Strategic Business Planning

How To Develop A Strategic Business Plan

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How To Put Together a Strategic Business Plan

February 15th, 2012

What is a Business Plan?

Most people assume you only have to write a business plan if you are going to seek capital from a bank or other lending institution. This is not always the case.

Most plans are driven by market needs and aims. The importance of having a business plan is to ensure your business remains on target for goals and objectives set for that financial year and for the future. There is no real difference between a business plan and a ‘strategic business plan’. You could say that every plan is a strategic one.

Most plans are driven by marketing, since you have to look outwards at the market, the market place, products and services before being able to look inwards at the company and finances.

Part of the business plan will include a marketing strategy, looking at how you will achieve growth, where to market and who to market to. Many people look at marketing as ‘selling’ but it is more than that. It’s about ‘branding’, image and building trust within the marketplace, about identifying the people who you need to market to. It’s about customer engagement and identifying your niche market and where they hang out. The Marketing strategy also looks at product development, customer service, ongoing training, the marketing system used to capture lead generation and how to retail to your customer on an ongoing basis, getting repeat customers, not just once off.

Why is it needed?

Having a plan helps you to define growth for your company, and expansion. It helps to keep you focused and on track.

Writing a business plan is not as complex as most people think, there are lots of templates out there on the market place that can help with the format.

Here are some quick tips for researching and putting together your marketing strategy:

· Determine your company values or ‘mission statement’, this will help to keep you on track as it is easy to get distracted without a mission statement.

· Do your market research, who are your audience? Your competitors? Who are your products aimed at? Where do they hang out?

· What is your unique selling point? What makes you stand out from your competitors

· What are your competitors activity? How do they compare to yours?

· What is it you are trying to achieve in your company / business? What are your aims?

· Are your products or services competitive? Do they stand out?

· What’s your customer service level like? Compared to your competitors?

· Have you got your marketing strategy right?

· Have you determined your advertising budget, your company brand etc?

· Market expansion – any plans for this?

· What will your business be like in 3 to 5 years time? Plan for growth financially and products, service wide.

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Posted in Strategic Planning

Tags: Busineß market what is a business plan writing a business plan

Flexibility Is Key to Strategic Business Planning

February 3rd, 2012

Many firms are intimidated by the massive changes underway in the global marketplace. While global business expansion presents significant risks, innovative managers can transform these risks into opportunities with proper strategic planning. Managers must be flexible enough to both set a plan in place, and adapt to changes should it not work properly.

While risks gestate for many reasons, the most significant challenges occur when a firm is either changing rapidly, or failing to adapt to a volatile environment. Strategy changes typically happen because a company attempts different paths to satisfying demand.

While it is necessary to be flexible, many firms make the mistake of jumping the gun, and implementing change without proper due diligence. These changes often fail to live up to expectations as a manager’s rush to judgement can doom a small business operating in a competitive environment. Innovative strategic planning within a company provides a plan as managers focus on employees, and can help with adaptation to any surprising business issue that may possibly spring up.

Strategy planning should not be viewed as a one-off event, but rather a steady process that not only guarantees the holistic development of the enterprise, but also helps reach new targets and objectives. The best plans are those that are developed with both the future goals and current business needs in mind. This will help managers avoid any possible service disruptions that may arise. It is also important to take into consideration factors such as improvements in technology, expanding competition, or changing customer behavior while drawing up an effective plan.

Innovative strategic planning must outline a specific direction for development while acknowledging all of the regular hindrances that can possibly be expected. Moreover, it helps align every individual in a company towards the pursuit of corporate goals or missions, and provides a sense of accountability and participation to the workers. Thus, strategic planning can project an organization on a sure path and trajectory en-route to the specified objective.

A ideal strategy doesn’t have to be written in stone. In fact it’s quite possible, if not likely, for managers to discover a very broad range of alternatives should the initial plan not come to fruition. While strategy planning performs an important position in an enterprise, it is critical to remember that it isn’t always a cure-all, and managers must stay on task with day to day activities. All aspects of an organization must be considered along the path to innovative strategic management, and to be successful, managers must be ready and willing to shift gears when necessary.