Developing Effective Business
Plans
A company’s strategic plan becomes the framework for building its future. The building blocks
are the firm’s mission, vision and positioning (value proposition). From this foundation, a strong and
sustainable future takes shape. Operating without a strategic plan is like constructing a building without a
blueprint. Possible, but not likely to be cost-effective or efficient and the final results are almost
impossible to predict. With a blueprint, the builder knows whether it will be a simple stone building or a
cathedral. Likewise, from a vision, the organization moves forward confidently knowing what kind of future it is
building.
A strategic plan incorporates every detail firm from reputation and
corporate objectives to collateral and website design into a tight, focused, distinctive and, most
importantly, meaningful set of messages to customers, clients, prospects, and internal audiences. The
ultimate goal of the strategic plan is to help ensure every detail and every person moves in the same
direction, the marketing budget transforms from an expense into an investment and every dollar spent yields
more than a dollar’s worth of value.
Why business planning is
importantCompanies always retain the right to execute random
acts of marketing. But I think you would prefer to follow a defined course of action leading to a specific
destination (increased profitability, enhanced reputation, revenue growth, customer/client retention). A
strategic plan allows you to explore and understand direction, determine the actions necessary to follow the
course as well as the impact and consequences of those actions (much cheaper to do on paper than in
mid-stream execution). It becomes a template for effective and quicker decision-making for sensitive issues
as well as routine tasks. It provides the context within which there is a sense of certainty that every
decision made represents the best possible choice for the overall organization and its individual members.
How is this possible? Every decision made matches the strategic template, adds a missing piece to it or is a
mismatch. In time, it becomes easier to determine what makes sense for the company and what does not make
sense.
Interestingly, a plan gives you more flexibility because it can change
or alter direction from a solid foundation. Your company’s ability to cope with changes in the
marketplace will determine
its future success. Nothing is arbitrary.
Please request a free consultation or quote to edit an existing business plan or develop a new business
plan.
View a portfolio
of business plans and marketing
plans.
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