these facilities in order to provide potential members with packets of sales literature, benefits relating to enrolling the trade Association, and other information that is pertinent to this type of operation.
A trade association SWOT analysis is frequently produced as well. This document outlines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are common within this industry. As it relates to strengths, the trade association is a was always able to remain profitable once they get their initial membership base up and going. The barriers to entry are considered to be moderate depending on the industry and the startup costs are considered moderate as well. For weaknesses, there are always a number of other trade associations that are in operation for any specific type of industry. As such, the entrepreneur is going to need to find ways to effectively differentiate this trade association from others that may be in the market. For opportunities, these businesses can thrive by continuing to make substantial investments into their marketing apparatuses in order to ensure that they are able to reach a large number of companies and individuals that want to become members of the trade association. For threats, beyond outside any ongoing competitive issue – there’s very little that will change in regards to how a trade association is owned, operated, and managed. Most importantly, you are going to need to be a continued and ongoing investment into marketing operations especially as it relates to online and social media.
A trade association can be a lucrative opportunity for an individual that wants to operate this is a for-profit business or a group of individuals are seeking to create greater awareness for the industry itself. The highly recurring streams of revenue allow these businesses to grow very quickly once they generate their initial membership base and subscription revenues are generated. Once profitable or cash flow positive these organizations are able to easily obtain additional capital for their growth. Also, these organizations and businesses are the lifeblood for many industries, and as such – there’s really nothing is going to change over the next 10 to 20 years in regards to how these organizations are developed and expanded.