How to put together a strategic business plan

For other uses, see Plan disambiguation.

Definition[ edit ] A marketing plan is a comprehensive document or blueprint that outlines a business advertising and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame.

A marketing plan also includes a description of the current marketing position of a business, a discussion of the target market and a description of the marketing mix that a business will use to achieve their marketing goals.

A marketing plan has a formal structure, but can be used as a formal or informal document which makes it very flexible. It contains some historical data, future predictions, and methods or strategies to achieve the marketing objectives.

Marketing plans start with the identification of customer needs through a market research and how the business can satisfy these needs while generating an acceptable return.

A how to put together a strategic business plan plan can also be described as a technique that helps a business to decide on the best use of its resources to achieve corporate objectives.

It can also contain a full analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a company, its organization and its products. For example, a marketing plan may include a strategy to increase the business's market share by fifteen percent.

Business Plan Template – Business Plan Journal

The marketing plan would then outline the objectives that need to be achieved in order to reach the fifteen percent increase in the business market share. Marketing planning can also be used to prepare a detailed case for introducing a new product, revamping current marketing strategies for an existing product or put together a company marketing plan to be included in the company corporate or business plan.

These are some of the most important things that companies need when developing a marketing plan: Gathering and classifying data about the market the organization is currently in.

Examining the market dynamics, patterns, customers, and the current sales volume for the industry as a whole. The marketing plan should identify the organization's competition. The plan should describe how the organization will stick out from its competition and what it will do to become a market leader.

Developing the marketing and promotion strategies that the organization will use. Such strategies may include advertising, direct marketing, training programs, trade shows, website, etc.

Strategies identified in the marketing plan should be within the budget.

Top managers need to revise what they hope to accomplish with the marketing plan, review their current financial situation, and then allocate funding for the marketing plan.

The marketing plan should include attainable marketing goals. For example, one goal might be to increase the current client base by over a three-month period. The marketing plan should include the process of analyzing the current position of the organization.

The organization needs to identify the strategies that are working and those that are not working. The marketing goals normally aligns itself to the broader company objectives. For example, a new company looking to grow their business will generally have a marketing plan that emphasizes strategies to increase their customer base.

The marketing plan also helps layout the necessary budget and resources needed to achieve the goals stated in the marketing plan.

The marketing plan shows what the company is intended to accomplish within the budget and also to make it possible for company executives to assess potential return on the investment of marketing dollars. Different aspects of the marketing plan relate to accountability.

After the strategies are laid out and the tasks are developed, each task is assigned to a person or a team for implementation. The assigned roles allows companies to keep track of their milestones and communicate with the teams during the implementation process. Having a marketing plan helps company leaders to develop and keep an eye on the expectations for their functional areas.

For example, if a company's marketing plan goal is to increase sales growth then the company leaders may have to increase their sales staff in stores to help generate more sales.

It provides good communication within the company. The marketing plan also allows the marketing team to examine their past decisions and understand their results in order to better prepare for the future. It also lets the marketing team to observe and study the environment that they are operating in.

In a sales-oriented organization, the marketing planning function designs incentive pay plans to not only motivate and reward frontline staff fairly but also to align marketing activities with corporate mission. The marketing plan basically aims to make the business provide the solution with the awareness with the expected customers.

This "corporate mission" can be thought of as a definition of what the organization is, or what it does: This definition should not be too narrow, or it will constrict the development of the organization; a too rigorous concentration on the view that "We are in the business of making meat-scales," as IBM was during the early s, might have limited its subsequent development into other areas.

On the other hand, it should not be too wide or it will become meaningless; "We want to make a profit" is not too helpful in developing specific plans. Jacob Zimmerem suggested that the definition should cover three dimensions: The idea precedes the deed. This will be not least because its strategies will be consistent and will be supported by its staff at all levels.

In this context, all of IBM's marketing activities were underpinned by its philosophy of "customer service," a vision originally promoted by the charismatic Watson dynasty.Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products.

We worked with Relais & Châteaux to uncover and define their Strategic Story, engaging and aligning their members — the world’s finest hotels and restaurants — around one shared identity: what the French call, “art de vivre”. From there, we created a series of short StoryTelling films that extended the story to an effective positioning in a targeted marketplace.

Note that a strategic plan isn’t like a business plan, because the strategic plan document is primarily for your internal use. It’s not a sales piece for outside critique (except in the case of seeking financing), so you don’t need any extra verbiage or fluff.

This article is part of both our Business Startup Guide and our Business Planning Guide —curated lists of our articles that will get you up and running in no time!. If you’ve reviewed what a business plan is, and why you need one to start and grow your business, then it’s time to dig into the process of actually writing a business plan..

In this step-by-step guide, I’ll take you.

• Customers who bought this item also bought
• You Also Get Two Great Bonuses

A business plan is a written description of your business's future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot . If you are on the verge of building your start-up or you are currently involved in expanding your small business, the ability to put together a comprehensive and persuasive business proposal will definitely bring you the success you are reaching for.