business strategy document examples

How To Write A Strategic Plan That Gets Results + Examples

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the thought of writing a strategic plan for your business? Do you want to create a plan that will help you move your team forward with inspired alignment and disciplined execution? You're not alone.

Gone are the days of rigid, 5- or 10-year planning cycles that do not leave room for flexibility and innovation. To stay ahead of the curve, you need a dynamic and execution-ready strategic plan that can guide your business through the ever-evolving landscape.

At Cascade, we understand that writing a strategic plan can be dreadful, especially in today's unpredictable environment. That's why we've developed a simple model that can help you create a clear, actionable plan to achieve your organization's goals. With our tested and proven strategic planning template , you can write a strategic plan that is both adaptable and effective .

Whether you're a seasoned strategy professional or a fresh strategy planner, this guide will walk you through the process step-by-step on how to write a strategic plan. By the end, you'll have a comprehensive, easy-to-follow strategic plan that will help you align your organization on the path to success.

Follow this guide step-by-step or skip to the part you’re most interested in: 

• Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation

Cascade Model For Strategic Planning: What You Need To Know

• Key Elements of a Strategic Plan

How To Write A Strategic Plan In 6 Simple Steps

3 strategic plan examples to get you started, how to achieve organizational alignment with your strategic plan.

• Quick Overview of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Create An Execution-Ready Strategic Plan With Cascade 🚀

*Editor’s note: This article is part of our ‘How to create a Strategy’ collection. At the end of this article, you’ll find a link to each piece within this collection so you can dig deeper into each element of an effective strategic plan and more related resources to master strategy execution.

Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation 

Before we dive into writing a strategic plan, it's essential to know the basics you should cover before the planning phase. The pre-planning phase is where you'll begin to gather the data and strategic insights necessary to create an effective strategic plan.

1. Run a strategic planning workshop

The first step is to run a strategic planning workshop with your team. Get your team in the room, get their data, and gather their insights. By running this workshop, you'll foster collaboration and bring fresh perspectives to the table. And that’s not all. 

The process of co-creating and collaborating to put that plan together with stakeholders is one of the most critical factors in strategy execution . According to McKinsey’s research , initiatives in which employees contribute to development are 3.4 times more likely to be successful. They feel like the plan is a result of their efforts, and they feel ownership of it, so they're more likely to execute it. 

💡 Tip: Use strategy frameworks to structure your strategy development sessions, such as GAP analysis , SWOT analysis , Porter’s Five Forces , Ansoff matrix , McKinsey 7S model , or GE matrix . You can even apply the risk matrix that will help you align and decide on key strategic priorities.

2. Choose your strategic planning model

Before creating your strategic plan, you need to decide which structure you will use. There are hundreds of ways to structure a strategic plan. You’ve likely heard of famous strategic models such as OKRs and the Balanced Scorecard .

But beyond the well-known ones, there's also a myriad of other strategic planning models ranging from the extremely simple to the absurdly complex.

Many strategic models work reasonably well on paper, but in reality, they don't show you how to write a strategic plan that fits your organization's needs.

Here are some common weaknesses most popular strategic models have:

• They're too complicated. People get lost in terminology rather than focus on execution.
• They don’t scale. They work well for small organizations but fail when you try to extend them across multiple teams.
• They're too rigid. They force people to add layers for the sake of adding layers.
• They're neither tangible nor measurable. They’re great at stating outcomes but lousy at helping you measure success.
• They're not adaptable. As we saw in the last years, the business environment can change quickly. Your model needs to be able to work in your current situation and adapt to changing economic landscapes.

Our goal in this article is to give you a simpler, more effective way to write a strategic plan. This is a tested and proven strategic planning model that has been refined over years of working with +20,000 teams around the world. We call it the Cascade Strategy Model.

This approach has proven to be more effective than any other model we have tried when it comes to executing and implementing the strategy .

It’s easy to use and it works for small businesses, fast-growing startups, as well as multinationals trying to figure out how to write a fail-proof strategic plan.

We’ve created a simple diagram below to illustrate what a strategic plan following the Cascade Model will look like when it's completed:

Rather than a traditional roadmap , imagine your strategy as a flowchart. Each row is a mandatory step before moving on to the next.

We call our platform  Cascade for a reason: strategy must cascade throughout an organization along with values, focus areas, and objectives.

Above all, the Cascade Model is intended to be execution-ready —in other words, it has been proven to deliver success far beyond strategic planning. It adds to a successful strategic management process.Key elements of a Strategic Plan

Key Elements Of A Strategic Plan

The key elements of a strategic plan include: 

• Vision : Where do you want to get to? 
• Values : How will you behave on the journey? 
• Focus Areas : What are going to be your strategic priorities? 
• Strategic objectives : What do you want to achieve? 
• Actions and projects : How are you going to achieve the objectives? 
• KPIs : How will you measure success?

In this part of the article, we will give you an overview of each element within the Cascade Model. You can follow this step-by-step process in a spreadsheet , or sign up to get instant access to a free Cascade strategic planning template and follow along as we cover the key elements of an effective strategic plan.

Your vision statement is your organization's anchor - it defines where you want to get to and is the executive summary of your organization's purpose. Without it, your strategic plan is like a boat without a rudder, at the mercy of strong winds and currents like Covid and global supply chain disruptions.

A good vision statement can help funnel your strategy towards long-term goals that matter the most to your organization, and everything you write in your plan from this point on will help you get closer to achieving your vision.

Trying to do too much at once is a surefire way to sink your strategic plan. By creating a clear and inspiring vision statement , you can avoid this trap and provide guidance and inspiration for your team. A great vision statement might even help attract talent and investment into your organization.

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have a vision statement like, “To be the premier bike manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest.” This statement clearly articulates the organization's goals and is a powerful motivator for the team.

In short, don't start your strategic plan without a clear vision statement. It will keep your organization focused and help you navigate toward success.

📚 Recommended read: How to Write a Vision Statement (With Examples, Tips, and Formulas)

Values are the enablers of your vision statement —they represent how your organization will behave as you work towards your strategic goals. Unfortunately, many companies throw around meaningless words just for the purpose of PR, leading to a loss of credibility.

To avoid this, make sure to integrate your organization’s core values into everyday operations and interactions. In today's highly-competitive world, it's crucial to remain steadfast in your values and cultivate an organizational culture that's transparent and trustworthy.

Companies with the best company cultures consistently outperform competitors and their average market by up to 115.6%, as reported by Glassdoor . 

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have core values like:

• Accountability

These values reflect the organization's desire to become the leading bike manufacturer, while still being accountable to employees, customers, and shareholders.

👉 Here’s how to add vision and values to your strategic plan in Cascade: 

After you sign up and invite your team members to collaborate on the plan, navigate to Plans and Teams > Teams page, and add the vision, mission and values. This will help you to ensure that the company’s vision, mission statement, and values are always at top of mind for everyone.

📚When you're ready to start creating some company values, check out our guide, How To Create Company Values .

3. Focus Areas

Your focus areas are the strategic priorities that will keep your team on track and working toward the company’s mission and vision. They represent the high-level areas that you need to focus on to achieve desired business outcomes.

In fact, companies with clearly defined priorities are more likely to achieve their objectives. According to a case study by the Harvard Business Review , teams that focus on a small number of key initiatives are more likely to succeed than those that try to do too much. 

That’s also something that we usually recommend to our customers when they set up their strategic plan in Cascade. Rather than spreading your resources too thin over multiple focus areas, prioritize three to five. 

