The biggest task in the process of strategic planning that marketing managers face is matching the organization’s vision and capabilities, to the constant fluctuations in the market and potential opportunities. This means always doing everything in the organization’s power to the marketing possibilities that may arise. Strategic planning is a management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around desired outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to changing circumstances.
It is a systematic process that results in basic choices and activities that form and govern what a company is. Who it serves, what it does, and why it does it. All while keeping an eye on the future. Effective strategic planning lays out not just where a company is heading and the steps it has to take to get there. But also how it will know when done.
A strategic plan is a document that communicates the business’s goals. The actions required to accomplish those goals. And also all the other key aspects throughout the planning process to the rest of the organization. Strategic management is a set of ongoing activities and procedures. Companies use them methodically to coordinate and align resources and actions with their goal, vision, and strategy. Strategic management actions turn a static plan into a system. It then gives decision-makers strategic performance feedback. Furthermore, it allows the plan to expand and grow as needs and circumstances change. The methodical application of a strategy is referred to as strategy execution, which is essentially equivalent with strategy management.
