Opening Ceremonies Your company's grand opening could be your best marketing plan.

Considering everything that's involved in getting yourbusiness off the ground, you may be tempted to treat your openingas a minor detail, but an effective opening is an important part ofyour marketing plan. "Planning an opening is no different fromplanning a business," says Cindy Kurman, president of Kurman CommunicationsInc., a PR firm based in Chicago. She offers these tips:

• Budget for the opening. Decide what you're going todo, figure out how much it will cost, and include those expenses inyour first-year marketing budget.

• Plan ahead. Kurman says it's not unreasonable toplan as far as a year ahead, especially for a splashy event withVIPs and celebrities.