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Ready to Launch a Business? Here’s Your 12-Month Plan to Making it a Success

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Is this the year you make your entrepreneurial dreams come true? Congratulations! But… you’ll need a plan. Consider this your month-by-month guide to ensuring that the business you launch thrives.

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Month 1: dream big (and write it down).

I know you’re excited to get going, but first you really need to articulate what you want your business to look like. You probably know in general what the product you want to sell is or what the service you wish to deliver is, but dive deeper and consider:

  • Who your clients are
  • Who your competitors are
  • How you will market your business
  • How you will price your products or services
  • How much money you need (approximately; we’ll go deeper next month)
  • What you want your business to look like one, five and 10 years from now

Don’t be shy about dreaming big! But realize that in order to accompany those dreams, you’ll need an action plan .

Month 2: Get your finances in order

This month, dedicate energy to your finances. Make a detailed budget that includes operating expenses, inventory, payroll (if you’re planning on  hiring in the future ), marketing and emergencies. 

Consider where the money to start will come from. Do you have a nest egg you can tap, or would you need to take out a loan or perhaps seek a form of alternative funding ?

Open a business checking account this month. It’s best to keep your personal and business finances separate, and when it comes time to file your business taxes, you’ll thank me.

Month 3: Get your website and social media up and running

Now it’s time to lay the groundwork for a website and marketing. Hire a web designer to create a stunning professional site, or if you have a little design and technical expertise, try a website builder like Wix .

Also, create social media profiles on the channels you think are best to connect with your audience (this goes back to Month 1 when you identified your target audience and what platforms they use). Less is more here: rather than setting up profiles on every site available, focus on just one or two to start so you know you’ll have time to manage them.

Month 4: Situate your space

Now’s the time to start looking for the ideal property that fits your needs and budget, whether that be a retail space, office, coworking space, etc. And i f you’ll be working out of your home, designate a space for your home office that will minimize distractions and help you be productive. It might also allow for a deduction come tax time .

You’ll need to buy supplies and equipment this month, as well. Consider opening tradelines (or credit with vendors) so you can get supplies when you need them and pay later, usually 30 days after receiving an invoice. Look for vendors who report to business credit bureaus so you can build your business credit.

Related: 5 Founders Share the One Piece of Advice They Wish They Knew Before Launching a Business

Month 5: get your permits and licenses.

Chances are, you’re going to need at least one business license before you can start operating. Depending on the type of business you’re running, you may need several months to get these approved, so start getting them in line before you launch your business.

Even if you work out of your home, you will need a sales tax certificate or some type of permit(s) specific to your business. Check with your city, county and state government to find out what you need.

Month 6: Put your marketing plan together

If you’ve done your homework and truly understand where you will best connect with your audience, this is the time to put together a detailed plan on how you will market to spread the word about your business and attract customers.

In your plan, include which marketing channels you’ll use, what your budget is for each, and whether you, an employee, or a third party (freelancer or agency) will help with the marketing tasks.

Month 7: Hire help

You’re getting closer to opening your business, and you’re going to need some help! Consider what aspects of your business you will need the most help with. Sure, you could try to do it all yourself, but you’ll end up doing a mediocre job with everything. Instead, put your attention on running your business and hire others to do the rest.

If hiring a team of full-time employees isn’t in your budget, start with part-time help and/or freelancers.

Month 8: Plan your launch

The type of business you’re opening will impact what sort of business launch you should have. If you’re opening a services business online, you can activate your website and be up and running. But if you’re opening a brick-and-mortar business, you may want to alert local media and social followers to attend your grand opening event. The bigger the splash you can make, the more aware of your new business people will be.

Plan an event with giveaways, discounts, entertainment, and food and beverage. Promote it in your local newspaper, online publications and through your social media channels.

Month 9: Launch!

All your hard work has paid off, because now you can officially open your company for business!

Don’t be disappointed if sales are slow to trickle in; this is also a period of learning, where you pay attention to what’s driving revenue and what isn’t. M ake sure to track website visits through Google Analytics so you know which marketing channels are driving visitors to your site, and any areas where you might need to reconsider strategy.

Month 10: Focus on promotions

You may see a little slowdown in traffic or sales after your initial launch, and that’s when it’s time to start thinking about promotions and sales. Discount products that are slow to move. Bundle two items together to push some of those slower-moving items. Create a loss leader to drive people to your store where, hopefully, they’ll buy more.

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Month 11: assess results.

By now, you’ve had some time to build up your web traffic and social media following. If you have a physical store, you’ve gotten some face-to-face time and have spoken to customers. You may have developed an email subscriber list as part of your marketing efforts in Month 6. Use all these points of contact to determine where you should take your marketing efforts in the future.

Are customers asking for a loyalty program? That could be a good way to drive repeat sales. Are your emails not getting opened? Look at the subject lines you’re using and test out different copy.

Month 12: Look to the future

You put a tremendous amount of energy into the launch of your business, but your work isn’t done.

Now is time to look ahead: where do you want to take your business in the following year? Five years out? How about 10? Look back at your business plan and see if you’re still aligned with the direction you were initially going in, and if not, tweak it to reflect your new direction.

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

Rosalie Murphy

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

Bizee

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

what goes into a 12 month business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

On a similar note...

Find small-business financing

Compare multiple lenders that fit your business

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How to make a 12 month plan — Goals, Vision, and Content

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annual new year planning strategy

Ready to kiss this year goodbye and look ahead to the new year!? The #1 enemy of not accomplishing goals is a broken focus, so to get back on track for your new year, we need to reclaim our focus and make a plan!

> Download my free Annual Planner and Yearly Journal (50 page pdf)

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Why create a plan?

  • Knowing you have a pathway to follow feels good
  • Planning inspires action
  • Setting goals makes you feel accomplished

In this post, we’re going to talk about setting goals with ease and taking inspired action for the year ahead. To do this, I recommend retreating to a quiet place and giving yourself time to really ask the big questions and ponder your big goals. 

Set aside an afternoon, a day, or even a couple of days if you can!

This is your business, and it deserves attentive and focused planning to grow and evolve. 

I’m going to let you in on a little biz secret — the most effective way to plan is to focus on ONE thing at a time. 

Don’t dive in and scatter lists all over the table or open up a million google docs at once. When you have too many things on your plate, your focus becomes blurred. Instead, take your time and work through this process slowly. 

I love this acronym…

FOCUS: Following One Course Until Success.

This acronym demonstrates how important it is to take action and follow through on each part of your business plan. The more action you take, the more progress you’ll make, and the more satisfaction you’ll feel!

The exercises I’m leading you through in this post are NOT about doing everything perfectly! We cannot let perfect action become the enemy of good action. 

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that perfect plans aren’t always the best. 

how to make a 12 month plan - goals, vision, content, personal retreat to plan the new year in your business

Step One – Pick Your Theme for the Year (Word/Idea for the year)

Choose a theme that will help inspire action all year long. To narrow one down, think about how you want to feel throughout the year. For example, this year my theme will be “inspired action.”

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Step Two – Brainstorm How to Get There

Begin a list of ways that you can embody your chosen theme in the new year. How can you bring that theme into your life? 

Use this list to invigorate yourself when you get off track. 

Step Three – Set 2 to 3 BIG Goals

Now it’s time to get more specific. 

If you were to accomplish something distinct in the coming year, what would make you the most excited? The proudest? What 2-3 big things will make this upcoming year feel like a success if you get close or achieve them? 

Maybe it’s scaling your revenue with existing products, or creating clear boundaries in your business? Whatever the case, set goals that are a little uncomfortable but not TOO uncomfortable. The best goals are hard to reach, but not impossible. 

What 2-3 goals come to mind?

Step Four – Create a “Would Be Nice” List

Brainstorm outcomes that could be easily achieved by working on them for a few days or by occasionally working them into your schedule. These would-be-nice outcomes don’t need to be major goals , but they do need to help support how you want to feel throughout the year. 

An example? Maybe you want to feel more refreshed and at peace in the new year, so you choose to spend more time in nature and hike at least once a month.

Brain dump a list of “would-be-nices” like this example that will help you feel better. Go for it and list as many things as you can!

goal planning

Step Five – Gather Data from the previous year

Now that you’ve set your theme, big goals, and would-be-nice ideas, it’s time to dig into the numbers to see where you have room for improvement. Open up those past year metrics and take a look! They are the key to making a plan and achieving your goals.

A quick note: Some people tend to start with the numbers and work backward. My advice is to not do that. Instead, begin with how you want to feel in the next year, like we have in the steps above, and set those intentions before you ever look at the data. 

As business owners, we can easily get wrapped up in the numbers. But to be fulfilled in our lives, we need to start making decisions based on our desires. 

So what do you really want from the new year?

Once you’ve decided what you want, the data will show you how to make informed decisions to get there.

Data to gather may include:

  • Website analytics
  • Subscriber info
  • Profit and Loss sheets
  • Notes and Journals

Think about how much you made in the past year, how many email subscribers you added to your list, how many visits there were to your sales pages, etc.  Look at where your website traffic comes from and what blog posts performed the best. Really dig in and study the metrics. 

In addition, look at what you’re spending on your team, your projects, and the tools you’re paying for to see if they are accomplishing what you intended them to.

What has created success? Let this data inform your next steps.

Step Six – Ask deeper questions about your Top 4 Priorities as a Business Owner

When you peel away the outer layers, most business owners really have the same set of priorities no matter their niche. These 4 priorities need to be considered when you’re setting your goals for the coming year:

  • What will increase sales?
  • What will increase my social proof?
  • What will improve my profitability/operations?
  • What do you need to do to master your craft?

Make sure you’re revisiting these questions often to determine if your plans will help you achieve one of these four goals. 

Step 7 – Set Your Specific Quarterly Goals  

To help you achieve your 2-3 BIG goals, it’s time to dive into the nitty-gritty. 

I like to place one “ROCK” goal on my planner per quarter. This goal is “set like a rock” and requires long-term planning, focus, and strategy. Sure, some ROCK goals may take longer than a quarter, and that’s okay, but break them down as much as you can to fit them into a smaller, more defined time frame. 

how to breakdown business goals

If you find you have too many goals on the calendar, be willing to cut the fat and move them to the “would be nice” list.

Then ask yourself: What should I DO, what should I DELEGATE, and what can I DELETE?

Use this method to pair down your plans into steps that you and/or your team can accomplish day in and day out. 

Step 8 – Specify the details

Once you have your ROCK goals set, you need to spend time outlining the specifics and how you make these goals happen. Using Trello, Asana, or Click Up, create and schedule tasks that can be checked off when complete. 

You can organize your goals and plans on a Trello board like this example here:

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Step 9 – Gather Content Ideas

Creating supporting content is a step we can’t leave out of your new year planning! After all, your content is the key to supporting your goals. Start by brainstorming content ideas that will help you move toward success. 

To get started, ask yourself :

  • What does my audience struggle with? 
  • What do they always ask about? 
  • Why do they always ask about it?
  • What’s missing for my audience?

You can organize your content ideas on a Trello board like this one.

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Come up with themes for your audience to meet these needs and address these specific pain points. If possible, try creating quarterly content themes, then break those up into monthly themes.

Your content themes should easily relate back to your offerings, so the sales conversations can continue, and you can easily turn your audience into paying customers. If they don’t, ask why, and revisit your goals to fix that.

brainstorm content

Step 10- Create Batch Days on Your Calendar

Batch days are ways of organizing your time by doing similar tasks on similar days. For instance, when it comes to content creation, batching may look like this:

  • Monday — Draft Day. Create your outline and bullet points for blog posts, lead magnets, webinars, and Facebook Lives.
  • Tuesday — Writing Day. Fill in your outlines and do the bulk of the writing for your blog, emails, webinar content, etc.
  • Wednesday — Repurpose Day. Pull points from blog posts and create social content.
  • Thursday — Graphics Day. Create graphics to pair with your content.
  • Friday — Admin Day. Finalize, proofread, and schedule.

how to make a 12 month plan - goals, vision, content, personal retreat to plan the new year in your business

Step 11 – Reward Yourself! 

Last but not least, be sure to set up rewards along the way to boost your mood and celebrate your wins all year long — after all, you’ve planned like a boss and deserve it!

Ready to get started on your planning session

I’ve created a Trello Board that summarizes all the steps we’ve walked through in this post. This board will help you align your goals with your actions. 

Let’s do the work and implement these action steps to achieve your BIG dreams.

FREE PLANNER DOWNLOAD

Want a full training and trello board too.

> Check out my full 90 minute workshop training complete with trello board access

what goes into a 12 month business plan

What Next? Learn More from these other articles: 

  • How to turn a blog into a business with digital products and online courses
  • 6 Profitable online income streams that make me $30k/month
  • 6 steps to more clients
  • 16 questions to help you find more clarity

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Thank you, Kayla. As usual you bring such obvious clarity to things I always struggle with. I’m still blogging after a few years where I’ve gained little traction and this year I really hope to FOCUS and be consistent. Your tools always help me get organized, it’s just me that falls off the schedule. Jessica, http://www.digitalplanningmom.com

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How to Create a 12-Month Marketing Plan: Step-by-Step Guide

Annual marketing plan

Learn how to create a 12-month marketing plan with these five steps: define business goals, conduct SWOT analysis, identify target personas, create an execution plan, and measure marketing efforts. A clear business and marketing plan can help secure funding resources or pitch to investors. Use Visme templates for customized plans in different industries. Financial professionals should focus on getting more prospects through seminars and appointments while creating daily routines for success. Real estate agents need consistent content creation to build credibility and trust over time. Strategy is the key to winning over competitors , not just planning .

What Are the 5 Steps in Order of a 12-Month Marketing Plan?

The video is about five steps to prepare a 12-month marketing plan.

The first step is to define your business goals, including who you want to focus on and how you will achieve those goals.

Conducting a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of your industry is the second step.

Defining the target personas (ideal customers or clients) is the third step.

Creating an execution plan that includes different marketing strategies such as social media marketing and search engine optimization is the fourth step.

Organizing and measuring your marketing efforts by checking analytics and demographics is the fifth step.

Having a clear business plan and marketing plan can help fund resources or pitch to investors.

Breaking the 12-month calendar year into quarters can help dissect marketing goals effectively.

Free resources are available for those in need of assistance with their marketing efforts from Mallory Humes’ website mentioned in the video description.

Viewers are encouraged to subscribe to Mallory’s channel for future videos on similar topics related to entrepreneurship and female boss mothers.

How Do I Create a One Year Marketing Plan?

John Terry is hosting a workshop on creating a 12-month marketing plan for financial professionals.

The goal is to help these professionals grow their practice by at least 20% annually.

Successful advisors follow a daily routine and have a plan in place for marketing, business management, and client interactions.

To create the 12-month plan, break it down into smaller chunks: quarters, months, weeks, and daily tasks.

Reflect on what worked and didn’t work the previous year to learn from mistakes and repeat successes.

The top 5% of financial professionals do what unsuccessful people do sometimes or not at all.

A successful plan must address marketing strategies that consistently attract quality prospects throughout the year.

Financial professionals should focus on getting more seats (for seminars), appointments on calendars with quality prospects, closing more deals, and having satisfied customers refer others to them.

Following through with the implementation of the plan is crucial to success; otherwise, nothing will happen or the results will be mediocre/mediocre like most other advisors.’

Dr. John C Maxwell says that the secret to success lies in one’s daily routine; therefore, financial professionals need to devise a process they can follow every day to successfully achieve their goals over time.

12 Month Marketing Plan Guide

The total cost of marketing ingredients for a full month is $15,000.

Expenses include frosting, baking powder, chocolate, vanilla extract and other specialty flavoured varieties.

The advertising budget is $40,000 per year to expand into multiple marketing areas such as television, Internet advertising and newspaper advertising.

Marketing maintenance costs are $15,000 per year, which includes cleaning facilities and monitoring repair damage.

Total expected revenue is $200,000 based on known mathematical information at this time.

Revenue estimates depend on the target market’s interest in the products offered.

The company offers a variety of specialty flavoured ingredients in addition to those mentioned above.

There will be no additional costs for any other ingredients required during the month-long marketing campaign.

Multiple forms of advertising will be used to reach potential customers.

