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Strategic planning in small business management is the process of

documenting and establishing a clear sense of direction by assessing both

Business Management

What Is Strategic Planning? Eric Vo

Published: November 19, 2018

Updated: September 19, 2025

12 min read

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where you are and where you’re going (https://sba.thehartford.com/business-

management/key-components-of-strategic-plan/). A strong plan helps you define your

strategic vision, set realistic goals and align your team’s efforts so

everyone works toward the same objective.

Not sure where to start? In this guide, we’ll outline what a strategic plan is,

why you need one and explain how effective strategy execution drives

growth and long-term business success.

Key Takeaways

Strategic planning helps small business owners define long- term goals and better align team efforts. A strategic plan includes defining your company’s core values, mission, methodology, goals, action plans and SWOT analysis. Regular review and updates to your strategic plan can help keep your business relevant and adaptable.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

A strategic plan is a roadmap that defines a company’s long-term direction

and how it will achieve its goals. The specifics of a strategic plan vary by

company and industry, however, the key components of strategic planning

initiatives include:

Mission Vision Values Long-term goals Action plans

A well-written strategic plan plays a pivotal role in your small business’

(https://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance/strategy/growing)growth

(https://www.thehartford.com/business-insurance/strategy/growing) and success because it tells

you and your employees how best to respond to opportunities and

challenges.

It’s essential to note that a strategic plan is different from a business plan.

A business plan is typically used to help start your business and acquire

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the necessary funds to open its doors. A strategic plan focuses on your

company’s strategy for growth and achieving long-term success using

existing resources.

If you haven’t been focusing on a long-term strategic planning process

until now, it’s not too late to think differently. And your future success

could depend on this kind of effective organizational strategic planning.

It’s also important to remember that strategy development involves your

entire organization. The best business strategy is based on a practical

analysis and sets realistic goals and strategic objectives. Discussions with

employees, managers and other stakeholders can lead to meaningful

improvements in daily operations and key priorities. The ultimate goal is to

create a formal document that lays out your company’s views and strategic

goals for the future.

What Are the 7 Basic Elements of Strategic Planning?

While every company’s goals and approaches will look different, most

plans include seven core elements:

1. Core Values: The principles that guide business leaders and employees alike, shaping your organizational culture and defining how your company operates.

What Is Strategic Planning? | The HartfordWhat Is Strategic Planning? | The Hartford

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2. Vision Statement: A clear definition of your organization’s strategy, acting as the driving force behind decision-making.

3. Mission Statement: A description of your organization’s mission and purpose, outlining why your business exists and how it creates value for customers.

4. Strategic Methodology: The processes and strategic planning tools you’ll utilize as you work toward the desired outcomes.

5. Strategic Objectives, Goals & Metrics: The key performance indicators (KPIs), targets and milestones you’ll use to measure and track progress.

6. Action Plans & Tasks: The specific initiatives and actions that must be performed to ensure successful implementation.

7. SWOT Analysis: A thorough situational analysis of your internal and external environment focusing on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

When each of these elements is aligned, your strategic plan becomes a

powerful roadmap that connects daily actions with your company’s long-

term success.

Who Manages Organizational Strategic Planning?

In most small businesses, the owner or CEO leads the process, but

successful strategization often involves multiple strategic planners. Key

contributors typically include senior leadership and department heads.

One of the things to note is that collaboration is essential. By involving a

cross-section of your team, you encourage clear communication, create a

stronger overall plan and ensure everyone understands their role in

achieving your organization’s goals.

Why Is the Strategic Planning Process Important?

It may take a little time to get it right, but strategic planning is an ongoing

process that benefits everyone. It helps business owners define priorities,

manage resource allocation effectively and prepare for potential

challenges. Likewise, effective strategic planning in management teams

improves cross-department collaboration. Meanwhile, it fosters an increase

in productivity among other employees, which keeps your business

adaptable and focused on the bigger picture.

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Increase Productivity

Involving your employees in the strategic planning process also means

they feel more accountable, which can increase productivity. Whether they

contributed to the process or were informed of the business’ long-term

goals and objectives after the strategic plan was created, they’ll be more

likely to want to help you achieve those targets.

Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses

You can conduct a SWOT analysis and generate a balanced scorecard of

what your business does well and what areas it needs improvement.

Review your internal environment (operations, resources and processes)

alongside external factors like market trends, competitor activity and

customer behaviors that influence performance. Proactively identifying

strategic issues, addressing potential challenges and setting priorities that

positively impact long-term growth will make your business much more

durable.

