While you would think that strategic planning for startups seems obvious, it’s too often overlooked. Especially first-time entrepreneurs, they may have a great services or products, they don’t have a plan after that. Consequently, they never even make it to market or when they do, they’re crushed by the competition.
The Branding Team has developed strategies and tools just to help these startups. Our team repeatedly says, without a strategic plan you have no road-map for success. Now you can plan your success.
Designing and Implementing Branding Strategies to Help Your Small Business Compete
The two blog entries this week will be dealing with Strategic Planning and Marketing / Sales. Answer the questions below and then consider you own branding strategy.
A. Startup Vision, Mission, Goals & Objectives
B. Development & Structure
C. Market Analysis
D. Product & Service Offering
E. Competitive Environment
F. Strategic Planning
G. Marketing & Sales Planning
H. Organization Structure & Management
I. Operations Planning
J. Risk Analysis & Contingency Planning
K. Financial Plan
This blog will focus on one area — Strategic Planning
Following are a series of 5 questions that will help you in the strategic planning for your startup.
This list of questions should trigger discussion and more questions. The time you spend now could make the difference between success and failure.
Strategic Planning Questions for Startups:
- Identify your key competitive strengths.
- Identify your current weaknesses.
- What can you do to diminish your weaknesses?
- Where does your startup have an advantage over the competitors?
- Describe your action plan for implementing your strategy.
Brandings offers a wide range of services including company naming, premium domain names, and strategic planning for startups. Our available names for startups have been tested for availability, and we offer trademark screening. We’ll custom our services to meet all your specific startup needs.
If you have any questions about the whimsy or fun based brand names you see here, please let us know. You’ll find more of these Whimsical and Fun Brands here.
Thanks for reading and do have any strategic planning tips for startups? If you care to share, we’d love to hear, so, let us know, post your strategy tips below!
This looks like a lot like your Business Plan Worksheet. They’re both great info, just asking.
Thanks for your question. All business plans should ask similar questions, like what is your competitive advantage, what are your core strengths, what is your businesses weaknesses, what is your business funding look like, how long until your business is successful and so on.
All business plans should hit on the same fundamental aspects of your business and the future of your business and that’s probably why they look familiar. I really appreciate you pointing that out because you can have a look at our sample business plan and any other sample business plan you find on the web and see many of the same questions.
Thanks for your comment and just remember, a business without a Business Plan is like a ship on the ocean without a rudder!