Professionals can create a business strategy memo to increase revenue or enhance operational efficiency. While writing this memo, business executives include information about a strategy’s steps, purpose and benefits. If you’re a business professional, learning the topics that you can include in a business strategy memo may be useful for you.
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In this article, we explain what a business strategy memo is and provide 7 topics that you can include in your memo.
What is a business strategy memo?
A business strategy memo is a written proposal for methods that a company can use to achieve its goals or resolve issues. Typically, these memos contain information about the strategy’s purpose and the steps that a company can take to use the strategy successfully. A business owner, general manager or department manager can prepare this memo during a strategy meeting.
After the meeting, employees and management can receive a copy of of the memo to review. Memos are brief documents that contain one to three paragraphs about an important business-related topic. For a business strategy memo, professionals generally include relevant information regarding a business issue, strategy and potential risks or outcomes. Businesses sometimes create memos using presentation slides to present the information easily after deciding on a new strategy.
Who reads a business strategy memo?
Various professionals in management and administrative roles may review a business strategy memo. Typically, employees involved in the implementation of a new strategy can read the memo to understand the strategy’s purpose and benefits. Some companies may publish their business strategy memo in a newsletter or on the company’s website for all employees to review, while other companies may only allow specific members of management and employees to review it.
Since professionals who have varying business backgrounds may review the memo, it’s important that the memo’s writer uses language that’s easy for individuals to understand. At the end of the memo, there is sometimes a distribution list. This list provides the names and contact information of the professionals that can receive a copy of the memo.
7 topics to cover when writing a business strategy memo
The specific information that you include in your memo may vary depending on your industry and the type of issue you’re resolving. For example, a technology development company may encounter different issues than a financial consulting company. Here are the general topics that you might cover when writing this type of memo:
1. An issue
The key purpose of a business strategy memo is to resolve an issue that is affecting the company’s sales or operations. The memo begins with a detailed description of an issue that the company wants to resolve. Typically, resolving this issue may help the business enhance its operational efficiency, increase employee morale or increase sales and consumer interaction. The issue may also relate to the company’s position in the market, such as a competitor increasing its market position. At the beginning of the meeting, the team can identify the cause of the issue.
2. An opportunity
Executives sometimes call a strategy meeting to discuss a new opportunity for their business. They may discuss the opportunity and identify any issues or benefits that may occur from the opportunity. For example, if a business owner finds a new supplier that produces high-quality products and costs less than their current supplier, they may create a business strategy memo to pursue the new supplier. The opportunity may also be in response to an issue, like if a company wants to move to a different location to reduce transportation-related issues.
3. Goals
The business strategy memo may also contain information about goals that the company wants to achieve. These goals often align with the memo’s key issue. For example, if a memo states that the company’s issues involve limited budgeting, the goals may include expanding the company’s budget to provide sufficient funding to all departments. Professionals may include details about a business goal and a timeline in which they want to achieve their objectives.
4. Information about the strategy
The next topic in the memo discusses information about the new strategy. A strategy is an action that the company can take to resolve an issue and achieve its objectives. Professionals can include the actions that they plan to take. This may include information about specific employees, departments and tasks that the strategy involves. It may also discuss the strategy’s implementation method, including how they may introduce it to employees and how they can track its success.
The memo also discusses the resources that employees may need, including labor and financial resources. Then, executives can create a timeline to complete the strategy. They may determine the severity of the issue when creating a timeline so that they can resolve the issue before encountering long-term challenges. For example, if a company wants to resolve a marketing issue, management may create an efficient strategy that they can use in a short period of time so that the issue doesn’t affect the brand’s awareness and sales.
5. Benefits
The memo contains information about the strategy’s short-term and long-term benefits. Generally, it discusses why the strategy can further the company’s vision, goals, mission and values. The company owner or manager can describe how it may affect the company’s financial growth or operational efficiency. Providing the strategy’s benefits allows team members to see the positive impact that it can have on the company, which may enable them to support the implementation process from start to finish.
6. The next steps in the implementation process
After determining an effective strategy, the memo contains details about the next steps of the implementation process. Since management often creates this memo quickly to implement a strategy, the memo may include additional research that the team can complete to better understand the issue, strategy or benefits. This section can also provide details about how to measure the strategy’s success. Management might use this section to assign duties to employees to implement the strategy into business operations. The memo might also describe future meetings to analyze the strategy’s benefits and areas of improvement.
7. Additional relevant details
To complete the memo, the writer can include any additional information that relates to the new strategy. This can help management and employees remember important details that may affect the strategy’s implementation process. For example, if a construction company changes its safety strategy, it may include federal safety regulations in the memo.
I hope you find this article helpful.
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