What Is a Strategic Business Plan?

Long-term strategic business planning is necessary for company growth and success, explains Entrepreneur magazine. Business plans provide companies with the tools to track growth, establish a budget and prepare for unforeseen changes in the market place. A strategic business plan focuses on long-term growth objectives, rather than near-term operating goals and addresses different business strategy types.

A strategic plan includes many elements a business can utilize to attract financing and manage company objectives. To optimize strategic business planning, businesses must clearly define company goals and conduct extensive research to properly understand industry trends. Looking at different strategic planning models will help you decide how to set long-term goals for your small business.

What is a Strategic Business Plan?

A strategic business plan is a written document that pairs the objectives of a company with the needs of the market place. Although a strategic business plan contains similar elements of a traditional plan, a strategic plan takes planning a step further by not only defining company goals but utilizing those goals to take advantage of available business opportunities.

This is achieved by carefully analyzing a particular business industry and being honest about your company’s strength and weakness in meeting the needs of the industry. A strategic business plan is followed by tactical plans to help achieve the strategic goals.

Reasons for Strategics Plans

A strategic business plan is necessary to optimize market research and to attain optimum market share for your business. The plan allows businesses to focus on a particular niche in the marketplace, which makes sales, advertising and customer management more effective. The plan allows a company to know as much as possible about the needs of its customers and gaps in the marketplace that need to be filled. A strategic business plan helps a company provide better, more targeted service to its clients.

Strategy vs. Tactics

A strategic business plan might set a goal of diversification for the business. Tactics for achieving this strategic goal might include acquiring a business with different product lines, or adding new products to the company’s line. For example, a tennis racquet manufacturer might decided to add strings to its product line, either acquiring a string maker or sourcing its own strings.

A strategic business plan includes extensive market research, industry trends and competitor analyses. A strategic plan will include the components of a traditional plan, such as an executive summary, marketing analysis and financial statements, but a strategic plan will be more specific on how the company will go about achieving company goals.

For example, a strategic business plan will attempt to identify a target market, narrow it down to a manageable size, and establish a strategy for acquiring those customers.

Benefits of Strategic Business Plans

Writing a strategic business plan has many advantages. The plan can serve as an outline for successful completion of company milestones. Company owners are in a better position to not only understand their business but become experts in their industries.

A strategic plan helps executives understand the direction in which their company is headed by reviewing past progress and making changes to improve and grow. The plan is an organizational tool that helps to keep a company on track to meet growth and financial objectives.

Misconceptions About These Plans

Many small business owners feel that strategic business plans are for large companies and big businesses. However, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, a strategic business plan can benefit companies of all sizes and can be a great advantage to small businesses. Small businesses may utilize different types of planning activities to develop the strategies necessary to attract and retain the customers it needs to succeed.