Following our manufacturing example above, some good focus areas include:

• Aggressive growth
• Producing the nation's best bikes
• Becoming a modern manufacturer
• Becoming a top place to work

Your focus areas should be tighter in scope than your vision statement, but broader than specific goals, time frames, or metrics. 

By defining your focus areas, you'll give your teams a guardrail to work within, which can help inspire innovation and creative problem-solving. 

With a clear set of focus areas, your team will be better able to prioritize their work and stay focused on the most important things, which will ultimately lead to better business results.

👉Here’s how you can set focus areas in Cascade: 

In Cascade, you can add focus areas while creating or importing an existing strategic plan from a spreadsheet. With Cascade’s Focus Area deep-dive functionality , you will be able to: 

• Review the health of your focus areas in one place.
• Get a breakdown by plans, budgets, resources, and people behind each strategic priority. 
• See something at-risk? Drill down into each piece of work regardless of how many plans it's a part of.

📚 Recommended read: Strategic Focus Areas: How to create them + Examples

4. Strategic Objectives

The importance of setting clear and specific objectives for your strategic plan cannot be overstated. 

Strategic objectives are the specific and measurable outcomes you want to achieve . While they should align with your focus areas, they should be more detailed and have a clear deadline. 

According to the 2022 State of High Performing Teams report , there is a strong correlation between goals and success not only at the individual and team level but also at the organizational level. Here’s what they found: 

• Employees who are unaware of their company's goals are over three times more likely to work at a company that is experiencing a decline in revenue than employees who are aware of the goals. 
• Companies with shrinking revenues are almost twice as likely to have employees with unclear work expectations. 

Jumping straight into actions without defining clear objectives is a common mistake that can lead to missed opportunities or misalignment between strategy and execution.

To avoid this pitfall, we recommend you add between three and six objectives to each focus area .

It's here that we need to start being a bit more specific for the first time in your strategic planning process . Let's take a look at an example of a well-written strategic objective:

• Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

This is too specific to be a focus area. While it's still very high level, it indicates what the company wants to accomplish and includes a clear deadline. Both these aspects are critical to a good strategic objective.

Your strategic objectives are the heart and soul of your plan, and you need to ensure they are well-crafted. So, take the time to create well-planned objectives that will help you achieve your vision and lead your organization to success. 

👉Here’s how you can set objectives in Cascade: 

Adding objectives in Cascade is intuitive, straightforward, and accessible from almost anywhere in the workspace. With one click, you’ll open the objective sidebar and fill out the details. These can include a timeline, the objective’s owner, collaborators, and how your objective will be measured (success criteria).

📚 Recommended read: What are Strategic Objectives? How to write them + Examples

5. Actions and projects

Once you’ve defined your strategic objectives, the next step is to identify the specific strategic initiatives or projects that will help you achieve those objectives . They are short-term goals or actionable steps you or your team members will take to accomplish objectives. They should leverage the company’s resources and core competencies. 

Effective projects and actions in your strategic plan should: 

• Be extremely specific. 
• Contain a deadline.
• Have an owner.
• Align with at least one of your strategic objectives.
• Provide clarity on how you or your team will achieve the strategic objective.

Let's take a look at an example of a well-written project continuing with our bike manufacturing company using the strategic objective from above:

Strategic objective: Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

Project: Expand into the fixed gear market by 31st December 2023.

This is more specific than the objective it links to, and it details what you will do to achieve the objective.

Another common problem area for strategic plans is that they never quite get down to the detail of what you're going to do.

It's easier to state "we need to grow our business," but without concrete projects and initiatives, those plans will sit forever within their PowerPoint templates, never to see the light of day after their initial creation.

Actions and projects are where the rubber meets the road. They connect the organizational strategic goals with the actual capabilities of your people and the resources at their disposal. Defining projects is a vital reality check every strategic plan needs.

👉Here’s how you create actions and projects in Cascade: 

From the Objective sidebar, you can choose to add a project or action under your chosen objective. In the following steps, you can assign an owner and timeline to each action or project.

Plus, in Cascade, you can track the progress of each project or action in four different ways. You can do it manually, via milestones, checklists, or automatically by integrating with Jira and 1000+ other available integrations .  

📚 Recommended read: How to create effective projects

Measuring progress towards strategic objectives is essential to effective strategic control and business success. That's where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in. KPIs are measurable values that track progress toward achieving key business objectives . They keep you on track and help you stay focused on the goals you set for your organization.

To get the most out of your KPIs, make sure you link them to a specific goal or objective. In this way, you'll avoid creating KPIs that don't contribute to your objectives and distract you from focusing on what matters. 

Ideally, you will add both leading and lagging KPIs to each objective so you can get a more balanced view of how well you're progressing. Leading KPIs can indicate future performance while lagging KPIs show how well you’ve done in the past. Both types of KPIs are critical for operational planning and keeping your business on track.

Think of KPIs as a form of signpost in your organization. They provide critical insights that inform business leaders of their organization’s progress toward key business objectives. Plus, they can help you identify opportunities faster and capitalize on flexibility. 

👉Here’s how you can set and track KPIs in Cascade: 

In Cascade , you can add measures while creating your objectives or add them afterward. Open the Objective sidebar and add your chosen measure. 

When you create your Measure, you can choose how to track it. Using Cascade, you can track it manually or automatically. You can automate tracking via 1000+ integrations , including Excel spreadsheets and Google Sheets. In this way, you can save time and ensure that your team has up-to-date information for faster and more confident decision-making.

📚 Recommended reads:

• 10 Popular KPI Software Tools To Connect & Visualize Your Data (2023 Guide)
• ‍ How To Track KPIs To Hit Your Business Goals

Corporate Strategic Plan 

Following the steps outlined above, you should end up with a strategic plan that looks something like this:

This is a preview of a corporate strategic plan template that is pre-filled with examples. Here you can use the template for free and begin filling it out to align with your organization's needs. Plus, it’s suitable for organizations of all sizes and any industry. 

Once you fill in the template, you can also switch to the timeline view. You’ll get a complete overview of how the different parts of your plan are distributed across the roadmap in a Gantt chart view.

This template will help you create a structured approach to the strategic planning process, focus on key strategic priorities, and drive accountability to achieve necessary business outcomes. 

👉 Get your free corporate strategic plan template here.

Coca-Cola Strategic Plan 

Need a bit of extra inspiration to start writing your organization’s strategic plan? Check out this strategic plan example, inspired by Coca-Cola’s business plan: 

This template is pre-filled with Coca-Cola’s examples so you can inspire your strategic success on one of the most iconic brands on the planet. 

👉 Grab your free example of a Coca-Cola strategic plan here.

The Ramsay Health Care expansion strategy

Ramsay Health Care is a multinational healthcare provider with a strong presence in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

Almost all of its growth was organic and strategic. The company founded its headquarters in Sydney, Australia, but in the 21st century, it decided to expand globally through a primary strategy of making brownfield investments and acquisitions in key locations.

Ramsay's strategy was simple yet clever. By becoming a majority shareholder of the biggest local players, the company expanded organically in each region by leveraging and expanding their expertise.

Over the last two decades, Ramsay's global network has grown to 460 locations across 10 countries with over $13 billion in annual revenue.