10.The company has considered all possible expenses while estimating their revenues.

What Should Be Included in a 12-Month Marketing Plan in Real Estate?

The video discusses a 12-month marketing plan for real estate agents.

Trevor, CEO of Carrot, works with thousands of real estate professionals to help them gain momentum and consistency in their marketing.

The plan aims to provide predictability and freedom in lead flow and quality.

Short-term, quick-impact marketing strategies are not enough; long-term momentum building is necessary for success.

Content creation is key to building credibility, trust, and engagement with potential clients.

Facebook ads can be effective but should be used in tandem with content creation for maximum impact.

Launching a website, creating unique content, and placing Facebook pixels on your website are important steps in the first month of the plan.

Location landing pages can help you outrank Zillow if used correctly

Video posts feature allows agents to create short videos that turn into written content automatically

10.The overall goal is to build momentum through consistent content creation that adds spots for people to find you while building credibility and trust over time.

Complete 12 Month Marketing Plan Template

The speaker is a woman named Perez who is excited to share her 12-month marketing plan.

She believes that having a plan in place is necessary to achieve six or more figures in an online business.

Coaching was the only thing that changed everything in her business and allowed her to look at it differently.

She encourages people to be open to suggestions, coaching, and a different way of building their business if they want to succeed.

Going into 2019 with the same approach as previous years sets one up for failure.

Perez has never had a 12-month plan before, but will discuss what to consider when creating one.

She opened five coaching spots for two hours of coaching for the price of one and only two spots remained available.

Coaching can help people realize basic things missing from their business plans that could double revenue and profits in 2019.

The speaker stresses the importance of being honest with yourself about stubbornness or resistance to change that prevents success.

Perez’s goal is not just inspiration but empowerment through action towards progress in both life and business endeavors.

How to Create a 3, 6, Or 12 Month Marketing Plan

The speaker used to create 12-month plans for clients in their previous businesses.

Long-term planning still plays a role, but it can be overwhelming for new service professionals.

Marketing is unpredictable and requires testing and feedback before making long-term commitments.

The speaker prefers 90-day chunks because they are more manageable and allow adjustments based on results.

A rolling 90-day calendar can be used instead of an annual plan.

Some people may prefer to have an idea of what they will do for the year, especially if there are big promotions or events planned.

Ninety days is a good time to work with when implementing marketing strategies.

It allows you to start implementing it quickly and see how things work without going too far into the future.

Fine-tuning can be done after each 90-day period based on feedback and results achieved during that period.

10.The speaker’s approach is more effective than what some may have done in the past.

A 12-month marketing plan is a comprehensive strategic document that outlines the marketing goals, strategies, and activities that a company intends to implement over the course of a year. It provides a roadmap for the marketing team, guiding their efforts to achieve specific goals and targets.

Here are the key components typically included in a 12-month marketing plan:

Executive Summary: Provide an overview of the marketing plan, highlighting key objectives and strategies to be implemented.

Situation Analysis: Assess the current market landscape, including the competitive environment, industry trends, and customer insights. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) to inform your marketing strategies.

Marketing Objectives: Clearly define the specific goals and objectives that your marketing efforts aim to achieve. These could include increasing market share, boosting sales revenue, launching new products, expanding into new markets, or improving brand awareness.

Target Audience: Identify and profile your target audience based on demographics, psychographics, behaviors, and preferences. Understand their needs, pain points, and motivations to effectively tailor your marketing strategies.

Marketing Strategies: Outline the overarching strategies that will be employed to reach and engage your target audience. This can include digital marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, influencer partnerships, traditional advertising, public relations, events, or a combination of various channels.

Tactical Implementation Plan: Break down strategies into specific tactics and activities to be implemented month by month. This can include details on campaigns, content creation, advertising schedules, product launches, event planning, and other marketing initiatives.

Budget Allocation: Determine the marketing budget for each month and allocate resources accordingly. Consider expenses for advertising, content creation, promotions, events, marketing technology tools, and any other relevant areas.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Define the metrics and KPIs that will be used to measure the success and effectiveness of your marketing efforts. This can include metrics such as website traffic, conversions, sales revenue, brand reach, customer acquisition, or customer engagement.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Establish a system for monitoring and evaluating the performance of your marketing activities throughout the year. Regularly review KPIs, track progress, and analyze results to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments to your strategies.

Collaboration and Team Roles: Define the roles and responsibilities of the marketing team members involved in implementing the plan. Foster collaboration and clear communication channels are established to facilitate coordination and seamless implementation.

Contingency Plan: Anticipate potential challenges or unforeseen circumstances that may affect your marketing plan. Develop contingency plans to address these challenges and adjust your strategies accordingly.

Reporting and Review: Set up regular reporting intervals (monthly, quarterly, or as required) to review the performance of your marketing initiatives. Share insights, learnings, and recommendations with key stakeholders and make necessary adjustments for future months.

It is important to note that a 12-month marketing plan should be flexible and adaptable. As the market evolves and new opportunities arise, be prepared to revise and update your strategies to align with your business goals and customer needs.

Related posts:

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  • How to Use a Blog Content Planner: A Step-By-Step Guide
  • Digital Marketing Process – Step By Step Guide

what goes into a 12 month business plan

thecommendablekind.com

what goes into a 12 month business plan

  • October 25, 2023

How to Create Your Successful 12 Month Marketing Plan Template – And Strategy Example /*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 20-12-2023 */ .elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block} share with a friend Exciting update! In the realm of faith-based women entrepreneurship, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing,” resonates deeply as a guiding principle. This verse highlights the pivotal role of mutual encouragement and support among women entrepreneurs who want to create their own 12-month marketing plan.  It advocates for a nurturing community where women uplift each other, sharing knowledge, resources, and inspiration. With this verse in mind, I’m sharing my exclusive marketing plan and website template, which I usually reserve for my clients at no cost. Why am I doing this? It’s simple: Empowering women like you with effective marketing strategies is key to accelerating your business success.  Remember that achieving your goals begins with the perfect blend of a 12-month marketing plan, a well-crafted strategy, and the best marketing tools . Let’s embark on this journey together! Table of Contents Maximize Your Marketing Potential: Gain Insightful Strategies with Our Comprehensive 12-Month Marketing Plan Template! What Are Business Initiatives? Developing A Streamlined Metrics Table: Essential Tracking Elements For A Superior 12-Month Marketing Plan Template What To Consider When Creating Guide Questions To Help You Gain Clarity On Your Strategy Executing Your Vision: Developing Dynamic 90-Day Marketing Strategies For Success Attend One Target Audience-Related Networking Event: Expanding Your Connections! How To Organize And Promote Your Own Event How To Make A Marketing Channel That Would Ignite The Fire In The Hearts Of People Audit The Assets You Already Have To Open A New Door For Opportunities How To Correctly Use A Marketing Campaign Template Planting Your Hard Work For This Year: Preparing Your Business For A FruitFul Year Ahead! Alternative Marketing Plans For Faith-Based Women Entrepreneurs! Reasons Why You Need To Study Customer Analysis  What To Consider When Creating A Business Summary Adapting Your 12-Month Plan to Evolving Circumstances: Being Flexible What Is The Best Way To Turn Your Potential Client Into Investing In One Of Your Programs? Halo Effect In Branding Spreading Your Message: A Campaign That Would Inspire A Lot Of People Final Thoughts Biblical Principles To Follow In Your Business Question And Answer Portion! Maximize Your Marketing Potential: Gain Insightful Strategies with Our Comprehensive 12-Month Marketing Plan Template!

In today’s landscape, where search influence dramatically reshapes business strategies, the allure of being recognized, admired, and followed on social media often overshadows the inherent value of businesses themselves. The common pursuit of a million social media followers can sideline your real business and financial objectives.

The right knowledge is key . Let’s delve into a 12-month marketing plan template on how you can effectively shift the dynamics and make a real impact in your business!

Key Marketing Tactics To Elevate Your Strategy And Enrich Your Plan

Your research plays a crucial role in identifying your target market. Prioritizing your business objectives to cater to these future customers is essential. Ask yourself: Who are the potential buyers of your products or services? Understanding this is the cornerstone of your strategy. Without a clear picture of your target audience, all the research and marketing efforts you’ve invested in might miss their mark entirely.

Content Marketing

Attract and communicate to your target audience through effective content marketing. This strategy refers to producing and publishing high-quality, exciting, or consistent content. It’s aimed at developing brand awareness, authority, and customer loyalty.

Social Media Marketing 

Social media marketing utilizes social platforms to connect with the audience, increase brand exposure, and drive traffic. This includes creating and sharing content, engaging with followers, and running targeted advertising campaigns.

Data as Your Guide: Did you know that a well-structured 12-month marketing plan isn’t just a roadmap, but a marathon of consistent effort, adaptation, and growth?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing a website to increase its visibility on search engine result pages. This process includes optimizing content, enhancing website architecture, and improving other factors to increase search engine rankings.

Email Marketing  

The use of email marketing is to send targeted messages to a group of people. It’s used to generate leads, promote products or services, and keep in touch with customers.

Influencer Marketing 

Promoting brands or products by bringing together influential people in a certain industry is an element of influencer marketing. It is driven by the credibility and reach of an influencer to attract their followers.

Neuromarketing Insights

Neuromarketing studies how the brain processes influence consumer behavior.

Identifying Key External Marketing Initiatives For Your Comprehensive 12-Month Strategy

In our personal 12-month  marketing plan  template , we explore this topic in depth. For now, let’s focus on defining your external marketing initiatives. These are the strategies and solutions that extend beyond your immediate business operations. You might consider the social media route, but success often hinges on going viral or having a substantial budget for ad campaigns. 

Instead, it’s wise to find solutions that are not only cost-effective but also ensure broad reach within your target audience. 

The essence of a 12-month marketing plan template is to bring clarity and direction to your marketing efforts. It embodies a thoughtful, deliberate approach to meeting your business goals, steering clear of hastily assembled promotional tactics. 

The Bible frequently associates planning with wisdom. Proverbs 21:5 states, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” This suggests that careful planning and diligent work are more likely to lead to success than hurried, impulsive actions.

By crafting a detailed timeline, you lay out a clear path for execution, ensuring that each marketing endeavor is purposeful and aligned with your company’s primary objectives. This strategic framework helps in making each step intentional and impactful toward advancing your business’s core goals.

Building Success From The Ground Up: The Critical Role Of A 12-Month Marketing Plan Template

A 12-month marketing plan template is a strategic blueprint for triumph in the business realm. This template serves as the bedrock for all your marketing endeavors—be it initiatives, campaigns, or tactics. Utilizing this template allows you to forge a structured framework that seamlessly integrates your company’s goals, target audience, and core messaging into a unified and potent strategy . 

By leveraging this template, you gain access to insightful strategies that encompass every facet of your marketing initiatives. Whether you’re looking to enhance brand visibility, drive engagement, or optimize conversion rates, our 12-Month Plan Template provides a structured framework for planning and executing your marketing efforts . Recognizing the vital role of this foundational tool is the initial, crucial step toward amplifying the impact of your marketing efforts over the next year.

With a clear grasp of the annual marketing strategy , team members can synchronize their efforts, allocate resources effectively, and monitor progress with precision. This template is an indispensable tool for any progressive company, serving as the guiding compass that steers your marketing endeavors toward triumph. It’s not just a plan; it’s a strategic ally in navigating the competitive landscape of business.

Write SMART Goals

The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and it contains the key characteristics of a well-defined goal.

Specificity

Requires you to articulate exactly what you want to accomplish. This understanding serves as the foundation for your entire marketing strategy.

Measurability

Ensures that your objectives are quantifiable, allowing you to track progress and analyze success.

Achievability

Necessitates setting goals that are both challenging and realistic in order to keep you motivated and engaged. Each goal must be relevant to your overall business objectives.

It is imperative when coming up with your 12-month marketing plan. Make sure you’re setting relevant goals within your business.

Time-boundness

Creates a sense of urgency and accountability by imposing a deadline.

By adopting the SMART method, you channel your efforts and resources more effectively, infusing every facet of your marketing activities with a sense of purpose and direction. Setting SMART goals, along with a carefully chosen 12-month marketing plan, and marketing metrics, reflects your dedication to excellence and making a significant contribution in the realm of faith-driven entrepreneurship. 

Key Reasons To Establish Your Budget Early: Laying The Groundwork For Success

Establishing a budget early is a pivotal step in any business when crafting your 12-month marketing plan. This process goes beyond mere financial management; it’s about strategically allocating resources to influence the scale, reach, and effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

By setting a budget, you’re organizing your finances and laying a solid foundation for the success of your marketing initiatives. This foresight in financial planning is instrumental in steering your business toward its goals and ensuring a well-coordinated, impactful marketing journey.

Enhancing Decision-Making With Data-Driven Insights

A well-crafted budget transforms decision-making by providing a clear financial framework. It guides you in making informed choices about which campaigns to launch, which marketing channels to prioritize, and how to allocate funds efficiently. 

This foresight helps you quickly identify budget overruns or deviations, enabling prompt corrective actions that align with your strategic objectives.

Enabling Precise Tracking And Accountability

Defining measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) makes it easier to assess the success of your marketing efforts. This structured approach allows for nimble adjustments, empowering you to shift resources toward the most effective channels and refine strategies for optimal outcomes.

Creating a budget early is fundamental, both strategically and financially. It’s a vital step that ensures every element of your 12-month marketing plan is purpose-driven and efficient and contributes significantly to your company’s growth and success.

What Are Business Initiatives?

In faith-driven entrepreneurship, business initiatives take on a keen significance. They embody the proactive steps undertaken to bring your company’s vision and mission to life. Far from being solely focused on profit, these initiatives are deeply rooted in purpose.

Have you considered looking at it from the perspective of God calling you into the business world? This calling involves recognizing business as a platform for serving others, practicing integrity, and contributing positively to society.  

They reflect the core values and beliefs that shape your team and company, positioning them as forces for positive change in the world. Whether it’s through initiating community outreach programs, forging partnerships with organizations that share similar ideals, or creating products that resonate with a faith-based audience, these initiatives form the cornerstone of your business strategy , blending ethical purpose with entrepreneurial drive.

Developing A Streamlined Metrics Table: Essential Tracking Elements For A Superior 12-Month Marketing Plan Template

Creating an effective and efficient 12-month marketing plan  template is crucial because it provides a structured approach to achieving your marketing objectives. A key component of this template is a well-defined metrics table, which includes relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tailored to your specific marketing goals. 

These KPIs could include metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, social media engagement, and email open rates. These indicators act as success benchmarks, allowing you to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing strategies accurately.

Moreover, the metrics table offers a guide on what elements to monitor based on your unique objectives. For instance, if your goal is to enhance brand awareness, your focus might be on tracking metrics related to social media reach, post engagement, and website visits. 

This structured approach not only aids in tracking progress but also in fine-tuning your strategies to achieve the best possible outcomes. Essentially, the metrics table in your marketing plan template is a critical tool for guiding your actions, assessing your success, and making informed adjustments for continuous improvement.

Pareto Principle in Marketing : Also known as the 80/20 rule, it suggests that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

Kickstart Your Success: Launch Your Marketing Planning Journey Today

Embarking on your marketing planning journey today is an act of empowerment , a testament to your commitment to your company’s growth and success . By initiating this vital component of your annual strategy, you do more than just devise tactics; you set in motion a plan to achieve your overarching business goals. Remember, every great journey begins with a single step. In the realm of marketing, taking that initial step in your planning process can set the stage for a journey of significant achievements and milestones.

What To Consider When Creating Guide Questions To Help You Gain Clarity On Your Strategy

Crafting guide questions to gain clarity on your business strategy is like illuminating a path through a dense forest. These questions provide a systematic approach to clarify your strategy, ensuring each step is deliberate. 

These guide questions serve as a navigational tool, steering you through the intricate maze of business decision-making. While formulating these questions, it’s crucial to consider several key factors that significantly influence the efficacy of your strategic development process and 12-month marketing plan.

Essential Elements To Consider In Guide Questions:

Alignment with business objectives.

Ensure your guide questions are linked to your overall business goals and mission. This alignment guarantees that the answers and solutions you derive are meaningful and contribute directly to your strategic aims.

