Strategic Planning: Writing Your Brand Vision and Taking Action

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Strategic Planning: Writing Your Brand Vision and Taking Action

November 21, 2022

For any brand to succeed in the long range, you need a plan. Success is not sporadic and it’s not unplanned. Success is strategic. So the vision must come out of your head and put on paper.

When you do this, it shows that you care about the vision and that you’re dedicated to making that vision come to pass. There are various definitions of strategic planning. But rather than give a fluffy definition, I chose to break it down in a simple, practical way of what you can do to strategically plan for your brand.

PREPARE

Make space for effective planning. You can do this through prayer, quiet time, reviewing your brand framework, brainstorming, and outlining a strategy. Think about what you need to to do run your brand on autopilot. The last thing you need is to have a work life balance.

PLAN

Once you get a strategy, it’s time to create a plan for each area of your brand. Start with your big goals. Where do you want to be in 1, 5, 10 years? Remember you are creating legacy so you need to think that far out.

Now that you have your Big Goals, create your yearly plan from there. Think of these as the baby steps you will do this year to help you get closer to the Big Goals you have planned.

EXECUTE

Finally, create an action plan using KPIs to track your progress. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. This simply means the key measurable actions you are going to take to achieve your goal. Goals without action are just that—goals. You want to bring your brand to life. Therefore, you have to take action. Here, you outline specifically what you are going to do each quarter to accomplish your goals

Assess and grow. You want to scale your brand. Be sure to assess your KPIs every quarter to see if you accomplished your goals. If you did, great. Now push to do better than last year. Don’t remain stagnant and complacent. If your goals didn’t turn out as planned, see what areas you need to improve and make it happen.

MAKE IT HAPPEN EVERYDAY

Consistency is key. It’s time to keep yourself accountable and do what you said you were going to do.. Here are some key things you can do daily to help you in this area:

Based on your goals, chronicle what you’re hoping to achieve for each quarter,
Steward that strategy properly by writing it down.
Write your action steps in your planner or your calendar. Always have it in front of you daily, making sure that you’re achieving what you need to achieve.
Make sure you journal. Keep your ideas organized so you can look at your progress.
Celebrate your wins, whether big or small.
Always assess your growth periodically whether monthly, quarterly, or yearly so you can scale. If you did great, push to do better than the last quarter or year or month, but whatever you do, don’t remain stagnant and complacent. If your goals didn’t turn out as planned, see what areas you need to improve on and then make it happen.

Building a brand can be cumbersome at times, but rewarding. So don’t forget to encourage yourself along the journey. If you can’t find anyone to clap for you, stand in the mirror and clap for yourself. Keep yourself accountable to reach those goals. Don’t wait for anyone to tell you what to do. Just do it.