📚 Recommended read: Strategy study: The Ramsay Health Care Growth Study

✨ Bonus resource: We've created a list of the most popular and free strategic plan templates in our library that will help you build a strategic plan based on the Cascade model explained in this article. You can use these templates to create a plan on a corporate, business unit, or team level.

We highlighted before that other strategic models often fail to scale strategic plans and goals scales across multiple teams and organizational levels. 

In an ideal world, you want to have a maximum of two layers of detail underneath each of your focus areas. This means you'll have a focus area, followed by a layer of objectives. Underneath the objectives, you'll have a layer of actions, projects, and KPIs.

If you have a single team that’s responsible for the strategy execution, this works well. However, how do you implement a strategy across multiple and cross-functional teams? And why is it important? 

According to LSA research of 410 companies across 8 industries, highly aligned companies grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable. And this is what Cascade can help you achieve. 

To achieve achieve organization-wide alignment with your strategic plan and impact the bottom line, there are two ways to approach it in Casade: through contributing objectives or shared objectives .

1. Contributing objectives

This approach involves adding contributing objectives that link to your main strategic objectives, like this:

For each contributing objective, you simply repeat the Objective → Action/Project → KPI structure as follows:

Here's how you can create contributing objectives in Cascade: 

Option A: Create contributing objectives within the same plan 

This means creating multiple contributing objectives within the same strategic plan that contribute to the main objective. 

However, be aware that if you have a lot of layers, your strategic plan can become cluttered, and people might have difficulty understanding how their daily efforts contribute to the strategic plan at the top level. 

For example, the people responsible for managing contributing objectives at the bottom of the plan ( functional / operational level ) will lose visibility on how are their objectives linked to the main focus areas and objectives (at a corporate / business level ). 

This approach is best suited to smaller organizations that only need to add a few layers of objectives to their plan.

Option B: Create contributing objectives from multiple plans linking to the main objective

This approach creates a network of aligned strategic plans within your organization. Each plan contains a set of focus areas and one single layer of objectives, each with its own set of projects, actions, and KPIs. This concept looks like this:

This example illustrates an objective that is a main objective in the IT strategic plan , but also contributes to the main strategic plan's objective.

For example, let’s say that your main business objective is to improve customer satisfaction by reducing product delivery time by 25% in the next quarter. This objective requires multiple operational teams within your organization to work together to achieve a shared objective. 

Each team will create its own objective in its plan to contribute to the main objective: 

• Logistics team: Reduce the shipment preparation time by 30%
• IT team: Implement new technology to reduce manual handling in the warehouse
• Production team: Increase production output by hour for 5%   

Here’s how this example would look like within Cascade platform:

Although each contributing objective was originally created in its own plan, you can see how each contributing objective relates to the main strategic objective and its status in real-time.

2. Shared objectives

In Cascade, shared objectives are the same objectives shared across different strategic plans.

For example, you can have an objective that is “Achieve sustainable operations”. This objective can be part of the Corporate Strategy Plan, but also part of the Operations Plan , Supply Chain Plan , Production Plan, etc. In short, this objective becomes a shared objective between multiple teams and strategic plan. 

This approach helps you to:

• Cascade your business strategy as deep as you want across a near-infinite number of people while maintaining strategic alignment throughout your organization .
• Create transparency and a much higher level of engagement in the strategy throughout your organization since objective owners are able to identify how their shared efforts contribute to the success of the main business objectives.

The more shared objectives you have across your organization, the more your teams will be aligned with the overarching business strategy. This is what we call " alignment health ”. 

Here’s how you can see the shared objectives in the alignment map and analyze alignment health within Cascade:

You get a snapshot of how is your corporate strategic plan aligned with sub-plans from different business units or departments and the status of shared objectives. This helps you quickly identify misaligned initiatives and act before it’s too late.  Plus, cross-functional teams have better visibility of how their efforts contribute to shared objectives. 

So whether you choose contributing objectives or shared objectives, Cascade has the tools and features to help you achieve organization-wide alignment and boost your bottom line.

Quick Overview Of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Here’s a quick infographic to help you remember how everything connects and why each element is critical to creating an effective strategic plan:

This simple answer to how to write a strategic plan avoids confusing jargon and has elements that the whole organization can both get behind and understand. 

💡Tip: Save this image or bookmark this article for your next strategic planning session.

If you're struggling to write an execution-ready strategic plan, the Cascade model is the solution you've been looking for. With its clear, easy-to-understand terminology, and simple linkages between objectives, projects, and KPIs, you can create a plan that's both scalable and flexible.

But why is a flexible and execution-ready strategic plan so important? It's simple: without a clear and actionable plan, you'll never be able to achieve your business objectives. By using the Cascade Strategic Planning Model, you'll be able to create a plan that's both tangible and measurable, with KPIs that help you track progress towards your goals.

However, the real value of the Cascade framework lies in its flexibility . By creating links between main business objectives and your teams’ objectives, you can easily scale your plan without losing focus. Plus, the model's structure of linked layers means that you can always adjust your strategy in response to new challenges or opportunities and keep everyone on the same page. 

So if you want to achieve results with your strategic plan, start using Cascade today. With its unique combination of flexibility and focus, it's the perfect tool for any organization looking to master strategy execution and succeed in today's fast-paced business world. 

Want to see Cascade in action? Get started for free or book a 1:1 demo with Cascade’s in-house strategy expert.

This article is part one of our mini-series "How to Write a Strategic Plan". This first article will give you a solid strategy model for your plan and get the strategic thinking going.

Think of it as the foundation for your new strategy. Subsequent parts of the series will show you how to create the content for your strategic plan.

Articles in our How to Write a Strategic Plan series

• How To Write A Strategic Plan: The Cascade Model (This article)
• How to Write a Good Vision Statement
• How To Create Company Values
• Creating Strategic Focus Areas
• How To Write Strategic Objective
• How To Create Effective Projects
• How To Write KPIs + Ultimate Guide To Strategic Planning

More resources on strategic planning and strategy execution: 

• 6 Steps to Successful Strategy Execution
• 4-Step Strategy Reporting Process (With Template)
• Annual Planning: Plan Like a Pro In 5 Steps (+ Template) 
• 18 Free Strategic Plan Templates (Excel & Cascade) 2023
• The Right Way To Set Team Goals
• 23 Best Strategy Tools For Your Organization in 2023

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Your toolkit for strategy success.

How To Write A Business Strategy: Your Four-Step Guide

Here’s a simple guide on how to write a business strategy that works.

Creating a solid business strategy happens in three parts: 1) understanding where you stand strategically as an organization right now; 2) deciding where you want to be in the future; and 3) determining how you’ll get there. The steps below cover each of these areas, with steps three and four both being part of the final phase.

‍ jumpstart the strategic planning process with our free, downloadable templates., how to write a business strategy: four steps, step 1: conduct a swot analysis..

The best way to understand your organization’s current state is to conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. A SWOT analysis provides wide-ranging insights about your company from multiple perspectives. Not only does it reveal where things are going well and where you can improve internally, but it also requires you to evaluate the environment outside your company to understand potential threats and opportunities you can minimize or leverage (respectively) going forward.

To glean these insights, you’ll need to do some information-gathering from your employees, external stakeholders, and even your customers (where relevant). You can read more about how to do a SWOT analysis in this article, but in brief, here are the questions you should ask:

Once you’ve gathered all this information, study it. Identify seemingly significant points, things to follow up on, and trends. Also, look for connections between the areas. For example, some of your strengths may naturally support the identified opportunities, and eliminating certain weaknesses might present additional opportunities.

