For most cases in life, it’s all about the journey, not the destination. But when it comes to your business, both are of equal importance. Your destination is what keeps the journey going. With proper planning, your team can understand how to navigate the journey while keeping the destination in mind. That’s where strategic planning comes in. For long-term business growth, effective strategic planning is essential.
Strategic planning for your business consists of different components that all work toward providing sustainable growth for years to come. If you have a strategic plan that checks all the boxes, you’re able to put your goals into a realistic perspective for your employees that makes them attainable and profitable.
We’ll talk about what a strategic plan is, including the benefits it can provide. Then we’ll dive into the different aspects of strategic planning that lead your business toward long-term growth.
The basics of a strategic plan
Let’s start off by defining what a strategic plan actually is in the world of business. A strategic plan is a tool that lays out the framework of your business’s goals and the steps that you need to take to achieve them. When it’s thorough and effective, a strategic plan can provide long-term growth to help your company succeed and expand.
The preparation of this plan, known as strategic planning, is an ongoing process that helps you grow your business and achieve your vision by looking beyond the day-to-day operations and defining the bigger picture.
It provides many benefits including:
- Making sure everyone is on the same page about the company goals.
- Encouraging being proactive instead of reactive.
- Improving communication and collaboration by laying out everyone’s responsibilities.
- Keeping people on track and focused on working toward a collective goal.
4 components of strategic planning for long-term growth
When you’re going through the strategic planning process, it’s important to start off with the most essential facets that will lend a hand to your current and future business goals.
There are many parts of the strategic planning puzzle that can establish the final picture you’re looking for. By taking these each into account, you’re able to see how strategic planning now will lead to long-term growth.
At BURG+CO., we’re with you through every step of the strategic planning process by making sure that our marketing services can contribute to your long-term growth. Here are four major facets of strategic planning that can contribute to long-term growth, including the questions you should ask yourself throughout the process:
- Mission — Why does the business exist? What are you trying to achieve? Your mission statement defines the purpose of the business and the direction that it’s taking. A mission tends to be quite broad, but it gives your employees a clear intention to keep in mind. An example mission statement for an eco-friendly clothing company could be to make ethically sourced clothing more accessible to the general public.
- SMART goals — What are the objectives that you’re trying to complete? What are your purpose-driven goals? Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Using these parameters will ensure that you’re setting goals that can set clear expectations for your team with proper resource allocation.
- Short-term goal guidance — How does your strategic plan align with immediate goals? Even though effective strategic planning should lead to long-term growth in the future, it should also be used as a tool to guide your business through timely decisions that contribute to the overall business plan.
- Evaluation — How adaptable is the strategic plan to changes? As time goes on, your company should regularly return to the plan to make revisions based on how it coincides with the current trajectory of your business, including the market and industry conditions, and determine if anything needs to be tweaked. Without regular evaluations, a strategic plan could cause employees to lose sight of what they’re working toward and their role in the success of the business.
We help you figure out how marketing services like SEO, website management and conversion strategy can play a role in your mission and immediate goals. Then we will help you set immediate goals and evaluate how they move you forward toward your long-term goals. We’ll help you capitalize on what’s working and tweak what isn’t.
Are you struggling through strategic planning for your marketing endeavors? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a role in increasing conversions and leading to new clients. However, it’s difficult to attract visitors to your site when you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, this is what we specialize in at BURG+CO.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more visitors to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about digital marketing or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
