Every nursing business needs a marketing plan. A nurse entrepreneur - nursepreneur must be actively marketing and selling their business for it to survive and flourish. The following step-by-step plan was designed to help nurse entrepreneurs - nursepreneurs - nurses in business develop a marketing plan quickly by eliminating the need for them to develop a marketing plan from scratch. Tailor this marketing plan to meet the specific needs of your nursing business.  

This marketing plan assumes that you're a nurse in business or ready to go into business. While some of these elements stand alone, some elements in later months build on actions taken in previous months. While most of the elements only require effort and can be implemented at no cost or low cost, having a budget could allow you to outsource some of the work you can't do or don't want to do.

Develop unique identity - Develop a logo, tag line, unique selling proposition (USP), and elevator speech for your nursing business if you haven't already done so, or refine them.

Develop marketing material - Develop a small amount of whatever marketing material you think you will need to promote your nursing business as you get started, e.g., business cards, letterhead stationary, return address labels, brochures.

Generate publicity - Write a press release about the launch of your nurse entrepreneur business. Distribute it to appropriate print and online publications. Email it to family and friends. Submit a copy to the Nurse Entrepreneur Network Webmaster for inclusion in the Member Press department. If you include your Web site's URL in your press release, it will get you a deep link to your Web site.

Develop a newsletter format - Create a newsletter template that is consistent with the image of your nursing business. You will use this template in future months to publish your information. Consider whether to do a print version, email version, or both.

Develop newsletter mailing list - Begin developing a mailing list for your newsletter. This could be an email list, postal mail list, or two separate lists.

Develop newsletter content - Collect a list of content experts you would like to feature in your newsletter. Begin collecting content ideas for the future.

Seek out alliances - Contact people and organizations who serve the same target market served by your nursing business but who aren't competitors. Explore ways to promote each other's services.

Seek out networking opportunities - Seek networking groups where you may be able to meet people in the target market for your nursing business. Begin to attend some of their gatherings to determine which ones will be beneficial for you to attend or join.

Seek out online marketing opportunities - Seek online discussion groups/lists who serve your target audience and regularly participate in these discussion groups/lists.