Target Audience Perspective

Frame questions from the viewpoint of your target audience. This shift in perspective allows you to deeply understand their needs, preferences, and challenges, leading to the formulation of strategies that resonate with them.

Measurability And Accountability

Design questions that yield measurable responses. This aspect enables you to track progress and maintain accountability for decisions made based on these insights.

Long-Term Vision

While immediate outcomes are vital, also consider the long-term impact of your decisions. Think about how responses to these questions will influence your business’s future growth and evolution.

Flexibility And Adaptability

Recognize the dynamic nature of the business environment. Your guide questions should be flexible enough to allow adjustments and pivots in response to unexpected changes or challenges.

Incorporating these elements into your guide questions establishes a groundwork for insightful and practical inquiries. This approach not only brings clarity to your current strategy but also equips your business with the foresight and agility needed for sustained success and growth.

Executing Your Vision: Developing Dynamic 90-Day Marketing Strategies For Success

The 90-day marketing strategy approach instills a vital sense of urgency and accountability in businesses. By setting specific, measurable objectives within a defined period, you foster a culture geared towards productivity and continuous improvement. 

This framework allows for regular evaluation of progress, providing opportunities to recalibrate tactics, celebrate successes, and adjust strategies based on tangible outcomes. Such a consistent review cycle ensures that small businesses remain agile and adaptable, always ready to capitalize on new opportunities and adeptly navigate any challenges that arise.

Moreover, maintaining a continuous improvement cycle is essential for a company that prioritizes innovation and growth. Working your p l an into 90-day marketing strategies positions you to meet short-term financial and marketing objectives. It lays a solid groundwork for sustained success and resilience in the ever-changing business landscape.

Attend One Target Audience-Related Networking Event: Expanding Your Connections!

After immersing yourself in these invaluable insights, consider subscribing to fundamental advertising and marketing truths. Delve into these revelations as you meticulously shape your 12-month marketing plan and promotional plans. 

Additionally, actively participating in a networking event tailored to your target audience becomes a cornerstone of any comprehensive marketing strategy. Such events serve as a unique platform, facilitating the cultivation of connections, insights into market trends, and direct access to valuable perspectives from your target demographic. 

Embrace these opportunities to expand your professional network, enhance credibility, and identify potential partnerships. Immerse yourself in this environment to broaden your connections and gain an intimate understanding of your clients’ and target audience’s needs and preferences.

This experience transcends generic approaches, ensuring your plans are finely tuned to your company’s specific demands, clients, and target audience. It’s a powerful exercise that transforms your strategies from generic to tailored, setting the stage for meaningful and impactful marketing endeavors.

How To Organize And Promote Your Own Event

Organizing and promoting an event presents an exciting opportunity to engage with your target audience and showcase your expertise and craft an unforgettable brand experience. 

This endeavor allows you to create a setting that perfectly aligns with your company’s values and mission, offering a powerful platform for direct interaction with your audience. Here are some tips for guiding you through the steps necessary to plan and market an event that will resonate with your brand.

Defining Your Event Goals

Before delving into logistics, it’s crucial to define your event’s goals clearly. Whether your objective is to educate, entertain, network, or promote products, understanding these goals will shape every aspect of the event, from the venue selection to the content and format.

Choosing An Appropriate Location And Date

The venue you choose plays a pivotal role in setting the atmosphere for your event. It should comfortably accommodate your expected audience size and reflect the desired ambiance. Accessibility to your target audience is also a key consideration. The date and time you select should also align with your audience’s preferences and plans.

Producing Engaging Content And Activities

The heart of any successful event lies in its content and activities. From informative sessions to interactive seminars and entertainment segments, every element should be carefully planned to align with your event goals and resonate with your audience. This ensures that attendees leave with not only valuable takeaways but also a favorable impression of your brand.

Your event is more than an occasion—it is one of your most effective marketing tools . It provides a concrete opportunity to significantly impact your audience, fostering a meaningful connection that extends beyond the event itself.

Influencer marketing has become a powerhouse, with 93% of marketers using it. 

How To Make A Marketing Channel That Would Ignite The Fire In The Hearts Of People

Building a marketing channel is a meticulous blend of artistry, messaging, and experiences designed to captivate your target audience’s hearts and minds. This process involves creating an emotionally engaging platform, leaving a lasting impression beyond conventional marketing strategies.

Here are key tips to create the best marketing channel:

Recognizing Your Audience’s Heartbeat

Understand your audience’s desires and aspirations to create a channel that resonates deeply. By tapping into their fundamental motivations, you can establish a highly personalized connection that transcends traditional marketing. Foster a profound connection that honors and empowers the aspirations and goals of your target marketing plan .

Engaging Through Narrative And Goal

An effective marketing channel revolves around telling compelling stories that transcend simple business dealings. Craft tales that exemplify your brand’s essence and goals, aiming to motivate and evoke empathy. Transform your channel into more than just an informative tool; make it a transformative experience through deliberate storytelling.

Authenticity As A Catalyst

Authenticity is the secret ingredient that ignites passion in your audience. In a world filled with polished marketing messages, authenticity stands out as a beacon of reliability. Ensure that your channel authentically represents your brand, communicating openly. Credibility grows with authenticity, laying the foundation for enduring relationships and fostering a strong bond.

Building A Community With Shared Values

In your 12-month marketing plan, which focuses on shared values, daily targets, and aspirations, strive for greater than just commercial transactions if promoting the community is a central objective. Make connections beyond ordinary transactions and engage in meaningful, lasting relationships. Your channel has the power to significantly impact people’s hearts through empathy, storytelling, and unwavering authenticity. 

Create a channel that promotes your brand and forges meaningful connections that withstand the test of time.

Audit The Assets You Already Have To Open A New Door For Opportunities

In the fast-paced business landscape, it’s easy to overlook the goldmine of potential residing within your existing assets. A successful 12-month marketing plan requires a thorough analysis of your current assets, encompassing intellectual property, customer data, and even underutilized skills. 

In addition, assess your team’s competencies and identify any unutilized potential that can be harnessed for growth. You can maximize your efficiency and create innovative and creative opportunities during a 12-month marketing plan journey as you leverage the power of your existing assets.

These elements can be the key to unlocking a realm of untapped opportunities, promoting innovation, growth, and a competitive edge in your industry.

Maximizing Customer Data

Auditing your customer data unveils valuable insights into preferences, behavioral patterns, and unmet needs. By analyzing this data, you can elevate the overall customer experience, refine your products or services, and tailor marketing campaigns. 

This process not only enhances consumer loyalty but positions your company as one that genuinely understands and cares for its customers.

Discovering Untapped Talent And Expertise

Your team’s skills and knowledge may be underutilized, presenting an untapped reservoir of potential. An asset audit evaluates the talents within your organization, allowing you to reassign roles, provide training, or explore new service offerings by uncovering hidden skills or areas of expertise. 

This approach maximizes your workforce’s potential and grants your company the adaptability needed to diversify and respond to evolving customer demands.

Social Media Editorial Calendar

Integrating seamlessly with your quarterly sales activities, the social media editorial calendar is a powerful tool for companies to plan, schedule, and manage content across diverse platforms. More than a mere scheduler, this tool becomes the linchpin for crafting a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience, leaving a lasting impression that goes beyond routine content posting.

Consistency is the heartbeat of success in the dynamic realm of social media , and the editorial calendar stands as a stalwart ally in achieving this. By mapping out your content in advance, you streamline your messaging and fortify your company’s reputation for credibility and dependability. 

Your audience comes to see your brand not just as a provider of information and goods but as a consistent and trustworthy source they can rely on.

How To Correctly Use A Marketing Campaign Template

A marketing campaign template is a transformative tool that can revolutionize your approach to marketing initiatives. Functioning as more than a guide, this template provides a meticulously organized roadmap for developing, implementing, and evaluating your campaigns. To extract the maximum value from this resource, it’s imperative to commence with a clear understanding of your objectives and target market.

This template serves as a dynamic canvas, allowing you to crystallize content ideas and outline crucial components such as objectives, messaging, channels, budget allocation, and success metrics. By adhering to the template’s guidance and tailoring it to your specific requirements, you ensure that each campaign is meticulously planned, directed, and seamlessly aligns with your overarching marketing strategy .

Should We Use A Marketing Plan Template For Businesses?

Absolutely! A marketing plan template is a crucial document that allows you to guide your company to success. Your business objectives, target market, competitive analysis, and strategic initiatives are all included in one comprehensive plan. 

It gives decision-making a structured framework, ensuring each marketing initiative is deliberate and aligned with your company’s goals.

Social Media Marketing Plan Templates

A successful social media marketing strategy is crucial, given the importance of social media in contemporary marketing. It develops into a dynamic tool that responds to shifting trends and makes sure that the voice of your brand is effectively heard across social media platforms.

Storytelling As Marketing

Humans are wired for narrative, and stories in marketing can be up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone

The Free Marketing Plan Vs Paid Social Media Template

Businesses frequently have to decide between using a free template to create their marketing plans and paying for a more complete solution. Both options have advantages, and the choice ultimately comes down to the particular requirements and available resources of the company.

Free Marketing Plan Templates

Free marketing plan templates are an excellent place to start for startups and companies with modest financial resources. They offer a fundamental structure that considers crucial topics like target audience, competitive analysis, budgeting, and campaign planning. 

Paid Social Media Templates

Paid social media templates frequently offer more sophisticated customization options. They might have advanced features like in-depth analytics, marketing tool integration, and industry-specific templates. Paid templates may prove to be a wise investment for companies that are established or seeking a more specialized approach to their marketing strategy.

The decision to use a free marketing plan template or a premium social media template depends on the particular requirements and available resources of the company. Free templates are a great place to start planning. However, paid options offer more customization and sophistication, making them perfect for companies seeking a more specialized and thorough approach to their marketing initiatives.

Planting Your Hard Work For This Year: Preparing Your Business For A FruitFul Year Ahead!

As the year comes to a close, there is not only time for reflection but also a chance to plant the seeds for a successful future. A business owner must put time and effort into planning for the future. This process requires thorough planning, deliberate decision-making, and an outlook on the future. By making thoughtful decisions now, you prepare the ground for a plentiful harvest the following year.

Creating a thorough business plan is an essential component of this preparation. A well-written business plan gives you a clear road map to overcome obstacles and take advantage of opportunities. Also, developing relationships is part of preparing for the new year in business.

Spend some time interacting with your audience, getting their opinions, and creating a sense of community. This practice increases loyalty and offers valuable information that can guide your future strategy development. Think about other ways you can support the expansion and improvement of your team. 

A thriving business is built on a skilled and motivated workforce, so investing in their education and well-being now will guarantee a more successful year down the road.

Alternative Marketing Plans For Faith-Based Women Entrepreneurs!

Aligning business strategies with moral principles is a deeply held conviction for faith-driven women business owners. It’s all about incorporating faith into every facet of their entrepreneurial journey, even marketing.

Leading with authenticity and transparency is one alternative strategy. Authenticity stands out as a sign of reliability in a world flooded with marketing messages. By incorporating their faith into their brand narrative, they develop a distinctive and captivating tale that connects with people on a deeper level. Also, staying authentic in the business world, in light of biblical teachings, involves upholding values of integrity, honesty, and ethical behavior, while maintaining a commitment to one’s faith and principles.

Prioritizing the development of relationships over business-related interactions is another alternative strategy. Faith-based business owners are aware of the profound effects of deep relationships. This strategy produces a more enduring and satisfying business model in addition to being in line with their religious principles.

Reasons Why You Need To Study Customer Analysis  

Customer analysis t directs companies toward a deeper comprehension of their target market. It focuses on the behaviors, preferences, and needs of your customer base rather than just the broad demographics. The foundation of successful marketing tactics, product development, and customer engagement is this priceless insight.

Consider the following strong reasons for your company’s customer analysis:

Boosting Targeted Marketing Campaigns

You can create marketing campaigns that speak to your target market’s particular needs and desires by first understanding them. You can specifically address what matters to them by customizing your messaging, content, and offers using insights from customer analysis. This degree of personalization improves the efficiency of your marketing initiatives and strengthens the emotional bond between your brand and your audience.

Being Aware Of And adapting To Market Trends

Relevance and competitiveness in the rapidly changing business environment are essential in staying ahead of market trends. A pulse on new trends and changing consumer behavior can be obtained through customer analysis. It enables you to proactively modify your goods, services, and business plans to satisfy changing customer demands.

Product Innovation And Development Improvements

A thorough understanding of your target market’s needs, wants, and feedback is invaluable for product development and innovation. You can find opportunities for improvements, new features, or even entirely new offerings by conducting customer analysis. 

By integrating customer insights into your product roadmap, you not only develop solutions that specifically address their needs but also strengthen your reputation as a brand that values its customers.

Customer analysis and research form the cornerstone of business strategy. It offers the insights necessary to establish a genuine connection with your audience, keep up with industry trends, and create goods or services that are in line with consumer needs.

What To Consider When Creating A Business Summary

A business summary provides a succinct yet thorough overview of your company. It captures the essence of your company, including its mission, objectives, and distinctive value proposition. Making a good business summary requires more than just condensing information; it also requires identifying the essential characteristics that make your company unique.

Concision And Clarity

Clarity, concision, and focus are essential components of a business summary. The elevator pitch effectively summarizes your company’s key points. Avoid using technical or jargon-filled language that a wider audience might find confusing.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Is The Focus

What distinguishes you from the competition should be highlighted in your business summary. What distinguishes your business? What benefit do you offer your clients that other businesses do not? This is your Unique Value Proposition (UVP), and your business summary should be focused on it.

Compatibility With The Overall Business Strategy

The business summary should be perfectly in line with your overarching business strategy. The objectives, goals, and mission that guide your daily operations should be reflected in it. This ensures that every element of your company, from marketing strategies to product development, aligns with the broad vision presented in the business summary.

An excellent business summary forms the basis of effective communication about your project. It offers a concise, compelling, and clear overview of your company, emphasizing its distinctive value proposition. You can create a business summary that informs and inspires confidence in your venture by ensuring it is clear, highlighting your UVP, and aligning with your overall business strategy.

Adapting Your 12-Month Plan to Evolving Circumstances: Being Flexible

Adaptability is a quality that can mean the difference between success and stagnation in the dynamic world of business. This is particularly accurate in regard to your 12-month plan. Being adaptable and willing to make changes is not a departure from your plan but a calculated reaction to changing circumstances.

Flexibility is a critical component of your 12-month marketing plan success rather than a compromise. By encouraging a flexible mindset and acting proactively in the face of changing conditions, you give your company the tools it needs to not only overcome obstacles but also to become stronger and more resilient than ever.

Seasons of Success: In a 12-month marketing plan, each month becomes a chapter in your brand’s story, with its own unique opportunities and challenges.

What Is The Best Way To Turn Your Potential Client Into Investing In One Of Your Programs?

An important turning point in any business is when prospective customers become enthusiastic participants in your program. It necessitates a methodical and thoughtful approach centered on earning their trust, proving their value, and attending to their individual needs.

Understanding Client’s Needs 

Get a good understanding of the potential client’s special needs, challenges, and objectives in the first place. This essential information is necessary to develop strategies and programs that respond to their specific needs.

Build Confidence Through Understanding 

This step will demonstrate your commitment to your clients by showing an in-depth understanding of their situation. This prompt acknowledgment ensures confidence and trust, emphasizing that the individual circumstances of these individuals have been duly taken into account.

Trust-Building Measures  

Emphasize the importance of building a trusting relationship with clients. You can present compelling case studies, success stories, or client testimonials that highlight positive outcomes achieved by previous customers through your programs. This track record is a clear indication of the value you’re offering.

Demonstrate Successful Outcomes

Consider demonstrating a history of successful results and showing the tangible benefits clients have gained from your programs. This demonstrates that your program is a worthy investment choice for the potential customer.

Lay The Foundation For Partnership

Emphasize that your approach is focused on building a successful partnership rather than merely making a sale. This strategic attitude ensures that potential customers are treated with respect, listened to, and trusted in their decision to assist you with your initiative.