Setting the Direction of the Business

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Strategic planning gives you and your business time to figure out how to

grow and how to address new opportunities and challenges. Think about

the challenges or issues your business may face over multiple years and

plan accordingly. By the end of the strategic planning process, you and

your employees should have a clear direction for where you want the

business to go in the future. The discussion and planning processes

themselves are often integral to putting your business in the best position

to succeed.

()Communicating Your Strategic Plan

The sooner everyone is involved, the better. Seeking early feedback from

employees can unearth valuable insights into what may not work and

highlight any specific project plans that need improvement. Input from

vendors, advisors and other stakeholders can be equally valuable in

highlighting market trends, opportunities and potential risks you may not

have considered. When sharing your plan, focus on timelines and how

responsibilities will be communicated across business units so that

everyone understands their role in achieving the company’s goals.

The 3-Step Strategic Planning Process

Most plans can be broken down into the following distinct phases:

Discussion Development Review and updating

Let’s take a closer look at what each step involves and why it matters.

()1. Discussion Phase

The discussion phase is designed to gather as much information, opinions

and input as possible. Set up a regularly scheduled meeting with the

employees and any other stakeholders in your business who will be

involved with strategic planning. Make sure you have an agenda and clear

expectations of what you want to accomplish in each meeting. This will

keep discussions on track and help prevent distractions.

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In the first few meetings, try to answer questions that will help you define

mission-critical criteria, such as “Where are we now?” and “Where are our

competitors?” Once you have a realistic idea of where the business is, you

can focus on specific details in future meetings.

When you’re conducting a SWOT analysis as a team, strengths should be

easy to identify. When you’re discussing weaknesses, don’t be afraid to be

candid. Every business has weaknesses and things to work on. Besides,

anything that stands out is something you’ll aim to improve on with a

detailed initiative outlined in the strategic plan. Likewise, opportunities

may be pretty clear, while identifying threats can be more difficult. So, in

addition to regular meetings with your employees and stakeholders, you

can also gather information from people outside your company, like:

Vendors Investors Analysts

External people will have a unique perspective on not only your business,

but also the industry you’re operating in. Getting their opinions on where

they think the industry is going and what they think will change can help

you put together your strategic plan and determine where you want your

business to be.

2. Development Phase

This is when you’ll start putting together your strategic plan based on the

seven key elements we outlined above.

The first step is to decide what you will use to create the strategic plan.

Are you going to purchase software to help you create and house the

plan? Or are you going to create the plan yourself and save it in the cloud

for easier access?

When you’re creating goals and objectives for your business, make sure

they’re realistic and measurable. Work with your employees to create goals

and objectives for at least the next one to three years and discuss how

they will be measured and tracked. For example, if you have a goal of

increasing sales by 10% in the next year, you can track this by measuring

sales numbers.

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Equally important is having an action plan to achieve your goals and

objectives. Using the same example of increasing year-over-year sales by

10%, you can pursue more marketing and social media outreach as part of

your action plan.

The bottom line? If an action plan doesn’t help your business achieve its

goals, the plan needs to be rewritten.

3. Review and Updating Phase

Designate someone to be responsible for reviewing, updating and sharing

any strategic planning changes with the rest of the company. Whether it’s

you or another employee, you’ll want to make sure everyone in the

business is aware of the changes and how they affect the overall strategic

plan.

Your strategic plan takes time and effort to finalize, so don’t fall into the

trap of ignoring it once it’s done. Schedule a time for review that won’t slip

through the cracks. For example, if your action plan requires you to put in

sales numbers every quarter to track revenue, you could take that time to

review the rest of the plan. You can also set an alert to check the strategic

plan every few months, every quarter or every year.

When reviewing, don’t panic if you discover you’re not on track to meet an

objective or goal. Reassess the situation and return to the discussion phase

to figure out what went wrong. If a particular goal was too ambitious or

unrealistic, change it and update the action plan to help you get back on

track. You also may find that your small business has met a goal or

objective earlier than you thought you would. If so, you can create a new

goal or objective to work toward, or try to maintain the progress you’ve

already made. Discuss ideas with your employees to see what they think is

possible.

Strategic Planning Examples for Small Business

A small business strategic plan focuses on solving real challenges that

affect growth, productivity and profitability. For example, if you’re

struggling with talent attraction and retention, your plan might include

launching a targeted social media campaign to boost recruitment

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(https://sba.thehartford.com/managing-employees/hiring/recruit-employees/). You could also

outline initiatives to improve your workplace culture and enhance

employee benefits to remain competitive.

