Got an idea for a start-up business, but need a roadmap to meet your goals? Have you been in business now for a few years and things have just kind of leveled off? Do you have a competitor eating your lunch and need to regain your market share? Or do you have a legacy business that’s doing ‘fine’, but have some fresh young competition now in the marketplace that you’re concerned about? Consider developing a Strategic Plan.
Many businesses at all stages get into a groove and are just executing tactics blindly hoping something will stick, usually when the market dictates or competition starts noticeably encroaching on their profit margin. This kind of ‘mission creep’ can take a business way off course and turn that groove into a rut that bleeds profit. It’s never too late to regroup and refocus, and your chances of getting back on top improve greatly when you have a well laid out, well thought out big-picture plan. Thus, the need for a strategic plan becomes apparent.
- A strategic plan serves as a roadmap for any business stage, setting clear goals, anticipating challenges, and supporting long-term growth versus reactive decision-making.
- Strategic planning involves five steps: assess the present, set goals, develop, implement, and revise the plan to stay aligned with business objectives and market shifts.
- An external planner offers a fresh perspective, revealing hidden issues or opportunities, energizes teams, and helps reset strategy for renewed competitive advantage.
What is a Strategic Plan?
A Strategic Plan is a comprehensive document that evaluates a business as they stand, outlines an organization’s goals, both short and long-term, and lays out the strategies required to achieve them. At CMOco, we refer to Strategic Plans as roadmaps to success, defining where a business wants to be in the future and the strategies and tactics that can light the way to the end goal(s). It works well to help organizations stay focused and on-target, as well as monitor progress and, if necessary, adjust along the way to best navigate toward the positive end results you need.
The Tentpoles of a Great Strategic Plan
Let’s get started! To know how long a road to success is, you must know your starting point. Through detailed written questionnaires and often multiple one on one conversations, as well as good old-fashioned behind the scenes research, CMOco does a deep dive and analysis, gathering the following details:
- Define the Vision and Assess the Present – How is the business doing now, and what are the long-term goals and objectives for the business?
- Research – Knowing as much as you can about the business, including its history, the market space and all competitive factors is vital for effective strategic planning. For example:
- What does the market space the business serves look like?
- What are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the business? Of the brand?
- Who are the main competitors in the market space, how are they performing and what does their SWOT look like?
- How does the competition market itself? And how do you? What’s your Return On Investment (ROI) and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)?
- Are there industry trends you can get in front of or should avoid?
- Where is there market share to be gained?
- What are your key differentiators?
- How is your digital footprint (website, social media presence/following, etc.) and are all platforms being optimized for their potential? How about the competition?
- Acting as a new potential customer…what are their impressions and what is the whole customer experience like? Most times, you can learn more actionable information from a stranger’s experience than from a friend.
- Develop Strategies – Utilizing all data gathered in research, outline tactics, plans and opportunities designed to meet and fulfill the overall vision defined.
- Allocate Resources – This helps plan what resources will be required to reach goals, including fiscal planning and deployment of human assets, talents and skills.
- Monitor and Measure Performance – Establishing benchmarks and metrics to track progress in reaching goals.
- Marketing Recommendations – Full evaluation of current marketing, reviewing analytics and results, and providing recommendations for messaging and platforms to optimize returns in line with set goals.
- Adaptability – Having tiered benchmarks allows for unplanned circumstances, as well as the incorporation of ever-changing market data and new information into execution of tactics. Having contingencies in place allows for better strategic moves rather than relying on quickly executed reactionary behavior.
Depending upon where a business is within their lifecycle, another Strategic Plan element many choose to address is:
- Brand Development and Identity – Some Strategic Plans can delve deeper into new ideas in creating or updating the brand with new visuals for a business, like their logo, positioning statement/slogan and overall market presentation, including websites, social media strategies and more. Great Strategic Plans get quite specific and detailed with this step, including color utilization, shapes, slogan verbiage and overall presentation.
In a nutshell overall, a Strategic Plan has 5 steps:
- Assess the present
- Identify goals
- Develop the Plan
- Implement & share the Plan
- Revise and restructure as needed
The Benefits
A great Strategic Plan gives a business an honest snapshot of who they are, and who they can be. It crafts the tactics needed to maximize strengths, identify weaknesses to minimize, and take threats and turn them into opportunities. It puts your market space and competitive landscape under a microscope to find cracks and key differentiators businesses can exploit. And finally, it sets goals and sets forth detailed tactics, budgets and timelines to execute those goals.
Strategic Plans can be a great ‘reset’ for a business, by reigniting passions among the C-suite in sharing a freshened, non-rose-colored glasses viewpoint, outlook, and agreed upon goals. It also holds decision makers accountable. The staff is also energized by having direction, and the plan demonstrates investment in the future of the business which everyone can benefit from and have a stake in achieving.
CMOco has over a century of combined staff experience in helping businesses prosper. From Strategic Planning to Marketing and Advertising, contact us for assistance in planning for a more successful future for your business.
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