List Out All Your Products, Services, Programs, And Offers

It’s critical to present your goods, services, programs, and offers in an understandable and well-structured way. It clarifies your offerings for potential clients or customers and demonstrates your professionalism and attention to detail. To begin, group your products and services according to their nature.

For instance, arrange products that are similar into groups, classify services according to their type, and arrange programs or packages according to their features and advantages. Additionally, add compelling visuals—such as photos or graphics—to accompany your descriptions. 

Potential clients and customers can better visualize and comprehend what you’re offering with the aid of visuals.

Halo Effect In Branding

This psychological bias causes our overall impression of a company to influence how we feel and think about its products.

Try Your Own Products

Engaging actively with one’s own goods or services is one of the most effective yet frequently ignored tactics for business owners. This practice, also known as “shopping your business,” entails getting a firsthand look at what you have to offer from your target market’s perspective. 

Immersing yourself in the client experience gives you priceless insights that can improve, hone, and elevate your service level. This hands-on approach enhances the value of what you provide while also boosting your credibility and dependability as a business owner. 

Shopping your company is, in essence, more than just a task; it’s a mindset that fosters a culture of excellence and customer-centricity, ultimately resulting in long-term success.

Spreading Your Message: A Campaign That Would Inspire A Lot Of People

Launching a campaign with the potential to motivate many people is a potent action that can have a long-lasting effect. Such a campaign aims to ignite a movement, bring about change, and connect with a large audience. It seeks to affect people’s lives, spur them to action, and leave an enduring impression on their hearts.

In the end, the positive change a campaign inspires in a large number of people is what counts, not just its reach or engagement metrics. Such a campaign has the potential, when executed thoughtfully and honestly, to motivate individuals and influence societal attitudes, beliefs, and actions toward a more optimistic future.

Final Thoughts

In the dynamic world of business, procrastination can significantly derail progress. This is particularly true for your marketing plan , where every moment of delay translates into a lost opportunity. Echoing the wisdom of an ancient Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time is now,” the same principle applies to marketing planning. 

The more you delay crafting your marketing plan, the further you drift from the advantages of a strategically sound approach.

Biblical Principles To Follow In Your Business

So, why should you listen to me? That’s the big question.

Well, at 23, I sold my first marketing package, which was $20,000 in total. Since then, I have grown a successful marketing agency with my partner, then had the fantastic idea to step away and build another business teaching faith-based female entrepreneurs how to build a successful and profitable online business . So yeah, that’s about it. If you found any value, check out The Commendable Kind and follow along. We’re just getting started!

Question And Answer Portion!

Get answers to a list of the most Frequently Asked Questions.

Create a one-year marketing plan with a strategic process that lays out a roadmap for your business’s marketing efforts over the course of twelve months. It should involve a combination of research, goal-setting, and executing your plans to ensure you have an efficient strategy.

A 12-month business plan starts with a thorough evaluation of your company, followed by formulating definite, attainable goals. It includes a comprehensive plan, a financial commitment, and an execution schedule.

An evaluation of the market, the target audience, and the competition should all be included in a 12-month marketing plan. It outlines specific marketing goals, plans, and techniques, including content promotion, social media advertising, and SEO improvement.

In order to reach and engage target audiences, a 12-month digital marketing plan focuses on online channels. It uses digital tools and technologies for tasks like website optimization, content marketing, social media participation, email marketing, PPC advertising, and SEO.

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I’m excited to connect with you! My mission is to empower visionary female entrepreneurs driven by faith to expand their online businesses’ reach.

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What is Sales Planning? How to Create a Sales Plan

Jay Fuchs

Published: December 06, 2023

Sales planning is a fundamental component of sound selling. After all, you can‘t structure an effective sales effort if you don’t have, well, structure . Everyone — from the top to the bottom of a sales org — benefits from having solid, actionable, thoughtfully organized sales plans in place.

how to create a sales plan; Sales team creating a sales plan for the upcoming quarter

This kind of planning offers clarity and direction for your sales team — covering everything from the prospects you‘re trying to reach to the goals you’re trying to hit to the insight you're trying to deliver on.

But putting together one of these plans isn‘t always straightforward, so to help you out, I’ve compiled this detailed guide to sales planning — including expert-backed insight and examples — that will ensure your next sales plan is fundamentally sound and effective.

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In this post, we'll cover:

What is a sales plan?

Sales planning process.

  • What goes in a sales plan template?

How to Write a Sales Plan

Tips for creating an effective sales plan, sales plan examples, strategic sales plan examples.

A sales plan lays out your objectives, high-level tactics, target audience, and potential obstacles. It's like a traditional business plan but focuses specifically on your sales strategy. A business plan lays out your goals — a sales plan describes exactly how you'll make those happen.

Sales plans often include information about the business's target customers, revenue goals, team structure, and the strategies and resources necessary for achieving its targets.

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Free Sales Plan Template

Outline your company's sales strategy in one simple, coherent sales plan.

  • Target Market
  • Prospecting Strategy

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

What are the goals of an effective sales plan?

what goes into a 12 month business plan

And if (or more likely when ) those goals change over time, you need to regularly communicate those shifts and the strategic adjustments that come with them to your team.

Your sales strategy keeps your sales process productive — it offers the actionable steps your reps can take to deliver on your vision and realize the goals you set. So naturally, you need to communicate it effectively. A sales plan offers a solid resource for that.

For instance, your sales org might notice that your SDRs are posting lackluster cold call conversion rates. In turn, you might want to have them focus primarily on email outreach, or you could experiment with new sales messaging on calls.

Regardless of how you want to approach the situation, a thoughtfully structured sales plan will give both you and your reps a high-level perspective that would inform more cohesive, effective efforts across the team.

An effective sales org is a machine — one where each part has a specific function that serves a specific purpose that needs to be executed in a specific fashion. That's why everyone who comprises that org needs to have a clear understanding of how they specifically play into the company's broader sales strategy.

Outlining roles and responsibilities while sales planning lends itself to more efficient task delegation, improved collaboration, overlap reduction, and increased accountability. All of which amount to more streamlined, smooth, successful sales efforts.

Sales planning can set the framework for gauging how well your team is delivering on your sales strategy. It can inform the benchmarks and milestones reps can use to see how their performance stacks up against your goals and expectations.

It also gives sales leadership a holistic view of how well a sales org is functioning as a whole — giving them the necessary perspective to understand whether they have the right people and tools in place to be as successful as possible.

Sales planning isn‘t (and shouldn’t) be limited to the actual sales plan document it produces. If that document is going to have any substance or practical value, it needs to be the byproduct of a thorough, well-informed, high-level strategy.

When sales planning, you have some key steps you need to cover — including:

  • Gather sales data and search for trends.
  • Define your objectives.
  • Determine metrics for success.
  • Assess the current situation.
  • Start sales forecasting.
  • Identify gaps.
  • Ideate new initiatives.
  • Involve stakeholders.
  • Outline action items.

When putting this list together, I consulted  Zach Drollinger — Senior Director of Sales at edtech provider Coursedog — to ensure the examples detailed below are sound and accurate.

Step 1: Gather sales data and search for trends.

To plan for the present and future, your company needs to look to the past. What did sales look like during the previous year? What about the last five years? Using this information can help you identify trends in your industry. While it's not foolproof, it helps establish a foundation for your sales planning process.

For the sake of example, let‘s say that I’m a new sales director for an edtech company that sells curriculum planning software to higher education institutions. My vertical is community colleges, and my territory is the East Coast.

Once I assume this new role, I‘m going to want to gather as much context as possible about my vertical and how my company has approached it historically. I would pull information about how we’ve sold to this vertical.

How much new business have we closed within it in the past five years? How does that compare to how we perform with other kinds of institutions? Are we seeing significant churn from these customers?

I would also want to get context about the general needs, interests, and pain points of the kinds of institutions I‘m selling to. I’d look for insight into figures like degree velocity, staff retention, and enrollment.

Ultimately, I would get a comprehensive perspective on my sales process — a thorough understanding of where I stand and what my prospects are dealing with. That will ensure that I can deliver on the next step as effectively as possible.

Step 2: Define your objectives.

How do you know your business is doing well if you have no goals? As you can tell from its placement on this list, defining your goals and objectives is one of the first steps you should take in your sales planning process. Once you have them defined, you can move forward with executing them.

To extend the example from the previous step, I would leverage the context I gathered through the research I conducted about both my and my prospect's circumstances. I would start setting both broader goals and more granular operational objectives .

For instance, I might want to set a goal of increasing sales revenue from my vertical. From there, I would start putting together the kind of specific objectives that will facilitate that process — like connecting with administrators from at least 30 community colleges, booking demos with at least 10 schools, and successfully closing at least five institutions.

Obviously, those steps represent a streamlined (and unrealistically straightforward) sales process, but you get the idea — I would set a concrete goal, supplemented by SMART objectives , that will serve as a solid reference point for my org's efforts as the sales process progresses.

Step 3: Determine metrics for success.

Every business is different. One thing we can all agree on is that you need metrics for success. These metrics are key performance indicators (KPIs). What are you going to use to determine if your business is successful? KPIs differ based on your medium, but standard metrics are gross profit margins, return on investment (ROI), daily web traffic users, conversion rate, and more.

I kind of covered this step in the previous example, but it still warrants a bit more elaboration. The “M” in SMART goals (“measurable”) is there for a reason. You can‘t tell if your efforts were successful if you don’t know what “successful” actually means.

The edtech sales example I‘ve been running with revolves mostly around me assuming ownership of an existing vertical and getting more out of it. So it’s fair to assume that sales growth rate — the increase or decrease of sales revenue in a given period, typically expressed as a percentage — would be an effective way to gauge success.

I might want to structure my goals and objectives around a sales growth rate of 20% Y/Y within my vertical. I would make sure my org was familiar with that figure and offer some context about what it would take to reach it — namely, how many institutions we would need to close and retain.

Step 4: Assess the current situation.

How is your business fairing right now? This information is relevant to determining how your current situation holds up to the goals and objectives you set during step two. What are your roadblocks? What are your strengths? Create a list of the obstacles hindering your success. Identify the assets you can use as an advantage. These factors will guide you as you build your sales plan.

Continuing the edtech example, I would use the historical context I gathered and the objectives I set to frame how I look at my current circumstances. I might start by considering my goal of increasing revenue by 20% Y/Y. In that case, I would look at the company's retention figures — ideally, that would give me a sense of whether that needs to be a major area of focus.

I would also try to pin down trends in the colleges that we've already closed — are there any pain points we consistently sell on? I might take a closer look at how we demo to see if we might be glossing over key elements of our value proposition. Maybe, I would use conversation intelligence to get a better sense of how reps are handling their calls.

Ultimately, I would try to identify why we're performing the way we are, the inefficiencies that might be resulting from our current strategy, and how we can best set ourselves up to sell as effectively as possible.

Step 5: Start sales forecasting.

Sales forecasting is an in-depth report that predicts what a salesperson, team, or company will sell weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. While it is finicky, it can help your company make better decisions when hiring, budgeting, prospecting, and setting goals.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, economics has become less predictable. Claire Fenton , the owner of StrActGro — a professional training and coaching company — states, “Many economic forecasters won't predict beyond three months at a time.” This makes sales forecasting difficult. However, there are tools at your disposal to create accurate sales forecasts .

In our edtech example, I would approach this step by trying to estimate how my sales org is going to fare with the specific vertical we‘re pursuing in the time window we’ve allotted.

The method I decide to go with will depend on factors like how many concrete opportunities we have lined up — in addition to elements like the kind of historical data we have handy, how the reps working these deals tend to perform, and the degree of insight we have about our potential customers.

Let's say I consider those factors and decide to run something called a multivariable analysis. In that case, I could start by taking stock of the opportunities my reps have lined up. Then, I could look at the reps working those deals, their typical win rates, and the time they have to close — among other factors.

For instance, I might calculate that a rep working with a particularly large institution has a 50% chance of closing within the window we‘ve allotted. Using that insight, we could attribute 50% of the potential deal size to our forecast — we’d repeat that process with all of the opportunities in question and ideally get a solid sense of the revenue we can expect to generate in this window.

Step 6: Identify gaps.

When identifying gaps in your business, consider what your company needs now and what you might need in the future. First, identify the skills you feel your employees need to reach your goal. Second, evaluate the skills of your current employees. Once you have this information, you can train employees or hire new ones to fill the gaps.

Continuing the edtech example, let‘s say my forecast turned up results that weren’t in keeping with what we need to reach our goals. If that were the case, I would take a holistic look at our process, operations, and resources to pin down inefficiencies or areas for improvement.

In my search, I find that our sales content and marketing collateral are dated — with case studies that don‘t cover our product’s newest and most relevant features. I also might see that our reps don‘t seem to have too much trouble booking demos, but the demos themselves aren’t converting due to a lack of training and inconsistent messaging.

And finally, I find that a lack of alignment with marketing has prospects focusing on unrealistic outcomes our sales team can‘t deliver on. Once I’ve identified those gaps, I would start to hone in on ways to remedy those issues and improve those elements.

Step 7: Ideate new initiatives.

Many industry trends are cyclical. They phase in and out of “style.” As you build your sales plan, ideate new initiatives based on opportunities you may have passed on in previous years.

If your business exclusively focused on word-of-mouth and social media marketing in the past, consider adding webinars or special promotions to your plan.

In the edtech example we've been running with, I would likely ideate initiatives based on the gaps I identified in the previous step. I would start a push to ensure that our sales content and marketing collateral are up-to-date and impressive.

I would also consider new training programs to ensure that our coaching infrastructure is prioritizing how to conduct effective demos. Finally, I would start to work on a plan with marketing to ensure our messaging is aligned with theirs — so we can make sure prospects' expectations are realistic and effective.

One way or another, I would take the gaps I found and find concrete, actionable ways to fill them. I would make sure that these initiatives aren't abstract. Just saying, " We're going to be better at demos," isn‘t a plan — it’s a sentiment, and sentiments don't translate to hard sales.

Step 8: Involve stakeholders.

Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations with a vested interest in your company. They are typically investors, employees, or customers and often have deciding power in your business. Towards the end of your sales planning process, involve stakeholders from departments that affect your outcomes, such as marketing and product. It leads to an efficient and actionable sales planning process.

This step is sort of an extension of the previous two — once I‘ve identified the key issues and roadblocks obstructing my edtech startup’s sales org, I would start identifying the right people to fulfill the necessary initiatives I've put together.

In this example, I would tap some stakeholders in charge of our sales content and marketing collateral to produce newer, more relevant case studies and whitepapers we can pass along to the institutions we're working with.

I would also go to middle management and either offer more direction for coaching on demos or bring in a third-party training service to offer more focused, professional insight on the issue.

Finally, I would connect with marketing leadership to align on the benefits and outcomes we generally stress when pitching the schools we sell to. That way, we can ensure that the institutions we're connecting with have realistic expectations of our product or service that we can speak to more clearly and effectively.

Step 9: Outline action items.

Once you have implemented this strategy to create your sales planning process, the final step is outlining your action items. Using your company's capacity and quota numbers, build a list of steps that take you through the sales process. Examples of action items are writing a sales call script, identifying industry competitors, or strategizing new incentives or perks.

In our edtech example, some key action items might be:

  • Revamp our prospecting strategy via more involved coaching and re-tooled sales messaging.
  • Revamp administrator and college dean buyer personas.
  • Conduct new trainings on demoing our software.
  • See our new prospecting strategy from ideation to execution.
  • Align with our sales enablement stakeholders for new, more relevant case studies and whitepapers.

Obviously, that list isn‘t exhaustive — but those are still the kinds of steps we would need to clarify and take to structure a more effective high-level strategy to produce different (ideally much better) results than we’ve been seeing.

One thing to keep in mind is that sales planning shouldn't end with creating the document.

You‘ll want to reiterate this process every year to maintain your organization's sales excellence.

Now that you‘re committed to the sales planning process, let's dive into the written execution component of sales planning.

Featured Resource: Sales Plan Template

HubSpot's Sales Plan Template: 10 Section Prompts for Outlining Your Sales Plan

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The Complete Guide to Writing a Strategic Plan

By Joe Weller | April 12, 2019 (updated January 31, 2024)

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Writing a strategic plan can be daunting, as the process includes many steps. In this article, you’ll learn the basics of writing a strategic plan, what to include, common challenges, and more.