Whatever your challenges, the key is to define clear objectives and

accurately measure progress against them, making adjustments when

necessary to ensure your strategy supports long-term growth.

According to a recent survey of small business owners, these are the top

challenges (https://www.guidantfinancial.com/small-business-trends/) for small businesses in

2025:

22% said inflation/price increases 17% said they expect challenges with recruiting/retention of employees 18% said lack of capital/cash flow

Nonprofit Strategic Plan Example

Just like small businesses, nonprofits also benefit from a clear, well-defined

strategic plan. However, nonprofit plans often focus more on the internal

and external factors that can affect funding, programs and services.

Because organizational structures and priorities can shift quickly, the plan

must remain flexible enough to adjust when needed.

For example, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits

(https://minnesotanonprofits.org/about/mission-vision) has a strategic plan with in-depth

descriptions, outlines and strategies covering the ‘what’s’, ‘hows’ and

‘whens’ of the organization’s:

Vision Mission Community it serves Goals for the four-year period

The plan also lists the people responsible for working on the strategic plan.

()IT Strategic Plans

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The IT industry is continually evolving in response to increasingly advanced

artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies. While other

business strategic plans may focus on the next three to four years, it’s not

uncommon for an IT strategic plan to look at only the next 12 to 16 months.

For an IT or tech company, a robust strategic plan may include upgrading

critical infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity or migrating systems to

the cloud. Specific project plans might include data analytics initiatives to

improve decision-making or explore opportunities to integrate AI and

machine learning tools that enhance customer experiences.

However often you review and update your IT strategic plan, it’s important

to involve your business’ Chief Information Officer or technology lead.

Remember to always include details on how to make a decision when it

comes to investing in new equipment or technology.

Marketing Strategic Plans

A marketing strategic plan is essential because 73% of small businesses

(https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-research-from-constant-contact-reveals-small-businesses-

struggle-to-market-effectively-due-to-low-confidence-limited-time-and-lack-of-knowledge-302123872.html)

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lack confidence in the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. Whether

it’s increasing sales numbers by 15% or increasing the number of customers

in the next quarter, a marketing strategic plan helps businesses generate

more revenue and increase their customer base.

A strategic marketing plan can include marketing technology, software or

web-based platforms to help track your business’ progress toward its

goals. The plan also could address the specific types of marketing that the

business will pursue—for example, whether your business will pursue

traditional print advertising or digital ads.

Because a strategic marketing plan aims to increase your business’

exposure and numbers through different techniques and methods, it’s a

good idea to include the budget in the document. This way, you and your

employees will work toward the marketing goals and objectives you want

to achieve without spending too much money.

Strategic Planning Template Checklist

A good strategic plan template, sometimes called a strategy mapping

template, is like a checklist. It includes different sections for you to

complete, ensuring you cover a variety of topics and develop a

comprehensive strategic plan for your business.

There are plenty of ways to get started. You can build your own template

in Microsoft Word or Excel or use dedicated strategic planning software.

However, it’s likely simpler to download our Strategic Plan Example

Template.

(https://sba.thehartford.com/wp-

content/uploads/2019/11/What-Is-Strategic-Planning-Checklist-Template.pdf)

Here’s how to use the strategic planning template checklist:

Executive Summary: Provide a brief overview of your business and the purpose of your strategic plan. Include the time period

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it covers—for example, a three, four or five-year outlook. Your Company: Outline your mission statement, vision, core values and the key leadership information that defines your business’ identity and direction. Research & Insights: Include information and statistics about your customers, competitors, market share and any other key pieces of data driving your strategy. Products & Services: Detail what you offer, your pricing strategy, delivery channels, capabilities and supplier relationships to provide a full picture of your operations. Measurable Goals: List the specific objectives you aim to achieve within the plan’s time frame, and list the KPIs you’ll use to measure progress and track success. Action Plans: Break down the specific initiatives that will help you achieve your goals. Define responsibilities, timelines and the resources required to deliver results. SWOT Analysis: Include a summary to act as a baseline for comparison when you revisit your plan. Review & Updates: Explain how often your strategic plan will be reviewed and identify who is responsible for updating the plan and sharing changes with the broader team.

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What Makes Strategic Planning Successful?

As we’ve learned, successful strategic planning involves a team effort

(https://sba.thehartford.com/business-management/develop-a-strategic-plan/) among you and your

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