Step 2: Clarify your mission, vision, and values.

Next, with your SWOT insights in mind, you can begin thinking about where you want your company to go. This direction should be reflected in your organization’s mission and vision statements. A mission statement articulates your purpose—why the organization exists and the value of the product or service it provides. A vision statement clarifies the direction in which your organization is headed by stating the outcomes you expect to achieve in the near future.

Another element to consider is your core values; these define your organization’s fundamental beliefs and practices.

All of these elements are a foundational part of your organizational structure, and form the linchpin of your strategy.

The SWOT analysis you completed in Step 1 is helpful because it serves as an objective assessment of your company—what you’re good at and your weaknesses. Knowing this information will help you formulate realistic goals, and create a plan that the organization is reasonably prepared to execute. Without those insights, it’s possible you could be busy developing a business strategy that’s categorically beyond your reach.

Another way of articulating your strategy is with an OAS statement:

• Clarify your organization’s objective, or the reason you exist.
• Clarify your advantage, or how you do things differently, better, or more efficiently than competitors.
• Clarify the scope —what you’re doing (and not doing) to achieve your objective.

Step 3: Select a strategy management framework.

Before you begin to write a business strategy, choose a strategy management framework to hold it all together.

A strategy framework brings structure to your plan, connecting your projects and initiatives with the outcomes you hope to achieve. It serves as support for your organization’s daily activities, and makes your priorities clear to everyone involved. Think of it as the master plan for your strategy, unifying all activities organization-wide.

There’s no shortage of frameworks to choose from, including (our favorite) the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Theory of Change (TOC), and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) .

Step 4: Develop your five-year plan with SMART measures and objectives.

Now that you know where you’d like to go, it’s down to the details of creating a business strategy—what can you do that will get you there? Note that the framework you’ve chosen may use specific terminology, but you’re still essentially going through the same exercise: clearly identifying high-level goals and performance measures.

Using the Balanced Scorecard as an example:

• You’ll create objectives, which are high-level organizational goals. To do this, focus on what your organization is trying to accomplish strategically. A very general example of an objective would be “Become an internationally-recognized brand.” Organizations using the BSC typically create 10 to 15 strategic objectives.
• You’ll create measures, which help you understand if you’re accomplishing your objectives. Using the above example, a measure would force you to answer the question, “How do I know that I’m becoming an internationally recognized brand?” Create one to two measures per objective. Also known as KPIs, measures use the process of measurement to help you understand what you can influence and which actions you can take. (Note that these might change if you discover over time that a particular measure is not accurate.)
• You’ll set targets for your measures. By setting targets, you’ll be able to see whether or not you’re on track to meet your specific goals.

In ClearPoint, you can structure your plan with common elements, creating linkages (as many as needed) to show alignment. You can also customize the terminology you use to match the framework you’re using.

Tip: Use the SMART framework to create objectives.

SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. This methodology will guide you in creating goals that are clear and achievable. Each objective you create should be:

• Specific: Goals should be well-defined and explicitly state who, what, when (see “Timely,” below), where, and why.
• ‍ Measurable: Goals should be quantitative and number-oriented.
• ‍ Attainable: Goals should be feasible given your organization’s capabilities and resources.
• Realistic: Goals should be realistic given the external environment and your company’s current stage of growth.
• ‍ Timely: Goals should have an end date, and, if applicable, dates for completion of various phases.

What happens after you write a business strategy? How To Complete The Strategic Planning Process

Learning how to write the business strategy itself is only part of the strategic planning process. Once you’ve created your plan, there are a few more steps to complete in order to set yourself up to execute it successfully.

Execution is the most difficult part of strategy. It’s easy to generate excitement around the initial writing of a plan; the hard part is sustaining momentum over the space of three to five years. Doing the following as part of the planning phase will put you in the best possible position as you begin strategy implementation:

Communicate your plan organization-wide.

No matter how good your business plan is, it won’t work if your co-workers at the executive, management, and employee levels don’t know how to contribute to it, or if they simply don’t know about it. That’s why you need to create a strategy communication plan that builds awareness.

A strategy map is a visual representation of the things your organization must do well in order to execute its plan successfully. It is easy to understand and share. For more ideas on how to communicate strategy effectively, read this article.

Set up a way to measure your results.

To know if you’re making progress, develop a plan to report on your strategy regularly. The best way to do that is with strategy reporting software like ClearPoint. ClearPoint bridges the gap between strategy creation and execution, helping you to maintain focus on the big picture (your objectives) while managing all the operational pieces that will bring it to fruition.

In ClearPoint, you can work within the framework of your choice (Balanced Scorecard, OKRs, etc.) and focus on the data that drives results.

ClearPoint users are more likely to achieve their goals because they can:

• Clearly see how measures and projects align with objectives
• ‍ Spot trends and learn the key influencers of outcomes
• ‍ Understand how all departments contribute to the organization’s goal

In addition, they are more likely to stick with strategy execution for the long haul because they can:

• Automate data collection and report generation, removing the burdens traditionally associated with manual reporting
• ‍ Keep conversations continuously centered around strategy, using ClearPoint as a guide
• ‍ Provide open access (if desired) to progress data to keep employees informed and motivated ‍ ‍ ‍

Developing a business strategy is only a prelude to the hard work entailed in putting it to work. But with preparation and the right tools, you have a very good chance of being the kind of organization that actually accomplishes what it sets out to do. If you want to talk more about how ClearPoint can help, please reach out.

Tricia Jessee

Tricia manages our implementation and onboarding team to ensure the success of ClearPoint customers.

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Free Strategic Plan Template and Best Practices

Written by: Raja Mandal

As a business owner, you know the excitement of witnessing your business thrive, outperforming competitors in a challenging market and achieving the goals you've been longing for.

Strategic planning can make all these things happen by helping define your goals, aligning your business with them, and creating a roadmap to reach them. However, you need the right template to help you get started with strategic plans like business plans, employee development, OKRs, Porter’s Five Forces and more.

That's why we've compiled a list of 11 easy-to-use strategic plan templates. These templates will help you kickstart your journey toward success or refine your existing plan for maximum effectiveness.

Along with the templates, we'll explain what a strategic plan is, its purpose and critical elements to help you get the most out of your strategic business plan.

Table of Contents

What is a strategic plan in business, 11 strategic plan templates, key elements of a strategic plan, types of strategic plans, the main purpose of a strategic plan, strategic plan vs. work plan: what’s the difference, best practices to execute your strategic plan.

• A strategic plan is a written document outlining an organization's strategy and the tactics it will employ to achieve its goals.
• To effectively execute a strategic plan, it is essential to clearly communicate goals, take actionable steps, remain flexible and adaptable, and regularly evaluate the plan's progress.
• The most popular types of strategic plans include Porter's Five Forces, SWOT analysis, PEST model, VRIO, OKRs, Gap planning, Balanced Scorecards, and Blue Ocean Strategy.
• The primary purpose of a strategic plan is to provide guidance and keep an organization focused on its objectives.
• Save time and effort by utilizing Visme's user-friendly strategic plan templates for creating a solid strategic plan.
• With Visme's wide selection of templates , drag-and-drop editor, and variety of design assets such as icons, illustrations, charts and graphs, creating professional strategic plans is easier than ever.

A strategic plan is a comprehensive framework that outlines an organization's vision, goals and the strategies needed to achieve them. It’s an excellent business tool that allows you to coordinate resources, capabilities and actions in a unified manner.