Included on this page, you'll find details on what to include in a strategic plan , the importance of an executive summary , how to write a mission statement , how to write a vision statement , and more.

The Basics of Writing a Strategic Plan

The strategic planning process takes time, but the payoff is huge. If done correctly, your strategic plan will engage and align stakeholders around your company’s priorities.

Strategic planning, also called strategy development or analysis and assessment , requires attention to detail and should be performed by someone who can follow through on next steps and regular updates. Strategic plans are not static documents — they change as new circumstances arise, both internally and externally.

Before beginning the strategic planning process, it’s important to make sure you have buy-in from management, a board of directors, or other leaders. Without it, the process cannot succeed.

Next, gather your planning team. The group should include people from various departments at different levels, and the planning process should be an open, free discussion within the group. It’s important for leaders to get input from the group as a whole, but they don’t necessarily need approval from everyone — that will slow down the process.

The plan author is responsible for writing and putting the final plan together and should work with a smaller group of writers to establish and standardize the tone and style of the final document or presentation.

Sometimes, it’s a good idea to hire an external party to help facilitate the strategic planning process.

John Bryson

“It often can be helpful to have a really good facilitator to organize and pursue strategic conversations,” says Professor John M. Bryson, McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and author of Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement .

Byson says the facilitator can be in-house or external, but they need experience. “You need to make sure someone is good, so there needs to be a vetting process,” he says.

One way to gauge a facilitator’s experience is by asking how they conduct conversations. “It’s important for facilitators to lead by asking questions,” Bryson says.

Bryson says that strong facilitators often ask the following questions:

What is the situation we find ourselves in?

What do we do?

How do we do it?

How do we link our purposes to our capabilities?

The facilitators also need to be able to handle conflict and diffuse situations by separating idea generation from judgement. “Conflict is part of strategic planning,” Bryson admits. “[Facilitators] need to hold the conversations open long enough to get enough ideas out there to be able to make wise choices.”

These outside helpers are sometimes more effective than internal facilitators since they are not emotionally invested in the outcome of the process. Thus, they can concentrate on the process and ask difficult questions.

A strategic plan is a dynamic document or presentation that details your company’s present situation, outlines your future plans, and shows you how the company can get there. You can take many approaches to the process and consider differing ideas about what needs to go into it, but some general concepts stand.

“Strategic planning is a prompt or a facilitator for fostering strategic thinking, acting, and learning,” says Bryson. He explains that he often begins planning projects with three questions:

What do you want to do?

How are we going to do it?

What would happen if you did what you want to do?

The answers to these questions make up the meat of the planning document.

A strategic plan is only effective when the writing and thinking is clear, since the intent is to help an organization keep to its mission through programs and capacity, while also building stakeholder engagement.

Question 1: Where Are We Now?

The answer (or answers) to the first question — where are we now? — addresses the foundation of your organization, and it can serve as an outline for the following sections of your strategic plan:

Mission statement

Core values and guiding principles

Identification of competing organizations

Industry analysis (this can include a SWOT or PEST analysis)

Question 2: Where Are We Going?

The answers to this question help you identify your goals for the future of the business and assess whether your current trajectory is the future you want. These aspects of the plan outline a strategy for achieving success and can include the following:

Vision statement about what the company will look like in the future

What is happening (both internally and externally) and what needs to change

The factors necessary for success

Question 3: How Do We Get There?

The answers to this question help you outline the many routes you can take to achieve your vision and match your strengths with opportunities in the market. A Gantt chart can help you map out and keep track of these initiatives.

You should include the following sections:

Specific and measurable goals

An execution plan that identifies who manages and monitors the plan

An evaluation plan that shows how you plan to measure the successes and setbacks that come with implementation

What to Include in a Strategic Plan

Strategic planning terminology is not standardized throughout the industry, and this can lead to confusion. Instead, strategic planning experts use many names for the different sections of a strategic plan.

Denise McNerney

“The terms are all over the map. It’s really the concept of what the intention of the terms are [that is important],” says Denise McNerney, President and CEO of iBossWell, Inc. , and incoming president of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). She recommends coming up with a kind of glossary that defines the terms for your team. “One of the most important elements when you’re starting the strategic planning process is to get some clarity on the nomenclature. It’s just what works for your organization. Every organization is slightly different.”

No matter what terms you use, the general idea of a strategic plan is the same. “It’s like drawing a map for your company. One of the first steps is committing to a process, then determining how you’re going to do it,” McNerney explains.

She uses a basic diagram that she calls the strategic plan architecture . The areas above the red dotted line are the strategic parts of the plan. Below the red dotted line are the implementation pieces.

Strategic Plan Architecture

While the specific terminology varies, basic sections of a strategic plan include the following in roughly this order:

Executive summary

Elevator pitch or company description

Vision statement

Industry analysis

Marketing plan

Operations plan

Financial projections

Evaluation methods

Signature page

Some plans will contain all the above sections, but others will not — what you include depends on your organization’s structure and culture.

“I want to keep it simple, so organizations can be successful in achieving [the strategic plan],” McNerney explains. “Your plan has to be aligned with your culture and your culture needs to be aligned with your plan if you’re going to be successful in implementing it.”

The following checklist will help you keep track of what you have done and what you still need to do.

Writing A Strategic Plan Section

‌ Download Strategic Plan Sections Checklist

How to Write a Strategic Plan

Once you’ve assembled your team and defined your terms, it’s time to formalize your ideas by writing the strategic plan. The plan may be in the form of a document, a presentation, or another format.

You can use many models and formats to create your strategic plan (read more about them in this article ). However, you will likely need to include some basic sections, regardless of the particular method you choose (even if the order and way you present them vary). In many cases, the sections of a strategic plan build on each other, so you may have to write them in order.

One tip: Try to avoid jargon and generic terms; for example, words like maximize and succeed lose their punch. Additionally, remember that there are many terms for the same object in strategic planning.

The following sections walk you through how to write common sections of a strategic plan.

How to Write an Executive Summary

The key to writing a strong executive summary is being clear and concise. Don’t feel pressured to put anything and everything into this section — executive summaries should only be about one to two pages long and include the main points of the strategic plan.

The idea is to pique the reader’s interest and get them to read the rest of the plan. Because it functions as a review of the entire document, write the executive summary after you complete the rest of your strategic plan.

Jim Stockmal

“If you have a plan that’s really lengthy, you should have a summary,” says Jim Stockmal, President of the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP). He always writes summaries last, after he has all the data and information he needs for the plan. He says it is easier to cut than to create something.

For more information about writing an effective executive summary, a checklist, and free templates, read this article .

If you want a one-page executive summary, this template can help you decide what information to include.

One-page Executive Summary Template

Download One-Page Executive Summary Template

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How to Write a Company Description

Also called an elevator pitch , the company description is a brief outline of your organization and what it does. It should be short enough that it can be read or heard during the average elevator ride.

The company description should include the history of your company, the major products and services you provide, and any highlights and accomplishments, and it should accomplish the following:

Define what you are as a company.

Describe what the company does.

Identify your ideal client and customer.

Highlight what makes your company unique.

While this may seem basic, the company description changes as your company grows and changes. For example, your ideal customer five years ago might not be the same as the current standard or the one you want in five years.

Share the company description with everyone in your organization. If employees cannot accurately articulate what you do to others, you might miss out on opportunities.

How to Write a Mission Statement

The mission statement explains what your business is trying to achieve. In addition to guiding your entire company, it also helps your employees make decisions that move them toward the company’s overall mission and goals.

“Ideally, [the mission statement is] something that describes what you’re about at the highest level,” McNerney says. “It’s the reason you exist or what you do.”

Strong mission statements can help differentiate your company from your competitors and keep you on track toward your goals. It can also function as a type of tagline for your organization.

Mission statements should do the following:

Define your company’s purpose. Say what you do, who you do it for, and why it is valuable.

Use specific and easy-to-understand language.

Be inspirational while remaining realistic.

Be short and succinct.

This is your chance to define the way your company will make decisions based on goals, culture, and ethics. Mission statements should not be vague or generic, and they should set your business apart from others. If your mission statement could define many companies in your line of work, it is not a good mission statement.

Mission statements don’t have to be only outward-facing for customers or partners. In fact, it is also possible to include what your company does for its employees in your mission statement.

Unlike other parts of your strategic plan that are designed to be reviewed and edited periodically, your company’s mission statement should live as is for a while.

That said, make the effort to edit and refine your mission statement. Take out jargon like world class, best possible, state of the art, maximize, succeed , and so on, and cut vague or unspecific phrasing. Then let your strategic planning committee review it.

How to Write a Vision Statement

Every action your company does contributes to its vision. The vision statement explains what your company wants to achieve in the long term and can help inspire and align your team.

“The vision is the highest-ordered statement of the desired future or state of what you want your business to achieve,” McNerney explains.

A clear vision statement can help all stakeholders understand the meaning and purpose of your company. It should encourage and inspire employees while setting your company’s direction. It also helps you rule out elements that might not align with your vision.

Vision statements should be short (a few sentences). They should also be memorable, specific, and ambitious. But there is a fine line between being ambitious and creating a fantasy. The vision should be clearly attainable if you follow the goals and objectives you outline later in your strategic planning plan.

Because you need to know your company’s goals and objectives to create an accurate vision statement, you might need to wait until you have more information about the company’s direction to write your vision statement.

Below are questions to ask your team as you craft your vision statement:

What impact do we want to have on our community and industry?

How will we interact with others as a company?

What is the culture of the business?

Avoid broad statements that could apply to any company or industry. For example, phrases like “delivering a wonderful experience” could apply to many industries. Write in the present tense, avoid jargon, and be clear and concise.

Vision statements should accomplish the following:

Be inspiring.

Focus on success.

Look at and project about five to 10 years ahead.

Stay in line with the goals and values of your organization.

Once you write your vision statement, communicate it to everyone in your company. Your team should be able to easily understand and repeat the company’s vision statement. Remember, the statements can change as the environment in and around your company changes.

The Difference Between Mission and Vision Statements

Mission and vision statements are both important, but they serve very different purposes.

Mission statements show why a business exists, while vision statements are meant to inspire and provide direction. Mission statements are about the present, and vision statements are about the future. The mission provides items to act upon, and the vision offers goals to aspire to.

For example, if a vision statement is “No child goes to bed hungry,” the accompanying mission would be to provide food banks within the city limits.

While many organizations have both mission and vision statements, it’s not imperative. “Not everyone has a vision statement,” McNerney says. “Some organizations just have one.”

If you choose to have only one statement, McNerney offers some advice: “Any statement you have, if you have just one, needs to include what [you do], how [you do it], why [you do it], and who you do it for.”

During the planning process, these key statements might change. “Early on in the process, you need to talk about what you are doing and why and how you are doing it. Sometimes you think you know where you want to go, but you’re not really sure,” McNerney says. “You need to have flexibility both on the plan content and in the process.”

How to Write Your Company’s Core Values

Company core values , sometimes called organizational values , help you understand what drives the company to do what it does. In this section, you’ll learn a lot about your company and the people who work with you. It should be relatively easy to write.

“The values are the core of how you operate [and] how you treat your people, both internally and externally. Values describe the behaviors you really want to advance,” McNerney says.

There are both internal and external values looking at your employees and coworkers, as well as customers and outside stakeholders. Pinpointing values will help you figure out the traits of the people you want to hire and promote, as well as the qualities you’re looking for in your customers.

Your values should align with your vision statement and highlight your strengths while mitigating weaknesses. McNerney says many organizations do not really consider or are not honest about their company’s values when working on strategic plans, which can lead to failure.

“Your strategies have to align with your values and vice versa,” she explains.

Many companies’ values sound like meaningless jargon, so take the time to figure out what matters to your company and push beyond generic language.

How to Write about Your Industry

When planning ahead for your business, it’s important to look around. How are matters inside your company? What are your competitors doing? Who are your target customers?

“[If you don’t do a thorough industry analysis], you’re doing your planning with your head in the sand. If you’re not looking at the world around you, you’re missing a whole dimension about what should inform your decision making,” McNerney advises.

Writing about your industry helps you identify new opportunities for growth and shows you how you need to change in order to take advantage of those opportunities. Identify your key competitors, and define what you see as their strengths and weaknesses. Performing this analysis will help you figure out what you do best and how you compare to your competition. Once you know what you do well, you can exploit your strengths to your advantage.

In this section, also include your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. You can choose from many templates to help you write this section.

Next, identify your target customers. Think about what they want and need, as well as how you can provide it. Do your competitors attract your target customers, or do you have a niche that sets you apart?

The industry analysis carries a price, but also provides many benefits. “It takes some time and money to do [a thorough industry analysis], but the lack of that understanding says a lot about the future of your organization. If you don’t know what is going on around you, how can you stay competitive?” explains McNerney.

How to Write Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives

This section is the bulk of your strategic plan. Many people confuse goals and objectives, thinking the terms are interchangeable, but many argue that the two are distinct. You can think of them this way:

Goals : Goals are broad statements about what you want to achieve as a company, and they’re usually qualitative. They function as a description of where you want to go, and they can address both the short and long term.

Objectives : Objectives support goals, and they’re usually quantitative and measurable. They describe how you will measure the progress needed to arrive at the destination you outlined in the goal. More than one objective can support one goal.

For example, if your goal is to achieve success as a strategic planner, your objective would be to write all sections of the strategic plan in one month.

iBossWell, Inc.’s McNerney reiterates that there are not hard and fast definitions for the terms goals and objectives , as well as many other strategic planning concepts. “I wouldn’t attempt to put a definition to the terms. You hear the terms goals and objectives a lot, but they mean different things to different people. What some people call a goal , others call an objective . What some people call an objective , others would call a KPI. ” They key, she explains, is to decide what the terms mean in your organization, explain the definitions to key stakeholders, and stick to those definitions.

How to Write Goals

Goals form the basis of your strategic plan. They set out your priorities and initiatives, and therefore are critical elements and define what your plan will accomplish. Some planning specialists use the term strategic objectives or strategic priorities when referring to goals, but for clarity, this article will use the term goals.

“[Goals] are the higher level that contain several statements about what your priorities are,” McNerney explains. They are often near the top of your plan’s hierarchy.

Each goal should reflect something you uncovered during the analysis phase of your strategic planning process. Goals should be precise and concise statements, not long narratives. For example, your goals might be the following:

Eliminate case backlog.

Lower production costs.

Increase total revenue.

Each goal should have a stated outcome and a deadline. Think of goal writing as a formula: Action + detail of the action + a measurable metric + a deadline = goal. For example, your goal might be: Increase total revenue by 5 percent in three product areas by the third quarter of 2020.

Another way to look at it: Verb (action) + adjective (description) = noun (result). An example goal: Increase website fundraising.

Your goals should strike a balance between being aspirational and tangible. You want to stretch your limits, but not make them too difficult to reach. Your entire organization and stakeholders should be able to remember and understand your goals.

Think about goals with varying lengths. Some should go out five to 10 years, others will be shorter — some significantly so. Some goals might even be quarterly, monthly, or weekly. But be careful to not create too many goals. Focus on the ones that allow you to zero in on what is critical for your company’s success. Remember, several objectives and action steps will likely come from each goal.

How to Write Objectives

Objectives are the turn-by-turn directions of how to achieve your goals. They are set in statement and purpose with no ambiguity about whether you achieve them or not.

Your goals are where you want to go. Next, you have to determine how to get there, via a few different objectives that support each goal. Note that objectives can cover several areas.

“You need implementation elements of the plan to be successful,” McNerney says, adding that some people refer to objectives as tactics , actions , and many other terms.

Objectives often begin with the words increase or decrease because they are quantifiable and measurable. You will know when you achieve an objective. They are action items, often with start and end dates.

Use the goal example from earlier: Increase total revenue by 5 percent in three product areas by the third quarter of 2020. In this example, your objectives could be:

Approach three new possible clients each month.

Promote the three key product areas on the website and in email newsletters.

Think of the acronym SMART when writing objectives: Make them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and time-bound.

