Every fall, many companies take a look at their annual strategic marketing plan for the upcoming year. And while it can seem like a mountain of work, here are some tips to easily revamp your strategic marketing plan:
Get out of the office:
If you have a team, a partner or even just an accountability cohort, get out of the office to work on your new 12 month strategic plan. With a change of scenery and less distractions, you’ll be able to work through the new plan more effectively and efficiently. Your team will appreciate it too. And make sure to encourage feedback. Collaboration amongst your team members in drafting the new strategic plan is important. You may be surprised at some of the insight shared. Team members will also have a sense of ownership when they are fully involved.
K.I.S.S.:
Keep your data, research, and strategic planning meeting simple. If you overload your team with graphs, data, charts, language, numbers, and the like during your strategic planning meeting, it will be very hard for them to stay focused. Keep everything as simple as possible. Tailor the itinerary to fit your team, your mission and your company. If this is your first strategic planning meeting, search online forStrategic Plan Outline for (insert your industry here) to see outlines from companies just like yours.
Take what works for you and your company and disregard the rest.
Realize things change:
Evaluate your mission statement or vision for the company. Does it still hold true for your business? If so, great. If not, tweak it to fit your new focus and needs. Everything else will stem from your vision or company mission statement, so make sure it is up to date and understandable by everyone in your company.
Strategic plans are not set in stone.
Past, present and future:
Make sure to take a look at your past 12 months and what marketing and advertising measures grew your business and what tasks didn’t add to your branding, strategy or revenue. Nothing is set in stone and moving forward with marketing and advertising that worked for your company in the past is a great start. Then set goals that make you and your team stretch. Going forward, make sure you get together with your team at least quarterly to review the health of your business, goals achieved and benchmarks made.
Work in personal growth and team member goals as well.
Goals and benchmarks:
Create and communicate the main goals for the next 12 months to your team and break them down into quarterly and monthly goals so everyone is on the same expectations page. And make sure you take into account your team’s personal and professional goals as well. As you meet monthly or quarterly, you can make sure you are meeting your goals and if not, you can adjust to get back on track quickly.
Hopefully these strategic marketing plan tips help you feel less stressed about your upcoming planning meeting.
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Sources: Entrepreneur: Five tips for continuous strategic planning