A well-crafted strategic plan covers important areas like analyzing the market, understanding the competition, making financial projections and creating operational strategies. With a strategic plan, you can make smart decisions, take advantage of opportunities and reduce risks for your business.

What Is a Strategic Plan Template?

A strategic plan template is a tool that helps you start or refine a strategic plan with a solid foundation. It’s a document or presentation that comes equipped with the pages or slides a strategic plan needs. Strategic plan templates come in all shapes and sizes to match your needs.

If you regularly conduct strategic planning initiatives, creating a strategic plan template for your brand will help save time and effort. You won’t have to start from scratch every time.

Now comes the most exciting part of this article—the templates. We’ve gathered together eight of the best strategic plan templates out there, so you can easily create your own long-term strategy.

1. Porter's Five Forces Strategic Plan Template

Let’s start with this Porter's Five Forces strategic plan template. The template simplifies the process of presenting each of Porter's five forces: supplier power, buyer power, competitive rivalry, the threat of new entrants, and the threat of substitutes.

Clear headings, concise instructions and visually engaging elements ensure you can input data and interpret the results effortlessly. Additionally, it includes data widgets that enable clear communication of the analysis findings. This feature enhances your ability to effectively present the results, making it a valuable tool for visually showcasing strategic insights.

2. VRIO Framework Strategic Plan Template

Maximize your business growth by utilizing this strategic plan template, which helps identify opportunities for sustainable competitive advantage and allocate resources effectively.

Each element of the VRIO framework (Value, Rivalry, Imitability, and Organization) is presented on separate slides, featuring a clean and minimal design that focuses on essential information for your strategic plan.

Personalize the slides with your brand's unique identity by adding brand colors , brand fonts and logos . With Visme's brand design tool , this process becomes incredibly easy. Simply set up your branding kit in Visme and apply your branding assets to your presentations with just one click.

This seamless integration allows your strategic plan to reflect your brand consistently and professionally.

3. Gap Planning Strategic Plan Template

Do you need a tool to close the gap between your company's present and future state?

Our user-friendly gap planning template helps you visually map your organization's current situation and identify the gaps between your current position and desired goals. Defining these gaps allows you to create effective strategies to bridge them and achieve success.

The template's whiteboard format provides flexibility and promotes collaboration, making it perfect for team discussions, brainstorming sessions and strategic planning meetings . Utilize Visme's online whiteboarding tool to brainstorm with your team using this template and many other whiteboard templates like it.

Creating a strategic plan is almost impossible without effective collaboration between teams and stakeholders. That's why Visme comes with a wide range of collaborative design features that empower your team to work collaboratively.

Invite your team members via email or a shareable link, allowing them to edit, pin, circle or point out specific parts of the plan, leave comments, reply to discussions and resolve issues seamlessly.

With the live editing feature, you can edit any part of the design and the changes will be visible to every collaborator in real-time.

Here is a video guide that you can watch to learn more about how to collaborate with your team in Visme.

Visme has been instrumental in revolutionizing how businesses approach design collaboration. But don't just take our word for it; hear what one of our satisfied customers, Jaime Kelm, the Director of Business and Data Strategy at LAFC, had to say:

"I absolutely recommend Visme due to its dynamic functionality and ability to integrate everchanging media and digital technologies. That combined with a collaborative environment which empowers our team to be more efficient with time has been a huge plus."

4. Balanced Scorecard Strategic Plan Template

Are you unsure if your company is making progress in the right direction? Our Balanced Scorecard Strategic Plan Template can help you assess and measure your organization's performance in various areas.

Imagine a visual representation of your organization's performance across various dimensions, all in one place. Our template lets you see the big picture by showcasing the financial, customer, internal processes and growth perspectives. It's like having a clear roadmap right before your eyes.

By utilizing this powerful tool, you'll uncover valuable insights and pinpoint areas for improvement. You can find other strategic planning charts in the Visme template library.

5. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) Strategic Plan Template

As your company expands, you may encounter challenges aligning goals among different teams and departments, resulting in inefficiencies and resource wastage.

The OKRs strategic plan template offers a straightforward solution to address this issue by assisting you in effectively managing your company's goals and ensuring their successful attainment.

The strategic framework template simplifies the process by allowing you to define precise objectives and track the progress of three key results associated with each objective. Using this strategic plan template, you can streamline goal management and enhance productivity.

6. General Strategic Plan Template

The General Strategic Plan Template provides a solid foundation for businesses in the early stages of planning their growth. It covers essential components such as company vision, mission, goals, objectives, implementation strategies, and resource allocation.

Using this template ensures that your company stays focused on its mission and vision while promoting employee alignment. It serves as a simple yet effective tool to keep everyone moving in the same direction.

Customize the template by including your own text, images, brand elements and more. Editing the templates gets even easier with Visme's dynamic fields , which eliminate the need for manually entering certain information repeatedly.

Simply set your company name, address, contact information, and other details once, and the templates will automatically populate the relevant fields whenever you use them.

Watch the video below to learn more about this amazing feature.

7. Marketing Strategic Plan Template

Are you searching for a simple and clear marketing strategic plan template to guide your marketing efforts? Look no further! This template is specifically designed to assist you in strategizing and planning your marketing initiatives.

The marketing strategic plan template encompasses all the essential components required for a comprehensive marketing strategy, including a value proposition, promotional strategies, and SWOT analysis.

By providing in-depth details for each section, this template offers a deeper understanding of the crucial elements necessary to thrive in today's highly competitive marketplace.

Moreover, this template features a unique Flipbook effect , allowing you to navigate your strategic plan conveniently. Experience the flipbook-like view as each page turns seamlessly, providing a user-friendly interface for easy accessibility.

8. Communication Strategic Plan Template

Clear and effective communication is crucial for any successful business. It involves not only speaking but also actively listening and understanding your audience's needs.

With the communication strategic plan template, you can evaluate your company's current communication strategies and identify improvement areas.

Utilize a combination of complementary colors and legible fonts to emphasize the significance of communication to your employees.

Enhance your texts by utilizing Visme's text animation feature, which offers eight different styles to make them more engaging. You can also adjust the animation speed to suit your preferences.

Consider incorporating interactive elements like hotspots, clickable menus and hover effects into your visuals to engage your audience further. These additions will make your content more captivating and interactive.

9. Company Bundling Business Model Plan Template

Are you looking for a new strategy in your business promotion efforts? Follow the idea from this strategic plan template and bundle services together to offer packages that bring better value and more affordable prices.

In this business model strategy plan, you can highlight the packages themselves and why they’re important in terms of convenience, value and customization.

Other pages include an overview, ideal customer cohorts, and an explanation of why the approach is a good idea.

Use the AI Image Edit Tools inside the Visme editor to edit the images for your strategic plan by removing backgrounds or unwanted objects. If you have a blurry image, you can unblur it and if the image is too small, you can enlarge it.

10. Strategic Business Plan Template

This strategic business plan template spans 7 pages to get you set up with a solid foundation for your business’s strategic plan. The layout starts with an executive summary and continues with a company overview, product description, market analysis, and planned strategies.

Do you need a shortcut to create a strategic plan document like this one? The Visme AI document generator can help you with content and visuals at the same time. In the document templates gallery, choose the generator and input a prompt that explains what you need and let the AI work its magic.