Breaking down the process further, some strategic planners use the terms strategies and tactics to label ways to achieve objectives. Using these terms, strategies describe an approach or method you will use to achieve an objective. A tactic is a specific activity or project that achieves the strategy, which, in turn, helps achieve the objective.

How to Write about Capacity, Operations Plans, Marketing Plans, and Financial Plans

After you come up with your goals and objectives, you need to figure out who will do what, how you will market what they do, and how you will pay for what you need to do.

“If you choose to shortchange the process [and not talk about capacity and finances], you need to know what the consequences will be,” explains McNerney. “If you do not consider the additional costs or revenues your plan is going to drive, you may be creating a plan you cannot implement.”

To achieve all the goals outlined in your strategic plan, you need the right people in place. Include a section in your strategic plan where you talk about the capacity of your organization. Do you have the team members to accomplish the objectives you have outlined in order to reach your goals? If not, you may need to hire personnel.

The operations plan maps out your initiatives and shows you who is going to do what, when, and how. This helps transform your goals and objectives into a reality. A summary of it should go into your strategic plan. If you need assistance writing a comprehensive implementation plan for your organization, this article can guide you through the process.

A marketing plan describes how you attract prospects and convert them into customers. You don’t need to include the entire marketing plan in your strategic plan, but you might want to include a summary. For more information about writing marketing plans, this article can help.

Then there are finances. We would all like to accomplish every goal, but sometimes we do not have enough money to do so. A financial plan can help you set your priorities. Check out these templates to help you get started with a financial plan.

How to Write Performance Indicators

In order to know if you are reaching the goals you outline in your strategic plan, you need performance indicators. These indicators will show you what success looks like and ensure accountability. Sadly, strategic plans have a tendency to fail when nobody periodically assesses progress.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) can show you how your business is progressing. KPIs can be both financial and nonfinancial measures that help you chart your progress and take corrective measures if actions are not unfolding as they should. Other terms similar to KPIs include performance measures and performance indicators .

Performance indicators are not always financial, but they must be quantifiable. For example, tracking visitors to a website, customers completing a contact form, or the number of proposals that close with deals are all performance indicators that keep you on track toward achieving your goals.

When writing your performance indicators, pay attention to the following:

Define how often you need to report results.

Every KPI must have some sort of measure.

List a measure and a time period.

Note the data source where you will get your information to measure and track.

ASP’s Stockmal has some questions for you to ask yourself about picking performance indicators.

Are you in control of the performance measure?

Does the performance measure support the strategic outcomes?

Is it feasible?

Is data available?

Who is collecting that data, and how will they do it?

Is the data timely?

Is it cost-effective to collect that data?

ls the goal quantifiable, and can you measure it over time?

Are your targets realistic and time-bound?

Stockmal also says performance indicators cannot focus on only one thing at the detriment of another. “Don’t lose what makes you good,” he says. He adds that focusing on one KPI can hurt other areas of a company’s performance, so reaching a goal can be short-sided.

Some performance indicators can go into your strategic plan, but you might want to set other goals for your organization. A KPI dashboard can help you set up and track your performance and for more information about setting up a KPI dashboard, this article can help.

Communicating Your Strategic Plan

While writing your strategic plan, you should think about how to share it. A plan is no good if it sits on a shelf and nobody reads it.

Stefan Hofmeyer

“After the meetings are over, you have to turn your strategy into action,” says Stefan Hofmeyer, an experienced strategist and co-founder of Global PMI Partners . “Get in front of employees and present the plan [to get everyone involved].” Hofmeyer explains his research has shown that people stay with companies not always because of money, but often because they buy into the organization’s vision and want to play a part in helping it get where it wants to go. “These are the people you want to keep because they are invested,” he says.

Decide who should get a physical copy of the entire plan. This could include management, the board of directors, owners, and more. Do your best to keep it from your competitors. If you distribute it outside of your company, you might want to attach a confidentiality waiver.

You can communicate your plan to stakeholders in the following ways:

Hold a meeting to present the plan in person.

Highlight the plan in a company newsletter.

Include the plan in new employee onboarding.

Post the plan on the employee intranet, along with key highlights and a way to track progress.

If you hold a meeting, make sure you and other key planners are prepared to handle the feedback and discussion that will arise. You should be able to defend your plan and reinforce its key areas. The goal of the plan’s distribution is to make sure everyone understands their role in making the plan successful.

Remind people of your company’s mission, vision, and values to reinforce their importance. You can use posters or other visual methods to post around the office. The more that people feel they play an important part in the organization’s success, they more successful you will be in reaching your goals of your strategic plan.

Challenges in Writing a Strategic Plan

As mentioned, strategic planning is a process and involves a team. As with any team activity, there will be challenges.

Sometimes the consensus can take priority over what is clear. Peer pressure can be a strong force, especially if a boss or other manager is the one making suggestions and people feel pressured to conform. Some people might feel reluctant to give any input because they do not think it matters to the person who ultimately decides what goes into the plan.

Team troubles can also occur when one or more members does not think the plan is important or does not buy into the process. Team leaders need to take care of these troubles before they get out of hand.

Pay attention to your company culture and the readiness you have as a group, and adapt the planning process to fit accordingly. You need to find the balance between the process and the final product.

The planning process takes time. Many organizations do not give themselves enough time to plan properly, and once you finish planning, writing the document or presentation also takes time, as does implementation. Don’t plan so much that you ignore how you are going to put the plan into action. One symptom of this is not aligning the plan to fit the capacity or finances of the company.

Stockmal explains that many organizations often focus too much on the future and reaching their goals that they forget what made them a strong company in the first place. Business architecture is important, which Stockmal says is “building the capabilities the organization needs to fulfill its strategy.” He adds that nothing happens if there is no budget workers to do the work necessary to drive change.

Be careful with the information you gather. Do not take shortcuts in the research phase — that will lead to bad information coming out further in the process. Also, do not ignore negative information you may learn. Overcoming adversity is one way for companies to grow.

Be wary of cutting and pasting either from plans from past years or from other similar organizations. Every company is unique.

And while this may sound obvious, do not ignore what your planning process tells you. Your research might show you should not go in a direction you might want to.

Writing Different Types of Strategic Plans

The strategic planning process will differ based on your organization, but the basic concepts will stay the same. Whether you are a nonprofit, a school, or a for-profit entity, strategic plans will look at where you are and how you will get to where you want to go.

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a Nonprofit

For a nonprofit, the strategic plan’s purpose is mainly how to best advance the mission. It’s imperative to make sure the mission statement accurately fits the organization.

In addition to a SWOT analysis and other sections that go into any strategic plan, a nonprofit needs to keep an eye on changing factors, such as funding. Some funding sources have finite beginnings and endings. Strategic planning is often continuous for nonprofits.

A nonprofit has to make the community care about its cause. In a for-profit organization, the marketing department works to promote the company’s product or services to bring in new revenue. For a nonprofit, however, conveying that message needs to be part of the strategic plan.

Coming up with an evaluation method and KPIs can sometimes be difficult for a nonprofit, since they are often focused on goals other than financial gain. For example, a substance abuse prevention coalition is trying to keep teens from starting to drink or use drugs, and proving the coalition’s methods work is often difficult to quantify.

This template can help you visually outline your strategic plan for your nonprofit.

Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template

Download Nonprofit Strategic Plan Template

Excel | Smartsheet

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a School

Writing a strategic plan for a school can be difficult because of the variety of stakeholders involved, including students, teachers, other staff, and parents.

Strategic planning in a school is different from others because there are no markets to explore, products to produce, clients to woo, or adjustable timelines. Schools often have set boundaries, missions, and budgets.

Even with the differences, the same planning process and structure should be in place for schools as it is for other types of organizations.

This template can help your university or school outline your strategic plan.

University Strategic Plan Outline Word Template

‌ ‌Download University Strategic Plan Outline – Word

How to Write a 5-Year Strategic Plan

There is no set time period for a strategic plan, but five years can be a sweet spot. In some cases, yearly planning might keep you continually stuck in the planning process, while 10 years might be too far out.

In addition to the basic sections that go into any strategic plan, when forecasting five years into the future, put one- and three-year checkpoints into the plan so you can track progress intermittently.

How to Write a 3-Year Strategic Plan

While five years is often the strategic planning sweet spot, some organizations choose to create three-year plans. Looking too far ahead can be daunting, especially for a new or changing company.

In a three-year plan, the goals and objectives have a shorter timeframe and you need to monitor them more frequently. Build those checkpoints into the plan.

“Most organizations do a three- to five-year plan now because they recognize the technology and the changes in business that are pretty dynamic now,” Stockmal says.

How to Write a Departmental Strategic Plan

The first step in writing a strategic plan for your department is to pay attention to your company’s overall strategic plan. You want to make sure the plans align.

The steps in creating a plan for a department are the same as for an overall strategic plan, but the mission statement, vision, SWOT analysis, goals, objectives, and so on are specific to only the people in your department. Look at each person separately and consider their core competencies, strengths, capabilities, and weaknesses. Assign people who will be responsible for certain tasks and tactics necessary to achieve your goals.

If you have access to a plan from a previous year, see how your department did in meeting its goals. Adjust the new plan accordingly.

When you finish your departmental plan, make sure to submit it to whomever is responsible for your company’s overall plan. Expect to make changes.

How to Write a Strategic Plan for a Project

A strategic plan is for the big picture, not for a particular project for an organization. Instead of a strategic plan, this area would fall under project management.

If you have a failing project and need to turn it around, this article might help.

How to Write a Personal Strategic Plan

Creating a strategic plan isn’t only for businesses. You can also create a strategic plan to help guide both your professional and personal life. The key is to include what is important to you. This process takes time and reflection.

Be prepared for what you discover about yourself. Because you will be looking at your strengths and weaknesses, you might see things you do not like. It is important to be honest with yourself. A SWOT analysis on yourself will give you some honest feedback if you let it.

Begin with looking at your life as it is now. Are you satisfied? What do you want to do more or less? What do you value most in your life? Go deeper than saying family, happiness, and health. This exercise will help you clarify your values.

Once you know what is important to you, come up with a personal mission statement that reflects the values you cherish. As it does within a business, this statement will help guide you in making future decisions. If something does not fit within your personal mission, you shouldn’t do it.

Using the information you discovered during your SWOT and mission statement process, come up with goals that align with your values. The goals can be broad, but don’t forget to include action items and timeframes to help you reach your goals.

As for the evaluation portion, identify how you will keep yourself accountable and on track. You might involve a person to remind you about your plan, calendar reminders, small rewards when you achieve a goal, or another method that works for you.

Below is additional advice for personal strategic plans:

There are things you can control and things you cannot. Keep your focus on what you can act on.

Look at the positive instead of what you will give up. For example, instead of focusing on losing weight, concentrate on being healthier.

Do not overcommit, and do not ignore the little details that help you reach your goals.

No matter what, do not dwell on setbacks and remember to celebrate successes.

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Kellie O'Brien Media

Online marketing consultant, your 12 month marketing plan template – and example.

January 11, 2019 By Kellie O'Brien 6 Comments

January is the time of year when many of my long-term clients request a session on planning a 12 month marketing plan so we can clearly see where we’re going for the year ahead. I’ve completed so many lately I thought it was worth compiling some of the top questions that stem from those sessions into this post in the hope it helps you too.

But I want you to know that you don’t need to wait till January to start a 12 month plan. It can happen any time of year – from the beginning of a fiscal or financial year to the start of a new business project.

Either way, the  12 month marketing plan template and example I’m going to share with you will guide you on what you need to achieve in to arrive at where you want to be in one year.

I’ve spoken previously about creating a template aimed at public relations campaigns, I’ve also created a seasonal marketing calendar  to help with monthly marketing themes to help inspire content through evergreen events to fill your plans. But what about the framework for a one page marketing plan? Where do you start?

You want something that avoids pushing you into overwhelm and frustration.

What is a 12 Month Marketing Plan?

We’ve all heard the saying before: “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

Some research suggests those who plan double their chance at success. Maybe you’ve experienced that yourself, where a little bit of planning has gone a long way towards achieving a goal you’ve set yourself. The reason is often that we’ve given ourselves specific steps towards a specific outcome within a defined period of time.

A 12 month marketing plan is really a marketing strategy with a schedule of marketing activities to provide you with a high level view of where you’d like to be and how you’re going to get there.

It’s the opportunity to take a holistic look at your marketing for the coming year and understand where you want it to lead you. What do you want to create in your business? What are the steps required to get there?

Creating a marketing plan allows you to reverse engineer the entire process and will help define your quarterly and monthly marketing plans that ensure you implement. You know that saying about “eating an elephant”…

So you end up with a holistic view of your marketing in a 12-month format, which can then be broken down into more achievable goals and action steps per quarter, month and week.

Often, the big problem with creating an annual marketing calendar is that people get discouraged not too long into the plan because it all feels too overwhelming. In her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth says: “Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare”.

To avoid that, download this 12 month marketing planner . This is a plan I’ve been using annually since the early days of my business.

What to Include In Your Marketing Plan

Knowing what to include in your 12-month marketing plan can be daunting.

There are some key topics that need to be highlighted BEFORE you even begin to map out your one-year marketing plan, including:

  • What you learnt from the previous 12 months – what will you take into the new year and what will you leave behind
  • What are your financial goals for the year that tie into the vision and mission for your business
  • Key products and what ratio of profit they create
  • What ideal client the products are aimed at
  • Whether there will be launches for them (and when that will be) or if there will be  evergreen campaigns (and the strategy for consistency)
  • The pathway that moves them from awareness to investing with you
  • Auditing the assets you already have to discover future opportunities
  • Forecast your numbers – how many impressions from your brand awareness campaigns, how many leads generated, how many sales conversations booked and how many conversions you need to achieve your overall financial goal

Using the free marketing plan template

To avoid starting from scratch and tip you into overwhelm, I’ve created a free marketing strategy template for you to download and instructions on how best to use it to make this as simple and easeful as possible. You can download that here.

Review your year by plotting out the highlights from each month

What did you have to celebrate month by month in 2020? You’ll be surprised at just how much you’ve actually achieved.

What worked from the previous 12 months that you want to continue?

And, likewise, ask what didn’t work that you want to stop doing? When I work with a client, we dive deep into this area because often this is where the gold is hidden that holds clues for what you need to do to achieve your goals the following year. In this version at least, you need to take a look at the things that generated leads and sales. Then look for the clues for leverage.

What were the biggest lessons you learned?

Often, we’ve given some challenges throughout our year and these are sometimes blessings in disguise. There are things we’re taught that help us grow. What were they for you? How will you use this information going into a new year or a new 12-month plan?

What seeds did you plant this year that are ready to come to life next year?

This is one of my favourite questions, because often the work I do with clients is creating a holistic strategy and then putting in place the systems to allow that strategy to come to life. Some systems don’t happen overnight and we can get impatient waiting for them to yield results. But there’s no greater feeling than going into a new year (calendar or financial) with all those systems in place and knowing they’re ready to start revealing results for you.

Next, it’s time to step into the year ahead. Diving deeper with the template and workbook here will help a lot when you reach this point, but some simple questions to ask yourself…

What are your financial goals for the coming 12 months?

Take a look at what you achieved during the past 12 months and choose something that’s going to see your business grow and stretch you, but isn’t so big that you’ll become discouraged part-way through the year.

List out all the products, programs and offers

Make a list of all the products programs and offers you have and determine what ratio of profit they created during the past 12 months.

This is often an eye-opener to what you might want to let go of and, equally, where you might want to put some more marketing effort into because it’s yielding good results with little effort.

If you decide you want them part of your goals for the coming 12 months, then you need to ensure you’re clear on who they’re for , whether there’ll be launches for them (and when that will be) or if there’ll be evergreen (and the strategy for consistency).

This is also a chance to think about at a time plan for further projects.

One thing to always focus on when it comes to product development, is knowing the value proposition of a product . If you can’t clearly articulate what the value of your product or program is to your ideal client, then the chances of selling it will be difficult.

What is the pathway that moves your ideal client from awareness to investing in these programs?

This is often a missing piece in many marketing plans. If you don’t understand WHERE your marketing is leading people, then you’re really causing noise in the market with little return.

