Despite the uncertainty of the last several years, 2022 is poised to be a promising year for many companies. If growth is a priority for your business over the next 12 months, it’s critical that you put some thought into how you’ll set and maintain that trajectory.
The solution? A business plan that focuses on strategic growth, which will act as your roadmap throughout the year.
Here are four key elements to incorporate in your strategic growth plan:
1. Strategy
2. Execution
3. Milestones and metrics
4. Essential business data
Start with strategy. It will outline your approach to growth for the year, clearly illustrating your priorities and the untapped opportunities you plan to explore. Your execution will detail how you’ll accomplish your strategy, with more actionable tactics of your strategic goals. Milestones and metrics will help you set targets to aim for throughout the year and compare your progress in real-time. Lastly, essential business data will provide a snapshot of the business’s success and highlight the facts and figures that are most relevant to your goals.
With those four essentials in mind, here are the six steps you’ll want to follow to create your own growth strategy for 2022 and beyond.
Step 1: Establish a value proposition.
Whether your business already has a clear value proposition or not, this is where you’ll want to start your strategic planning process. Your value proposition should directly sum up your company’s competitive advantage, indicating where you fit in the market among your competitors. If your value proposition doesn’t highlight how you’ll solve a clear problem for your audience, it’s time to revisit your approach before you double down on growth.
Step 2: Define your key performance indicators.
Next, take a look at your key performance indicators or KPIs. This step aims to pick a sampling of metrics and calculations that give you a snapshot of the organization’s success. As you progress throughout the year, you should be able to look at your KPIs for an instant understanding of whether you’re growing or not. Common examples include total revenue, month-over-month revenue growth, and customer lifetime value.
Step 3: Verify your revenue streams.
Once you have an idea of your KPIs, it’s time to dig into your revenue numbers. Your goal is to understand where your revenue is currently coming from, which will help you prioritize your resources next year. You may find that some avenues are underperforming and should be dropped in favor of more fruitful efforts, or you might find that a bit of attention may transform a mediocre revenue stream into an excellent revenue stream.
Step 4: Look at your competition.
Your next step is to research your competition to see where they seem to be succeeding (or failing). Note the marketing and sales channels they use, where they focus their messaging, and how they connect with their audience. In analyzing what similar organizations in your market are doing you will uncover opportunity gaps between what you do, how you do it, and who you serve. Again, you may see these takeaways as ideas for your team to try or as saturated efforts that your business should move away from. Either way, you’ll have the background knowledge to make an informed decision to carve out more growth for your business.
Step 5: Focus on your strengths.
As you plan for 2022, take a moment to look back at 2021. Where did you succeed? Which efforts turned out to be more profitable than expected? What decisions or priorities led to your biggest wins? These insights will be invaluable for 2022 as you commit to focusing on your strengths. While you can still try new efforts throughout the year, when growth is the goal, it’s important to follow the patterns that are already working in your favor.
Step 6: Invest in talent.
Lastly, invest in your team members and new hires. Organizational growth is often attributed to the employees who work hard behind the scenes. The beginning of the year is the perfect time to re-evaluate how you attract key players for your team and what incentives will keep the ones you already have. Learn more about how you can retain top talent here.
By following these six steps, you’ll be perfectly prepared to outline a clear strategy for the year ahead. We wish you the best of luck as you bring these goals to life over the next twelve months! Start 2022 off right by contacting our team of experts to assist with your HR, payroll, and employee benefit needs here.