11. Leadership-Based Employee Development Strategy Plan Template

Help your employees improve in their career trajectory by planning a development strategy for them that’s leadership-based and well planned out.

This template for a strategic plan includes sections such as development objectives, a candidate profile, a skills assessment, a training roadmap and an evaluation.

Work with your Learning and Development team to create the best strategy plan with this template using the workflow feature . Assign specific pages to different people, set due dates and keep track of what’s done or still needs doing. Collaborate with the team to create the best employee development strategy plan.

Though there are no universal standards for what a strategic plan should contain, there are several key elements that most plans share. Each element of a strategic plan plays a crucial role in achieving the organization's long-term goals.

Here are the five of them:

1. Vision and Mission

A strategic plan should begin with a concise statement of your organization's vision and mission. The vision statement describes what the company hopes to achieve in the long term, while the mission statement focuses on how it plans to accomplish that goal.

A clear and compelling vision and mission statement can motivate employees and stakeholders to collaborate more effectively toward achieving their objectives.

These are also the first sections you should write when creating a plan because they provide direction for the rest of the document.

2. Objectives

The next element of a strategic plan is a list of specific goals or objectives. These are the things that you're trying to achieve over a given period, such as increasing sales by 15 percent over the next year.

You should have an objective for each section of your strategic plan: marketing, finance, human resources and so on.

Set SMART goals, which stand for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Here is an example of a SMART goal:

Increase company revenue by 15% (Specific) through targeted marketing campaigns and expanding customer base in new geographic regions (Achievable, Realistic). Achieve this goal within the next fiscal year (Timely), allowing for clear measurement of progress (Measurable).

Visme's SMART goal-setting templates are the best tools to set and achieve your goals.

3. Strategy

Once your goals are set, it's time to develop a strategy to achieve them. A strategy is a plan that outlines how you will achieve your goals. It should include what actions you will take, who will be responsible for each action and when each action needs to be completed.

This is the part where you choose how to allocate resources, differentiate from competitors and position the organization in the market.

4. Approach

The approach specifies the methods and actions to put the strategy into action. It involves using available resources wisely and adjusting to changes in market conditions.

Include a description of how you will measure success, track progress toward your goals and what resources are required to achieve them. It can also include a timeline if your goals are set for the future.

Tactics are the specific steps you take to implement your strategy and achieve your goals. They can involve changing processes, reorganizing departments and even changing personnel.

Suppose you want to increase sales by 15%. In that case, a few possible tactics could be:

• Offer limited-time discounts or promotions
• Implement a referral program
• Enhance product displays and packaging
• Increase social media presence and engagement

The difference between approach and tactics is that the approach in your strategic plan serves as the foundation or framework for deciding tactics. And tactics are the actions you will take to execute your strategic plan.

Here’s a pyramid chart template that you can use to document your sales tactics.

Strategic plans come in various types, and each type has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. To help you find the right one for your business, we will now provide an overview of the eight most popular strategic plan types.

Go through them and choose the best one that best suits your business needs.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Analysis is a widely used strategic planning tool that evaluates an organization's internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

By conducting a SWOT analysis, businesses gain valuable insights into their current position, competitive landscape and areas for improvement. This analysis enables decision-makers to identify strategic priorities, capitalize on strengths, address weaknesses, exploit opportunities and mitigate potential risks.

With a clear understanding of internal and external factors, you can formulate effective strategies to achieve your goals.

Here’s a SWOT analysis template you can use to create your own. Customize these templates using Visme’s SWOT analysis generator to fit your business needs.

PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological. The PEST analysis model helps you identify external factors that affect your business environment and can impact its success. It involves analyzing:

• Political Factors: What laws govern your industry? How do they impact your business operations?
• Economic Factors: What are the trends in your industry or economy? How will these trends affect your company's performance?
• Social Factors: Who are your customers, and what does their behavior tell you about them?
• Technological Factors: What new technologies can help your business? Are there any new technologies that will make it harder for you to compete?

To examine your business's internal and external factors, you can use this strategy alongside another one.

This whiteboard is an excellent starting point for brainstorming your company’s PESTEL analysis.

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)

This is a popular technique developed by Intel for setting goals.

An OKR is an objective, or a goal, broken down into key results (KRs), which are measurable actions taken to accomplish the objective. For example, if you want to increase sales by 10%, one KR might be “Increase website conversion rate from 2% to 3%.”

To implement this strategy, you have to set an objective and then break it down into a list of critical results.

Porter's Five Forces

If you are looking to increase your business's competitive advantage, Porter's five forces is the perfect strategic plan for you. It's a framework for analyzing your business's competitive environment and understanding where the opportunities and growth lie.

The five forces are

• Competition in the industry
• Competition from new entrants
• Bargaining power of suppliers
• Bargaining power of buyers
• Threat of substitutes

The tool offers a simple way to quantify the threat posed by each of these forces. In addition, it provides you with a clear picture of how your business stacks up against its competition and what's preventing you from gaining market share.

Here's Porter's Five Forces Model template from Visme to help you create your own.

VRIO Framework

Understanding the competitive landscape and how your business measures up against your peers is the first step to developing strategies for success. The VRIO Framework helps you do just that.

The framework uses four key variables that determine a company's competitive advantage:

• Value : Determines if the resource or capability provides value and contributes to the business's competitive advantage.
• Rarity : Evaluate the uniqueness of the resource or capability compared to competitors in the industry.
• Imitability : Examines the difficulty of replicating or imitating the resources or capabilities of others.
• Organization : Assesses the company's ability to effectively organize and exploit the resource or capability for sustained competitive advantage.

Gap Planning

Gap planning is a strategic approach that helps you bridge the gap between your business's current and desired future states. It involves identifying the gaps or discrepancies between where your company currently stands and where it aims to be and then formulating a plan to close those gaps.

You need to do a gap analysis to utilize the power of gap planning. Here's how it works:

1. Identify the gaps between where you are now and where you want to be. 2. Determine what prevents you from closing those gaps (for example, time, resources, or technology). 3. Develop strategies for bridging those gaps by providing solutions for each one.

Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

As the name suggests, a balanced scorecard measures organizational performance by focusing on four key areas: financial, customer, internal business processes and learning and growth.

The idea behind BSC is that organizations are more successful when they have a clear and balanced view of their overall performance.

For example, a company may excel at generating high returns but neglect customer satisfaction, leading to a decline in brand loyalty and market share.

By incorporating the customer perspective into the balanced scorecard, the organization can identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to enhance customer experiences.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Imagine a market where your business faces no competition. That's a blue ocean—a market that either doesn't exist yet or where you can offer a fresh value proposition for customers.

But it's not a magic show where you wave a wand and suddenly, your business is completely unique. There's much more to the blue ocean strategy than just creating new market spaces.

The idea is to focus on what matters most to customers, develop innovative solutions and find a path where your business stands alone, free from competition.

The main purpose of a strategic plan is to set growth targets for your business and create effective strategies to achieve them, turning those strategies into actionable tasks.

The plan also helps businesses focus their efforts, prioritize objectives, and create a sense of urgency around key initiatives. It provides a framework that enables businesses to make better choices even when faced with difficult situations or obstacles.

Made with Visme Infographic Maker

While they may sound similar, a strategic plan and a work plan serve different purposes and are used at different times in business planning.

A strategic plan is a high-level document that outlines a business's long-term goals and objectives. It considers the company's mission, vision, values and overall strategy and provides a roadmap for success. A strategic plan is typically created at the beginning of a planning cycle and is reviewed and updated periodically.

