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What Is A Strategic Planning “System”?

A Strategic Planning System takes into account a great number of variables such as:
A market analysis
The strengths and weaknesses of your business
The products and services you offer
The resources that are available
The goals, objectives and measures that you have established for your business, etc.

The “system” then shows you how to develop a set of strategies and action plans – and to arrange them in such a way that vastly increases your chances of having a sustainable, profitable long term business.

At its most basic level, strategy has four simple components:
I. Knowing where you want to end up
II. Knowing what to put your energy against
III. Knowing the methodology of applying your energy
IV. Knowing parameters for the inevitable end games

Any strategic system that does not deal with all four of these elements is deficient, and not likely to lead to sustained success.

The major activities in any good strategic planning system include:

Strategic Analysis – Typically includes conducting some sort of scan, or review, of your business environment – and doing that on an ongoing basis.
Setting Strategic Direction – Coming to conclusions about what you must do as a result of the major issues and opportunities facing your business. These conclusions include what overall accomplishments you want to achieve, how you will measure progress, and the high-level methods you will use to achieve the accomplishments.

Action Planning – Carefully laying out how your strategic goals will be accomplished. Each goal should be associated with a tactic(s), which is / are the methods needed to reach the goal. Action planning also includes specifying responsibilities and timelines with each objective, or who needs to do what, and by when. It should also include methods to monitor and evaluate the plan.

Creating Reserves – Reserves are a way to help you deal with the unexpected. Reserves can be time allotted to deal with new opportunities, outsourcing partners available as needed, joint venture or affiliate partners, extra money, flexible work processes, etc. The point is, you need to be able to respond to events as well as plan for them. Strategy should be a roadmap but allow for the possibility of detours.

Most of us entrepreneurs and business owners are “doers,” not “planners.” In one sense, being a doer is perhaps the ultimate mark of a successful person. It’s what makes us a rare breed. Rather than thinking or wishing, we get out there and make it happen.

In and of itself, that is fine, but any strength carried to excess can rapidly become a weakness. I have encountered many small business owners who get into trouble “doing” the wrong marketing activities the right way or “doing” the right marketing activities the wrong way. If you want to “do” the right marketing activities the right way you must start with a strategic plan.

If you are in business, you hopefully already have a strategy. These range from some vague sense of the desires of the business owner, to massive, overly sophisticated master plans. So the question is not whether every company needs a strategy, but rather whether your company’s strategy needs to be well-thought-out, sound, appropriate and do-able. The answer is self-evident.

A good strategic planning system helps keep your business venture on track from the get-go without allowing for distractions that are inherent in poor planning.

Focus, accountability, and realistic requirements are what good business planning systems offer anyone who is considering starting or working in an online business. For success in on-line or off-line marketing, every aspect of your business venture must be itemized and planned, consistent with your strategic plans.