A Smart Strategic Plan Delivers Protection, Rain or Shine

It’s happened to all of us, more frequently than we’re willing to admit. Seemingly out of nowhere, storm clouds darken previously clear skies and unleash torrential downpours before we have time to take cover or even curse ourselves for ignoring the weather report. Unfortunately, too many of us are equally vulnerable to getting soaked in today’s fast changing business environment. The good news is, by investing in a comprehensive strategic plan, you can prepare your organization to weather any economic storms that come your way.

Start with a sky-high view

You can probably find as many definitions of strategic planning as people willing to offer them. But the core purpose of a strategic plan is to enable you to define your organizational vision and business priorities, and align your structure, budget and actions accordingly.

To move forward and ultimately achieve the results you seek – whether that’s increasing sales, boosting membership, penetrating new markets or branching off in new directions, you first need to take several steps back for a better look at the big picture. You need to take the so-called “30,000 foot view” so that you can get valuable and too often overlooked perspective. The ability to see beyond what’s always been done can yield surprising dividends.

A comprehensive, thoughtfully developed strategic planning process can deliver measurable benefits to your organization by providing a framework to:

• Articulate your mission, vision and long-term goals
• Challenge assumptions that currently dictate policy and decision-making, with or without good cause
• Determine carefully defined objectives and cost-effective tactics for achieving the results you want
• Create an action plan based on concrete knowledge versus guesswork
• Maximize the impact of your marketing budget, no matter what its size

Creating a strategic plan is an essential step in building short- and long-term success for your business. And while it’s tempting to postpone investing in the process until the economic climate improves, the truth is there’s no better time than now. Really. Because even if you don’t have the money to fund all the resulting projects right now, with a strategic plan in hand you’ll be prepared to move full speed ahead as soon as your budget allows.