On the other hand, a work plan is a more detailed document that outlines the specific tasks and activities that need to be completed to achieve the goals and objectives outlined in the strategic plan. It is a more tactical document that focuses on the business's day-to-day operations. Businesses create a work plan as part of the implementation phase of the strategic planning process.

For example, a software development team creates a work plan to outline coding tasks, testing and deadlines for a new mobile app project. Meanwhile, the company's strategic plan focuses on long-term growth by diversifying the product line, expanding into international markets and investing in emerging technologies.

If you have successfully created the strategic plan, you're just halfway there. And your execution plan is equally important.

So, follow these four best practices to get the most out of your strategic planning process.

1. Communicate Goals Clearly

Clearly define your strategic goals and ensure they are effectively communicated to everyone in your organization. This helps align all employees towards a common objective and ensures everyone understands their role in achieving it.

2. Take Actionable Steps

Break down your strategic goals into actionable steps or initiatives. Assign responsibility and create a system of accountability to ensure these steps are executed effectively and on time. Regularly review progress and make adjustments as needed.

3. Stay Flexible and Adaptable

Recognize that the business environment is dynamic, and plans may need to be adjusted. Remain open to feedback and monitor changes in the market or industry that may impact your strategic plan. Build flexibility into your plan to allow for timely adaptations, seize emerging opportunities, or address unexpected challenges.

4. Evaluate Regularly

Establish a system for ongoing evaluation and learning. Regularly assess the progress and outcomes of your strategic initiatives. Identify areas of success and areas for improvement. Encourage a culture of learning from both successes and failures and use these insights to refine your strategic approach over time.

By following these best practices, you can enhance the execution of your strategic plan and increase the likelihood of achieving your desired outcomes.

Manage and Create Strategies with Confidence Using Visme

Creating a strategic plan is an important part of any business. But it's not enough to just create the plan and forget about it. You need to manage and execute this plan to achieve its goals.

Whether customizing your favorite template, collaborating with your team, or securely storing and updating the plan, Visme makes the entire process a breeze. Choose a strategic plan template from the list and customize it to make it your own.

In addition to the strategic plans and features mentioned above, Visme provides a vast selection of templates to fulfill almost all your business document creation requirements.

With over 50 different template types available, including presentations , infographics , whiteboards , budgets , roadmaps and more, there are endless possibilities for you to explore and create with Visme.

Sign-up for Visme and start creating your strategic plans now!

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About the Author

Raja Antony Mandal is a Content Writer at Visme. He can quickly adapt to different writing styles, possess strong research skills, and know SEO fundamentals. Raja wants to share valuable information with his audience by telling captivating stories in his articles. He wants to travel and party a lot on the weekends, but his guitar, drum set, and volleyball court don’t let him.

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The last business strategy template you’ll ever need

If you don’t know where you’re going, then the road you take doesn’t really matter. While wandering is fine for adventures, it’s far from ideal for starting a business or turning a struggling one around. A high-level strategy can help you build some much-needed momentum — and with the right business strategy template , you can ride into the unknown with confidence.

In this article, we’ll get to the core of what a business strategy template is and why you need one. We’ll also explore how monday.com can help you on your journey and answer a few frequently asked questions along the way.

Get the template

What is a business strategy template?

If you want to truly capitalize on a business opportunity, you have to have a strategy. And not just any strategy will work either. It needs to be a strategy you can pull off with your budget, human resources, timeline, and experience. Let’s quickly define strategy.

A s trategy is a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal, usually over a long period and can be used to drive the success of either a product or service.

A business strategy template acts as a fill-in-the-blank resource that’ll guide you when creating your own winning business strategy. A great one will outline a wide range of factors such as your marketing strategy, go-to market strategy, tools, product-market fit, team dynamic, strategic goals, competitive analysis, and more.

Why use a business strategy template?

You may have heard about a landmark study performed in the ‘80s where a team of psychologists surveyed people, asking if they believed they were great drivers. Naturally, 80% of them believed they were exceptional drivers.

Download Excel template

It’s a funny study because we all know 80% of drivers aren’t exceptional. The same could be said for both small and big business strategies. Very few people would openly admit to having a bad business strategy. A little strategic planning goes a long way when capitalizing on limited key resources, figuring out the key action items your team needs to focus on, and developing some serious business growth in a short period of time.

Using a template can help ensure that you include all the necessary information in your business strategy. In short, it should include everything you need to launch a successful go-to-market strategy and leave room for error and unforeseen events.

If you’re an existing business that needs to pivot or avoid some potential risks, then a fresh business strategy template could be the answer to getting you back on track. Sure, it may be time-consuming and expensive to switch gears, but your investors, staff, and most importantly, your customers will thank you when you get it right. Business strategy templates have many different applications.

What are some examples of a business strategy template?

So how do you go from no business strategy to a brilliant one using a template? Let’s take a look at two business strategy example templates to help you get started.

Business strategy template sorted by phases

This business strategy template breaks up your strategy into different phases. This is helpful because it allows you to picture how your plans progress over time. Within each phase, you can insert information related to different areas of your business. Then, you can also include major objectives at the bottom and mission statement at the top.

( Image Source )

Business strategy template sorted by primary and support activities

This business strategy template example organizes information by primary and support activities. This is helpful if you want to be able to clearly understand how each department in your company contributes to your business strategy.

While these two template examples help show you the value of organizing the information that goes into a business strategy, they lack the flexibility and integration that you get from monday.com’s business strategy template.

monday.com’s business strategy template

Unless you’re Google or Apple, you’re probably working with a finite amount of resources . Like any other business, you’re going to need a helping hand once in a while, and that’s where the right business strategy template comes into play.

Here at monday.com, we know how important it is to get your strategy right from the beginning, so we took the liberty of crafting a handy template that’ll boost your confidence and speed things up a bit.

monday.com understands that an iron-clad business strategy isn’t a ‘set it and forget it’ deal. It’s a living, breathing process that needs to remain flexible as your business grows, the competitive landscape changes, and your customer’s needs fluctuate.

You can easily change the columns, swap out section owners, change the status, communicate on specific items, and even set up automations like email triggers and phase advancements. There’s a lot you can do to put this template to work for you rather than letting it collect dust like most programs do.

monday.com takes customization to the next level by offering you a wide array of custom columns, charts, dashboards, and integrations. And the automation actively takes work off your plate and keeps all parties in the know when it matters most.

monday.com’s template makes it easy to build a business strategy by keeping your company’s goals visible at all times. While a business plan or business strategy is necessary for high-level and long-term planning, you’re still going to need some more specific templates to get the job done right.

More related templates from monday.com

Check out a few related templates that are sure to kickstart your next project .

SWOT analysis template

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. At its core, a SWOT analysis helps organizations bring clarity to all the factors that go into making key business decisions. Sure, you can continue to make decisions in a silo without thinking about your customers, competitors, or economic factors, and sometimes you’ll make the right call. But a better long-term play is taking those key factors into account.

A SWOT analysis template complements a business strategy template because it goes a layer deeper. Most companies take the time to factor their strengths and opportunities into their strategic vision, but a lot of them skip over the weaknesses and threats part.

Strategic plan template

There are a lot of words thrown around in the business world that begin to feel synonymous over time. Business plan, business goal, business strategy, strategic plan, and all the other plans all start to sound the same. Believe it or not, there are some key differences.