We want to create purposeful marketing and the way to do that is to be clear on the messages and platforms on the front end and who you’re targeting, followed by understanding the pathway that allows them to move from awareness to investment. Learn more about soulful sales funnels .

Audit the assets you already have to discover future opportunities

This isn’t just a yearly task, but something I do regularly with new clients. In fact, the past month alone I’ve done four audits of sales funnels and marketing strategies.

We often have so many opportunities in our business that get overlooked, whether that’s a blog post that’s gaining organic traffic but doesn’t have an opt-in offer on it or a successful opt-in that doesn’t go further than a welcome email. These are opportunities to be leveraged.

Forecast your numbers for the coming year

You want to understand:

  • How many impressions from your brand awareness campaigns do you need to gain,
  • how many leads will you generate,
  • how many sales conversations do you need to have booked and
  • how many conversions do you need to achieve your overall financial goal you originally set

Next, plot out the tasks for the coming year. Think about what you want the highlights to be for the next 12 months that you’ll be able to celebrate this time next year.

In the next part, I’ll share an example of my plan .

A 12 Month Marketing Plan Example

I want to give you an example of an annual marketing plan and what it might look like. Due to privacy with my clients, I can’t share one of theirs but I do want to show you a real life example. So I’m sharing mine for 2021.

Before I do, here’s a quick snapshot of my review…

I identified that my biggest revenue providers were my masterminds and 1:1 coaching and consulting clients. I gain digital sales throughout the year, but they don’t compare to the higher touch offers. The energy to launch lower priced offers isn’t worth it for me, particularly when my business isn’t built around high volume low touch, so these remain evergreen.

Each of my products already have soulful sales funnels attached to them, but auditing each of them provided some new opportunities and areas for improvement.

And now for my one page marketing plan example:

As you can see from my marketing plan, it includes:

  • The Promotions in green
  • The Delivery of those programs in pink (although I’ve actually excluded it from this example)
  • Audience Build in blue is the final part so my email list is always growing

I include in there my regular marketing activities:

  • Power posts – or epic blog posts . These are generally more than 1500 words long – like this one! The aim is to build organic traffic, build my email list (so it’s usually attached to the “Audience Build” activity) and connect with my audience.
  • Videos , which this year will be more tightly linked to the blog post I’m writing, but will also be leveraged across Youtube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
  • A weekly eNewsletters to help continue to build relationships with my list
  • Facebook ads to grow my list so I have someone to send my eNewsletter to!! Although, more of my focus lately has been on retargeting ads to bring people already familiar with me back to my site.

These are the things I commit to being regular with.

Next, I’ll look at how many sales I’ll require that month to reach my overall financial goal and how many discovery calls are needed to reach those sales. If you’re unsure of your marketing activities, starting with this step first can help.

It’s not in this version, but it’s also wise to add in your budget for each month too if you’re needing to print marketing material, sponsor events or run advertising campaigns.

One of the beauties of laying out your 12 month marketing plan like this is that it prevents you from over promoting to your email list. One of the challenges I had earlier in my business life was that I was promoting back to back and wearing my email list out.

I see this a lot in my own inbox now, with some entrepreneurs and small businesses always in promo mode or even promoting two things at once – which is never smart. You simply confuse your audience and they end up buying nothing.

You can also more easily see what budget is required depending on when and what you’re promoting throughout the year.

The other thing to consider is that your plan will look very different to the next business . For example, one of my real estate agent clients has an extensive marketing calendar that takes in many varied strategies and multiple budgeting needs, while one of my health coaches has a simple 3-channel approach. Do what makes the most sense to you, your business and your ideal client.

Marketing Activities For Your Annual Plan

Still unsure exactly what YOU should be putting into YOUR plan?

If you’re just starting out in business or really unclear on where your ideal client is “hanging out” to know where to market, pause to spend some time interviewing your ideal client. Learn more about ideal clients here .

In the meantime, here are some strategies you might want to explore further:

  • Content creation strategies
  • Social media strategies
  • PR strategies
  • Referral strategies
  • Collaboration strategies
  • Public speaking strategies
  • Advertising strategies
  • Online marketing strategies
  • In-person networking and events strategies
  • Direct mail strategies

Many of these topics I talk about on this blog to help get you started.

Working Your Plan into 90-day Marketing Strategies

When I create a 90-day marketing plan, it’s this map that I look back to and the questions that ensure I stay in alignment all year round and don’t end up with bright shiny object syndrome – that is, that I go off following all the latest marketing fads. This has long been a weakness for me and I’m well aware of it, so I put things in place to ensure I can use my creativity without going too far off track.

Download a copy of your marketing plan so you can ensure you have a clear path to follow this year and create your best year yet.

If you’d like to book a 1.5-hour session to create either your 12-month plan and 90-day marketing plan, please reach out .

Building in a Celebration Plan

Yes, you need to build a celebration plan alongside your marketing plan. Why? Because otherwise you never stop to fully appreciate all you achieve. Women, in particular, are notorious for not pausing and taking stock. We tend to just keep going and this is where we end up burning out, losing momentum or resenting our businesses.

Your celebration can be as big or small as you want. Mine are often booking a facial, buying a book or even planning and taking a mini holiday.

When it comes to celebrating, you need to be checking in EACH week. You’ll have at least something you can celebrate each week and this is important to do. Find a mastermind group to ensure you do celebrate weekly, along with setting a goal you can work towards and use the group to hold you accountable to.

If you’re not part of a mastermind , take a look at what it’s like inside a women’s online mastermind group .

And make sure to download your 12 month marketing plan to start – and the continue – 2021 strong!

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How Does a Working Capital Loan Fit Into Your 12-Month Business Plan?

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It’s important to monitor and update your business plan — it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it document. After all, the needs and goals of a company can change dramatically. You want to make sure that your visionary plan keeps up.

If you’ve never created a full-fledged plan before, now’s a terrific time to build it from the ground up. Just make sure that your plan includes not just your dreams and objectives, but also a road map on how you’ll achieve them. For instance, if one of your 12-month hopes is to scale up by bringing on temporary seasonal workers throughout the year, you’ll need to know not just where you’ll put them, but also how you’ll pay them.

That’s where adding financial information into your business plan becomes a must-do. Otherwise, you might realize partway through Q2 that your targets for Q3 are unrealistic because you have no money on hand.

To avoid unwanted surprises, be specific when it comes to money. For instance, if you know that you’ll be expanding your lease to include more space or purchasing high-level software to add to your tech stack, mention how you’ll pay for those items through vehicles like fast working capital loans.

This requires you to imagine the road ahead in a practical sense. The more exacting you can be in your business planning process, the simpler it will be to use your plan as a guide. Aim to make your plan so understandable that someone outside your business, such as the lender you work with when you apply for a small business loan, feels confident that you’ve thought of everything.

Of course, you will likely hit a couple of hiccups along the way. Here are three common stumbling blocks and the best solutions when it comes to planning ahead:

Stumbling block 1: One of your biggest goals will require more money than you have on hand.

Solution: plan for tools like working capital loans to help scale..

It’s a tough realization that you currently can’t afford to bring one of your goals to fruition . However, you might not have to give up on it. Ask yourself if business working capital loans could be the key to opening the door to that future growth. Specifically, would a short-term loan offer you a reasonable way to take advantage of an upcoming opportunity, such as meeting the unexpected demands of a new client? If so, investigate the different types of small business loans on the market. Then, lay out in great detail the fiscal steps you expect to take.

Stumbling block 2: You don’t have the financial documents to successfully finish your business plan.

Solution: dig in even more..

The fastest way to feel more in control is to put your financials in order. Gather your bank statements; sift through your tax returns; and organize your invoices and income statements. The more you can do to get on top of your cash flow situation, the better you’ll feel about constructing reliable forecasts. Additionally, you’ll make your company more attractive to lenders that offer business loans for small business entities like yours.

Stumbling block 3: You notice seasonal troughs in your financials.

Solution: prepare for the dips now..

Again, this is where getting a small business loan could help close gaps. The more you analyze your revenue and expenses on a yearly basis, the more you’ll notice periods when you might need a little help. Working capital loans for small businesses   can have repayment terms as little as six months . Consequently, you might not need to worry about those types of predictable hurdles. Instead, you can note when you plan to apply for a working capital loan over the coming year, as well as how you’ll pay it off.

Writing a business plan should be a priority for every company, no matter its size or industry. By putting your thoughts, hopes, and brainstorms in a logical format, you can more confidently work ahead. You can also ensure that the need for getting a small business loan   doesn’t happen out of the blue.

Steer your organization into a successful new year. Complete a working capital loan application  now for a fast response.

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Five Places Russia Is Fighting to Break Through Ukrainian Lines

Outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian ground forces are in perhaps their most precarious position since the opening months of the war.

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By Marc Santora ,  Scott Reinhard and Josh Holder

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Sievierodonetsk

Zaporizhzhia

Line of contact

before invasion

Sea of Azov

what goes into a 12 month business plan

Ukraine is engaged in a desperate fight to hold back the Russian onslaught.

Russian forces captured the longtime Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka before dawn on Saturday, Moscow’s first major battlefield gain since it took Bakhmut last May.

But across the entire 600-mile-long front, Ukraine is short on ammunition without renewed American military assistance, and it is struggling to replenish its own depleted forces after two years of brutal fighting.

Russia’s assault has split into five major lines of attack, spanning towns and cities across much of the front in eastern and southern Ukraine. Here is the status of Russia’s offensive in five critical battles:

1. Avdiivka

Russia captured a longtime ukrainian stronghold..

The now-destroyed city of Avdiivka covers only some 12 square miles. But for the better part of a decade it carved a bulge in the front line that undermined critical Russian logistical operations. It sits only a few miles from the city of Donetsk, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have breached a critical supply line and threatened to encircle Ukrainian soldiers. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the head of Ukraine’s forces in the south, said that Ukraine had no choice but to withdraw.

“In a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers with a 10-to-1 shell advantage, under constant bombardment, this is the only correct solution,” he said in a statement.

It’s not clear how far the Russians might be able to push this fight beyond Avdiivka, or how well the Ukrainians have constructed their next lines of defense. But the next major population centers, home to tens of thousands of civilians, are only about 35 miles to the west.

Roughly 50,000 Russian soldiers have been dedicated to the fight for Avdiivka in this direction, although the numbers fluctuated. Tens of thousands of Russians have been killed or wounded, according to Western and Ukrainian officials, but Russia has steadily replenished their ranks, including using convicts to join the fighting.

Even if the lines stabilize after the Russians take the city, its fall allows the Russian military to move troops and equipment more efficiently behind the line as it presses in other directions.

Read more: The Death Throes of a Ukrainian City , Feb. 18

A destroyed town is now a base for Russian attacks.

By last month, Russian forces had finally cleared out the last Ukrainian defenders of Marinka , another longtime frontline town.

There is very little left of Marinka after two years of Russian bombardments and battles. But its capture has allowed the Russians to turn their attention to the south and another vital Ukrainian stronghold, Vuhledar .

Last year, the Russians repeatedly tried to attack Vuhledar from the south and suffered catastrophic losses, including a devastating defeat in one of the largest tank battles of the war.

But with Marinka under control, the Russians are attacking Vuhledar from the north. They are currently advancing through the village of Novomykhailivka, which is about 13 miles to the northeast.

It is not clear how many forces the Russians have amassed in this direction, but Ukrainian officials have said Russia has kept around 40,000 in the nearby Mariupol area to be deployed for attacks from the south.

Soldiers fighting in the Vuhledar area said that the fall of Avdiivka, 55 miles to the northeast, would likely free up Russian forces to step up attacks from the north.

Read more: A Trophy in Ruins: Evidence Grows That Russia Controls Marinka , Jan. 4

3. Robotyne

Russia is seeking to reverse ukraine’s largest gains last year..

When Ukraine’s failed summer counteroffensive culminated last year, its forces had managed to advance only about ten miles deep into the southern front, reaching just beyond a tiny village, Robotyne .

Russia now appears determined to win back what it lost.

The Russian military has more troops concentrated on this front than on the Avdiivka front, Dmytro Lykhovii, a spokesman for Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the south, said this week.

“It seems that the Russians have set a goal to gain some success there by storming in, just as they are trying to do in Avdiivka,” he said.

Read more: Russia Retakes Some Land Hard Won by Ukraine During Counteroffensive , Dec. 28

4. Kreminna

Russia is pushing from kreminna to reclaim towns in the northeast it lost to ukraine in late 2022..

Ever since the Russians were driven out of occupied territories in northeastern Ukraine more than a year ago — losing control over more than 500 settlements spread over 11,000 square kilometers — they have been fighting to try and take it back.

Last year, little territory changed hands, despite intense fighting in the forest belts along the front here. Now, Russia is starting to move forward again, albeit slowly in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Russian forces are pushing in two directions from the city of Kreminna : toward the battered city of Kupiansk to the north, and toward Lyman , 80 miles to the south. Russia has maintained a total force of around 110,000 troops in the area for months, despite losses, Illia Yevlash, a spokesman for the military in the area, told reporters earlier this month.

Read more: Ukraine and Russia Battle for a Gateway City in the East , Dec. 27

Russia has regained the momentum, and a major Ukrainian city could come into artillery range.

Russia destroyed and then seized the city of Bakhmut in May, its last significant territorial gain on the battlefield before advancing on Avdiivka this week. By the time the Russians took Bakhmut, their forces were exhausted, and the Wagner mercenary group that led the fight was in open rebellion against the Russian ministry of defense.

Ukrainian hopes to exploit the disarray to counterattack around the flanks of the city largely stalled. Now, it is the Russians who have the initiative.

General Oleksandr Syrsky, the newly appointed commander of Ukrainian forces, said recently that the Russians are determined to break through their defenses around Chasiv Yar , which would give them control of commanding heights in the area and expose the city of Kramatorsk to increased artillery fire. Some 62,000 Russian soldiers are on the ground in the Bakhmut direction, according to Ukrainian estimates.

“The situation is tense, requiring constant monitoring of the overall situation and prompt decision-making on the ground,” Gen. Syrsky said in a statement earlier this month.

Read more: Why Bakhmut? It’s a Question as Old as War , May 5, 2023

Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa. More about Marc Santora

Scott Reinhard is a graphics editor, focusing on cartography and data visualization. He holds a master's degree in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University. More about Scott Reinhard

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

Russian forces have launched multiple attacks around the southern Ukrainian village of Robotyne , targeting land hard-won by Ukraine in a rare success of its counteroffensive in 2023.

Hundreds of Ukrainian troops were feared to have been captured  or gone missing during Ukraine’s chaotic retreat  from the eastern city of Avdiivka. Such a devastating loss could deal a blow to already weakening morale .

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country and pushed back against the idea of a negotiated resolution to the war .

Wounded Soldiers: The number of Russian troops with amputated limbs or serious injuries is believed to be staggering . When these veterans return home, they face a patchwork system of treatment and, often, efforts to keep them out of the public eye .

Creative Use of Weapons: Ukraine’s use of a Patriot missile to take down a plane in January is an example of how novel battlefield tactics can be fraught with peril as well as promise .

Broadcasting Rage: Residents of the battered Ukrainian city of Kharkiv turn to a station called Radio Boiling Over to vent their anger at Russian attacks .

Reined In: Ukraine’s oligarchs have lost billions from the shelling of their factories. Now the government hopes to break their political influence .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

Watch CBS News

When will the Fed cut interest rates in 2024? Here's what experts now say and the impact on your money.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

February 14, 2024 / 12:03 PM EST / CBS News

A top question on the minds of investors and consumers alike is when might the Federal Reserve make its first interest rate cut after two years of rapid hikes, which have sent mortgage and credit card rates soaring. But after Tuesday's hotter-than-forecast inflation report , economists have a partial answer: Expect to wait longer.

Even before Tuesday's inflation data, the Federal Reserve had signaled that it would take a cautious approach. Fed chair Jerome Powell told CBS News' "60 Minutes" earlier this month that the central bank wants to have more confidence that inflation is receding "before we take that very important step of beginning to cut interest rates."

The Federal Reserve began hiking rates in March 2022 to battle red-hot inflation, relying on an effective tool to depress consumer spending and tamp down price increases. The central bank's 11 rate hikes since then have helped bring down the annual inflation rate to 3.1% in January from a high of 9.1% in June 2022, but January's number was higher than economists had projected — and remains above the Fed's goal of driving inflation down to 2%. 