A business plan and strategic plan template will both include an executive summary , company descriptions, and even mission, vision, and value statements. Where a business plan differs is that it’s an overview of how the business runs day-to-day, while a strategic plan focuses on how you’ll achieve specific initiatives that have the power to transform your business. In short, every company should spend time developing a strategic plan for their project management office (PMO) .

Marketing plan template

Marketing strategies are a dime a dozen, and so are marketing strategy templates. So how can you tell which one is worthwhile? Yet again, it’s the engine behind the marketing plan template that makes the difference.

monday.com amplifies your marketing plan by providing a visually appealing board (as shown above), complete customization across your marketing plan columns, and the ability to communicate in real-time with your staff about important initiatives, company updates, or changes to your product or service.

FAQs about business strategy templates

Naturally, with any business process comes a lot of questions, and to help you on your journey, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

How do you write a business strategy?

Any writing endeavor begins by asking basic questions and coming up with answers. Good starting points (beyond the templates offered here) include:

• Where are we today?
• What direction are we heading?
• Is that the right path?
• How do we know if it’s the right path?
• What are our strategic objectives?
• What are our tactical plans?

As you answer these questions, try to be as specific as possible. And don’t forget to take your competitors into account.

What are the key elements of a business strategy?

Key elements of a business strategy will vary depending on the type of business you’re starting, the competitive landscape, and many other factors. That being said, there are a few that are universal, such as:

• what your goals are and the corresponding objectives that’ll get you there
• a reflection of not only your strengths but your weaknesses as a company
• potential risks such as competitors, economic factors, law changes, and more
• how you’ll create value for your customers
• how you’ll get the word out about your product or service
• contingency plans for if things don’t go as expected

As you can see, the key elements really break down what it is you want to do, how you’ll get there, what makes you different, and what you’ll do if things don’t go according to plan.

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Blog Business Strategic Plan Examples (With Free Templates)

Strategic Plan Examples (With Free Templates)

Written by: Tobi Ojenike May 17, 2024

Many businesses get caught up in the daily grind and lose sight of innovation and growth. 

Ask any thriving business their recipe for success, and you’ll get a clear answer — set long-term goals routinely and write a plan of action that outlines how to achieve objectives. 

Enter the strategic plan. It’s a document that every business (and even professionals) should invest in. 

In this blog, I’ll share examples of strategic plans for different industries. If you want to create a strategic plan easily, check out our  Plan Maker  and  strategic plan templates  (PS: You don’t need design skills to edit these templates). 

Click to jump ahead:

What is a strategic plan?

Why use a strategic plan.

• Strategic plan examples

A strategic plan is a document that outlines a company’s objectives and how it plans to achieve those objectives. It also outlines the step-by-step process and resources required to drive organizational success.

Organizations that invest in strategic plans experience long-term success. Here’s an overview of the benefits of strategic plans.

• Provide clarity : Strategic plans highlight who is responsible for what task or goal, which eliminates confusion and saves time.  
• Aid in decision-making : By setting specific goals, strategic plans make it easy to determine which actions, tasks, or activities must be prioritized. 
• Enables adaptability : Since strategic involve planning, organizations are better equipped to anticipate and adapt to changes.
• Better communication : Strategic plans promote communication across teams and departments, which helps create a sense of ownership. 

Strategic plan examples 

For the remainder of this blog, I’ll provide strategic plan templates you can edit in Venngage for different industries and scenarios. Hint: You don’t need design skills to make professional strategic plans! 

For each example, you can take our sample text or add your own to the template.

Non-profit organization

A non-profit organization can use strategic plans to guide operations and improve its impact. Here’s an example of how a non-profit might structure a plan.

• Mission: Focus on social impact and community engagement.
• Goals and objectives :  Increase beneficiaries served, expand volunteer base, and secure funding.
• Strategies: Implement new programs, launch fundraising campaigns, and build partnerships.

Healthcare organization

Strategic plans help healthcare companies chart out long-term growth, improve patient care, optimize operations, and stay competitive in a rapidly changing industry.

Here’s a sample strategic plan a healthcare company might use.

• Mission: Deliver high-quality and accessible healthcare services.
• Goals and objectives : Improve patient outcomes, enhance operational efficiency, and adopt new technologies.
• Strategies: Invest in staff training, implement new treatment protocols, and upgrade facilities.

Business organization

Most business organizations use strategic plans to help set long-term goals, develop effective growth strategies, and guide decision-making.

Here’s an example of how a business can develop its strategic plan.

• Mission: Maximize profitability and market share.
• Goals and objectives: Increase revenue, expand into new markets, and develop innovative products/services.
• Strategies: Implement marketing campaigns, invest in research and development, and optimize supply chain.

Startup company

Despite being in their infancy, startups also benefit from strategic plans to establish a clear direction for the future, allocate precious resources effectively, and guide growth and development.

Here’s a sample template a startup company can use to create a strategic plan.

• Mission: Disrupt an industry and achieve rapid growth.
• Goals and objectives: Secure funding, develop a minimum viable product (MVP), and acquire initial customers.
• Strategies: Participate in pitch competitions, build a solid online presence, and leverage social media marketing.

Schools can use strategic plans to meet their vision and mission, enhance student outcomes, and foster a positive educational environment. 

Here’s a great example of a strategic plan schools can implement today.

• Mission: Provide a quality education that prepares students for future success.
• Goals and objectives: Improve student academic performance, enhance graduation rates, and create a safe and inclusive learning environment.
• Strategies: Implement new teaching methods, offer personalized learning opportunities, and create after-school programs.

Government agency

Government agencies can use strategic plans to set priorities, allocate resources efficiently, and ensure that their activities align with public needs.

Here’s a strategic plan template that any government agency will find compelling.

• Mission: Deliver essential public services and uphold the law.
• Goals and objectives: Enhance public safety, improve infrastructure, and promote economic development.
• Strategies: Implement new crime-fighting initiatives, invest in infrastructure projects, and enact new regulations.

Student (personal development)

Students can use strategic plans for personal development to set clear goals, create actionable steps, and track progress toward achieving goals.

Here’s a great strategic plan template students can use.

• Mission: Achieve academic goals and personal growth.
• Goals and objectives: Improve study habits, develop time management skills, and explore career options.
• Strategies: Set SMART goals, create a study schedule, and network with professionals.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs can use strategic plans to guide their professional growth and achieve long-term career goals.

If you’re an entrepreneur, check out this strategic plan template.

• Mission: Launch and grow a successful business venture.
• Goals and objectives: Develop a sound business plan, secure funding, and attract and retain customers.
• Strategies: Conduct market research, participate in business incubators, and leverage lean startup methodologies.

Technology company

Technology companies can use strategic plans to navigate the fast-changing environment and adapt for long-term success.

Here’s a strategic plan template that any technology company can use.

• Mission: Develop cutting-edge technologies that improve lives.
• Goals and objectives: Launch innovative products, expand the user base, and stay ahead of the competition.
• Strategies: Invest in research and development, attract top talent, and build a strong brand reputation.

Conclusion: Create strategic plans with ease using Venngage and taste long-term success

Whether you’re a student, educator, non-profit organization, or any other business, strategic plans are handy documents to invest in.

Without a strategic plan (and setting goals and a strategy), it’s difficult, if not impossible, to transform your vision into reality. If you’re worried about the complexities of designing a strategic plan, why not edit a Venngage template?

Take control of your life or business, check out our strategic plan templates and start creating!

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