The Fed is "being very cautious when it comes to its decision making regarding rate cuts," noted Jacob Channel, an economist at LendingTree, in an email. "The reason for this is because they don't want to start cutting prematurely and end up making inflation worse."

January's hot inflation data illustrates the difficulty for the Fed in timing its first cut, he added. "For this reason, if you're convinced that deep cuts are just over the horizon, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment," Channel added. 

When will the first cut happen?

Economists have revised their forecasts following Tuesday's sticky inflation report, with many of them now projecting the Fed's first cut will come later in 2024 than they had earlier forecast. In other words, don't hold your breath for a cut at either of its next two meetings, in March and May.

Earlier in the year, most economists pegged the first rate cut of 2024 for the Fed's March 20 meeting. But as of Wednesday, only 1 in 10 continued to forecast a March rate cut. 

"The initial market reaction sent expectations for a March rate cut to a below 10% probability — quite a shift after starting the year at 80%," PNC Bank said in a Tuesday investment note. 

Likewise, fewer economists are now predicting that the Fed will cut rates at its May 1 meeting. Currently, about one-third are still penciling in a May rate reduction, down from 90% earlier this year. 

Instead, you'll most likely need to wait until the Fed's June 12 meeting to see the first rate cut, according to economists polled by FactSet.

"In our view, expectations for rate cuts are, and have been, too aggressive. Our base case does not anticipate rate cuts until closer to mid-year," PNC noted.

What does this mean for your money?

With economists pushing back their rate-cut forecasts to mid-2024, the initial impact was on the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 525 points , or 1.4%, on Tuesday. 

Investors had been pushing stocks higher on expectations that the Fed would soon cut rates, which could lower costs for businesses and spur consumers to spend more — potentially juicing corporate profits. 

See Managing Your Money for more information on mortgage rates

  • What the latest inflation numbers mean for mortgage rates
  • Is a 1% drop in mortgage rates worth refinancing? Experts weigh in
  • Why some experts say you shouldn't wait for mortgage rates to fall

For now, borrowers aren't likely to get a break on loan terms anytime soon. Auto loans, credit card rates and other credit products that are based on the Fed's benchmark rate will likely remain at or near their current levels until the first rate cut.

Mortgages are slightly different because they are influenced by the 10-year Treasury yield and economic indicators including inflation. 

"When inflation growth is worse than expected, mortgage rates often rise," Channel said. "With that in mind, we may see somewhat higher mortgage rates over the coming weeks."

After a bounce, however, mortgage rates "will most likely settle toward 6% by the year end," predicted NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in an email.

  • Mortgage Rates
  • Interest Rates
  • Federal Reserve

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

More from CBS News

What homebuyers should do if mortgage rates don't fall

What will the 2024 spring homebuying season look like?

Is a mortgage rate half a percentage point lower worth it?

4 expert tips for choosing the right CD in today's rate environment

Politics latest: Motion of no confidence in Speaker after Gaza debate descends into chaos

The House of Commons descended into chaos over the Speaker's handling of the SNP's motion for a ceasefire in Gaza. His decision to allow a vote on a Labour amendment saw Tory and SNP MPs storm out - and the amendment go through without any votes. He now faces a no confidence motion.

Wednesday 21 February 2024 22:42, UK

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

  • Speaker apologises for handling of Gaza votes
  • Tories and SNP walk out amid anger and chaos
  • More than 30 MPs sign motion of no confidence
  • Labour's ceasefire amendment passes without vote
  • Explained: What on Earth went on in the Commons
  • Explained: Why Speaker's move sparked such anger
  • Explained: How MPs can force Speaker out of office
  • Sam Coates: Speaker has 24 hours to save his political life
  • Live reporting by  Ben Bloch   and (earlier)  Tim Baker ,  Emily Mee   and  Bhvishya Patel

We heard a short while ago from our political editor Beth Rigby , who said: "In all my years of reporting here, I have never seen anything quite like it."

She said the mood in parliament was "sulphurous".

Labour was meant to be under pressure today - but it turned out that Labour became "the first party to pass through the Commons a call for an immediate ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas war.

So, it was a win in some ways for Labour - but, she said, "there's a lot of people in parliament losing", not least the Speaker who is fighting for his political life.

And Beth warned that this sort of political game-playing will continue as the general election approaches.

Watch her full analysis here:

Few days in Westminster are quite so dramatic.

It started with the prospect of Labour being embarrassed by the SNP over its Gaza and green energy stances, and it ended with the Speaker fighting for his job.

Our political editor Beth Rigby  explains how the day unfolded:

A short while ago, we heard from our chief political correspondent Jon Craig  about the events that unfolded in the House of Commons this afternoon.

He said: "Let's not let the SNP get away with this holier than thou stance."

He explained that the SNP put down two amendments today - one on a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, and the other on committing to spending £28bn a year on the green transition - a policy Labour ditched earlier this month .

"Both designed to embarrass the Labour Party," he said, because the two parties are "locked in a battle in Scotland at the next general election".

So he says that one can argue the ceasefire motion was sincere, but the primary aim today was to embarrass Labour.

"And as Stephen Flynn admits, they have now been stitched up by Labour."

Watch Jon's full analysis below:

Away from the chaos in the Commons chamber, Rishi Sunak held his first in-person meeting with the King since his cancer diagnosis.

The King said he has been "reduced to tears" by the "many wonderful messages and cards".

The PM said it was "very nice to see you", prompting the King to joke: "A bit of a gap... I'm afraid."

"I hear there has been a lot more potential attention on those main, wonderful cancer charities, many of which I have been a patron of for years," he added.

Mr Sunak replied: "They do a lot of wonderful work."

Of course, the cameras were booted out for the official business as the contents of meetings between the prime minister and the monarch are confidential.

Read more about the meeting here , and watch their exchange below:

A little earlier, we heard from former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who described events in parliament tonight as "chaos".

"The rumours around Labour threatening the Speaker [to force a vote on its amendment], if they're in any way accurate, have really damaged the Labour Party."

On Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the veteran Labour MP, and his friend, said confidence in him as Speaker has been "significantly undermined".

Asked if Sir Lindsay will be able to continue in post, Mr McDonnell said: "Can't tell at this stage. All I know is there's a depth of anger here that I've not seen for quite a while, and it would take an awful lot of reassurance to people to re-establish the status of the Speaker."

He added: "I just wish he hadn't made this decision. Sometimes you have to abide by the rules."

He also said the Speaker should have "stood firm" in the face of alleged pressure from the Labour Party.

Mr McDonnell said he does not know if he believes the Labour leadership's denials about pressuring the Speaker.

"Maybe everyone should come clean about what meetings did take place, who was present, and maybe publish some record of those meetings as well," he said.

He also said he is "ashamed" of how events unfolded today.

Watch the full interview here:

Charities have hit out at MPs after a debate on a Gaza ceasefire motion descended into chaos.

Halima Begum, CEO of ActionAid UK, said the charity is "extremely disappointed to see the utter paralysis in parliament this evening".

She said: "Democracy is a precious commodity and should be treated as such.

"A great disservice has been done to the British people, who expected their political parties and elected representatives to conduct a meaningful debate concerning an issue on which depends the lives of over a hundred Israeli hostages, and hundreds of thousands of Gazans suffering one of the most acute humanitarian crises we have seen in recent times."

She called on MPs to "act with their conscience for the sake of humanity, and to somehow find a way to move forward on the desperate need for a ceasefire".

Helen McEachern, CEO of CARE International UK, echoed those sentiments, saying is "dismayed by the political theatrics we are witnessing in the House of Commons".

"Arguments over parliamentary procedure do nothing to assist the people of Gaza," she said, and they will suffer without a ceasefire.

"As our staff and partners in Gaza have told me during a visit to the West Bank this week, with each passing day, death, disease, and hunger increase."

She called on Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron to do "everything in his power to help stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are watching".

"The fighting must stop. The flow of aid must increase. All hostages must be released and all parties to the conflict must abide by international humanitarian law."

In the wake of the chaos in the House of Commons tonight, Sir Keir Starmer has issued a statement accusing the Tories and SNP of "choosing political games over serious solutions".

The Labour leader said: "Today was a chance for parliament to unite and speak with one voice on the horrendous situation in Gaza and Israel.

"It was in that spirit that Labour put forward an amendment calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire."

He said the "serious plan" called for both sides to observe the ceasefire, demand hostages are returned, that aid gets into Gaza, Israel is protected from future attacks, and a roadmap for a two-state solution.

But he went on: "Unfortunately, the Conservatives and the SNP decided to walk out hand-in-hand, refusing to vote on this serious matter, yet again choosing political games over serious solutions.

"It is clear the only party with a plan for the challenges facing Britain – whether here or abroad – is Labour."

We just reported that 33 MPs have wasted little time in signing a no confidence motion in Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle (see 20.04 post).

Here's the full list of Conservatives:

  • William Wragg
  • Gary Sambrook
  • Jill Mortimer
  • John Stevenson
  • Kieran Mullan
  • Anthony Mangall
  • James Duddridge
  • Chris Green
  • Bob Blackman
  • Tom Randall
  • Jonathan Lord
  • Karl McCartney
  • Derek Thomas
  • Jack Brereton
  • James Grundy
  • Brendan Clarke-Smith
  • Lee Anderson
  • Graham Brady
  • Eddie Hughes
  • Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

And from the SNP:

  • David Linden
  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald
  • John McNally
  • Gavin Newlands
  • Pete Wishart
  • Patricia Gibson
  • Joanna Cherry
  • Alison Thewliss
  • Anum Qaisar

What might come of such a motion? Read our previous post to find out how the process of removing a Speaker can play out.

On a chaotic night, the Speaker of the House of Commons appears to be fighting for his future in the role.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates says he probably has as little as 24 hours to save his political life (see 19.35 post).

But how would he end up leaving the role?

According to the Institute for Government, there's no formal means of removing the House Speaker from office.

However, they can fall victim to a vote of no confidence - making it extremely difficult, and likely untenable, for them to stick around.

One famous example was during the expenses scandal in 2009, when speaker Michael Martin resigned in anticipation of losing such a vote.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle is falling victim to one such motion - and 33 MPs have signed it so far (see 20.04 post).

That's more than the 23 who signed the one about Mr Martin.

Given his apology to MPs tonight, he clearly recognises the strength of feeling and sheer anger at his handling of the Gaza votes - but will he accept it to the point of quitting?

How is a replacement chosen?

Were he to resign, it would kick off a vote to select his successor.

Candidates are put forward via written nominations, and if one secures more than 50% of the vote among MPs then a motion is put to the Commons asking to confirm their appointment.

If it doesn't pass, selection and voting starts again.

If nobody secures 50% in the first place, the candidate with the lowest vote share gets removed from the ballot and the vote is repeated until someone does hit the threshold and a winner emerges.

Amid fury at Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at his handling of the Gaza ceasefire vote, 33 Tory and SNP MPs have tabled a motion of no confidence in his speakership.

It is an Early Day Motion, which allows MPs to express a certain position on any topic.

The motion reads: "That this House has no confidence in Mr Speaker."

It was proposed by Tory MP William Wragg, and he was joined by six of his colleagues in sponsoring the motion.

Sir Graham Brady, the senior Tory MP in charge of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee, is among the signatories.

Other signatories on the Tory benches include Lee Anderson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, and Sir James Duddridge.

On the SNP benches, the party's Home Affairs spokesperson Alison Thewliss has signed, senior MP Joanna Cherry, and Social Justice spokesperson David Linden.

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what goes into a 12 month business plan

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    Describe Your Services or Products. The business plan should have a section that explains the services or products that you're offering. This is the part where you can also describe how they fit ...

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    Include your mission statement, your product or service, and basic information about your company's leadership team, employees, and location. You should also include financial information and high-level growth plans if you plan to ask for financing.

  3. Ready to Launch a Business? Here's Your 12-Month Plan ...

    Here's Your 12-Month Plan to Making it a Success by Susan Guillory January 29, 2020 Is this the year you make your entrepreneurial dreams come true? Congratulations! But… you'll need a plan. Consider this your month-by-month guide to ensuring that the business you launch thrives.

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    7. Perform a business financial analysis 8. Make financial projections 9. Add additional information to an appendix Business plan tips and resources MORE LIKE THIS Small Business A business...

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    Step One - Pick Your Theme for the Year (Word/Idea for the year) Choose a theme that will help inspire action all year long. To narrow one down, think about how you want to feel throughout the year. For example, this year my theme will be "inspired action." Step Two - Brainstorm How to Get There

  7. How to Write a Simple Business Plan

    A business plan is a document that communicates a company's goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

  8. The Ultimate Guide For Your First 12 Months of Business

    The Ultimate Guide For Your First 12 Months of Business By Grant Olsen Feb 26, 2020 • 10+ min read Here's a little experiment to try the next time you're in a group setting. It won't matter if it's a family gathering or a bowling night with friends, the results will likely be similar. Simply ask each person if they have a business idea.

  9. Your 12 Month Business Plan

    A 12-month business plan is one of the key essentials to have and to refer to regularly. It's an accountability tool that will keep you on track for the year ahead. You'll use it to measure...

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    12-month business planning in 5 steps Planning ahead for 12 months from now can be a difficult task to start in the COVID-19 environment. Follow this five-step methodology to get ahead of business planning and feel more in control, despite the current uncertainty. Denver Lewis May 12, 2020 4 Min Read

  11. A Business Owner's Guide to Building a 12-Month Action Plan

    13:30—The first step in building a 12-month action plan is creating a SLAP™ statement based on what your business does; who your services or products are for; and how big you want your operational scale to be.

  12. How to Create a 12-Month Marketing Plan: Step-by-Step Guide

    Successful advisors follow a daily routine and have a plan in place for marketing, business management, and client interactions. To create the 12-month plan, break it down into smaller chunks: quarters, months, weeks, and daily tasks. Reflect on what worked and didn't work the previous year to learn from mistakes and repeat successes.

  13. Business Plan Financial Templates

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    Step 5: Start sales forecasting. Sales forecasting is an in-depth report that predicts what a salesperson, team, or company will sell weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. While it is finicky, it can help your company make better decisions when hiring, budgeting, prospecting, and setting goals.

  16. Quick Guide: How to Write a Strategic Plan

    In this article, you'll learn the basics of writing a strategic plan, what to include, common challenges, and more. Included on this page, you'll find details on what to include in a strategic plan, the importance of an executive summary, how to write a mission statement, how to write a vision statement, and more.

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    A 12 month marketing plan is really a marketing strategy with a schedule of marketing activities to provide you with a high level view of where you'd like to be and how you're going to get there. It's the opportunity to take a holistic look at your marketing for the coming year and understand where you want it to lead you.

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    — Break down each goal into smaller tasks that can be accomplished within the three-month period. 6. Assign Deadlines and Milestones: — Assign deadlines or milestones to each step or task to ...

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  20. How Does a Working Capital Loan Fit Into Your 12-Month Business Plan

    It's important to monitor and update your business plan — it's not a set-it-and-forget-it document. After all, the needs and goals of a company can change dramatically. You want to make sure that your visionary plan keeps up. If you've never created a full-fledged plan before, now's a terrific time to build it from the ground up.

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    1. Your Goals Your goals are key to your marketing plan. Ask yourself what goals you'd like to achieve for the year. Be sure to include financial goals as well as goals like the number of new leads, social followers etc. Some key questions to ask yourself when goal planning are: How much money do you want to make?

  22. 4 Simple Steps To Develop A 12 Month Plan

    A good 12 month plan will: Set out a clear goal that's achievable within the time frame. Identify the resources (time, money and people) required to achieve it. Address any risks or barriers that might get in the way of achieving it by outlining how they might be overcome. Include the tasks that need to be done, with a clear timetable for ...

  23. Your 12 Month Business Plan

    grow A 12-month business plan is one of the key essentials to have and to refer to regularly. It's an accountability tool that will keep you on track for the year ahead. You'll use it to measure your performance against it and see how well you're doing. How do you create a 12-month business plan?

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