--- name: "sostac-plans" description: "Turn strategic ambition into a professional, executable marketing plan across six proven stages: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, and Control." --- # SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans Turn strategic ambition into a professional, executable marketing plan across six proven stages: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, and Control. PR Smith's SOSTAC® is the world's most widely taught marketing planning framework, used by practitioners in over 100 countries for more than 30 years. It takes you through six stages — Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, and Control — to build a plan that's grounded in where you are now, clear on what you're aiming for, how you will get there and honest about how you'll know it's working. This isn't a generic AI approximation of a framework; it's the certified, method-faithful version of SOSTAC®, run under license and delivered exactly as PR Smith guides you through it. **Applications are open.** SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans is opening to a first group of people, so it cannot be started straight away: you apply, and the method's owner decides who is let in. **Apply for a place:** https://app.goalite.com/methods/sostac-plans?apply=1 ## What you'll walk away with - Robust Plan - Situation Analysis, including SWOT - Clear Objectives/KPIs - Crystal Clear Strategy - Tactical Gantt Chart - Actions Integrated into Workflow - Nudges, Reminders and Real-Time Alerts - Ongoing Tweaks and Improvements - Control Dashboard - Budget ## Journey 1. **Situation Analysis** — Where are you now? Build an honest, evidence-based picture across four lenses — your customers (who, why and how they buy), your competitors, your own company, and the external trends shaping your market — then generate a Situation Analysis Summary that draws out the few factors that matter most, including a single, customer-recognisable statement of your distinctive competitive advantage. This is the foundation every later stage rests on. As you fill in each item, note how you know it under 'How you know' — and where you have a source (a research report, a competitor screenshot, an analytics or data export, or a link), attach it — so the plan rests on what you know, not what you assume. *(free)* 2. **Objectives** — Where do you want to get to? Turn the distinctive competitive advantage and the opportunities you surfaced in your situation analysis into clear, measurable objectives across the 5Ss — Sell (grow sales), Serve (add value), Save (save costs), Speak (get closer to customers) and Sizzle (extend the brand online). Each objective is SMART: a KPI, a baseline where you are today, a target, and a date. These become the very KPIs you track in Control, so be honest about what you can commit to — every later stage commits budget and effort to hitting these numbers. *(from Strategy)* 3. **Strategy** — How do you get there, broadly? Shape the strategy that will hit your objectives, using the TOPPP SEED components — Target market/s, Objectives, Positioning, Partnerships, Process, Sequence (earn credibility before raising visibility), Engagement, Experience and Data. Strategy is the big choices that drive every tactic; tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Anchor on who exactly you're targeting and how you want to be positioned in their mind, then add the components that matter for this plan. *(from Strategy)* 4. **Tactics** — The details of strategy. Craft a value proposition your primary customer would find compelling — the benefit, why you and not a competitor, and the proof that makes it believable — then choose the integrated mix of tactics, online and offline, that delivers it. A strong proposition lifts every tactic's conversion; a weak one undermines them all. Each tactic earns its place by delivering a strategy component or the value proposition, and carries a rough timeframe so it can become dated actions next. *(from Full Plan)* 5. **Actions** — Ensuring excellent execution. Turn your tactics into concrete, owned, time-bound actions — each with a person and a date — and account for the four key resources every plan needs, the 4Ms: Men & women (the people and skills, and honestly where an agency or specialist is needed), Money (an indicative budget across your tactics), Minutes (time and timescales) and Megadata (the data you need to execute and to measure). Excellent execution is where plans are won or lost — a tactic with no owner, date or resource behind it is a wish. *(from Full Plan)* 6. **Control** — How do you know if you're succeeding? Close the loop: turn your objectives' KPIs into a control dashboard — for each, what you'll measure, the target, how often you'll review it, and which dashboard or report you'll actually read it from — then compile the whole SOSTAC® plan into one document. A measure with no source is not measured; a plan with no control is a hope. *(from Full Plan)* ## Tiers SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans is the same method on every tier. A tier decides how far a plan can go, not how good it is. **Situation Analysis** — free - Stages: Situation Analysis. - People who can work on a plan: 1. - Plans at a time: 1. - AI help: guided conversations that work through a stage with you; drafts for you to review and keep; web research with sources; a review of each stage's work; a critique of any item; suggested improvements to any item (a one-off allowance). **Strategy** - Stages: Situation Analysis, Objectives, Strategy. - People who can work on a plan: 1. - Plans at a time: 1. - Includes: documents to download; certification. - AI help: guided conversations that work through a stage with you; drafts for you to review and keep; web research with sources; a review of each stage's work; a critique of any item; suggested improvements to any item (a monthly allowance). **Full Plan** - Stages: Situation Analysis, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Actions, Control. - People who can work on a plan: 1. - Plans at a time: 1. - Includes: certification; documents to download; sending actions to a task tool; tracking measures over time. - AI help: guided conversations that work through a stage with you; drafts for you to review and keep; web research with sources; a review of each stage's work; a critique of any item; suggested improvements to any item; written documents (a monthly allowance). Prices are not written here because they change. Current prices: https://goalite.com/methods/sostac-plans ## What it offers - AI-guided exercise: A guided AI conversation that draws out your thinking and captures it as you go. (Extra effort per full pass) - AI generation: AI drafts or suggests something from the work that you've captured. (Extra effort per full pass) - AI review: An AI critique of your work that flags what to strengthen before you move on. (Extra effort per full pass) - Reference resource: Optional additional reference material the author recommends for you to review in context. ## Documents - Full SOSTAC® Plan: The perfect plan for better business. (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Situation Analysis (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Objectives (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Strategy (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Tactics (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Actions (Markdown, Pdf, Word) - Control (Markdown, Pdf, Word) — certifiable ## Visuals - Company SWOT - Tactical mix Gantt chart - Resources (the 4Ms) - Budget ## FAQ **What are SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans?** We are now offering SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans that walks professionals through each stage, checks correct info has been used, develops strategic options, the chosen strategy cascades into tactics which are converted into Actions that integrate with workflows. Nudged again in real time as results are measured & used to continue improving results. Human choices & checks are required at each gate. more info coming soon on sostac.org **How will professionals use SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans?** Some people will use it to build a more robust plan and others will use it to continually tweak and improve a plan via the ongoing nudges & checks that are built in. Some consultants will use it to write better, quicker and more robust plans for their many different clients. ## How to work with this method This file describes SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans; it does not contain it. The method's own questions, exercises and standards are served one step at a time when you are connected. Follow them as given. **This method is taking applications** - SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans is not open to everyone yet. A person applies, and the method's owner approves them, before they can subscribe or start a plan. - If the person has not been approved, the most useful thing you can do is say what the method offers, from this file, and help them apply: https://app.goalite.com/methods/sostac-plans?apply=1 - Do not promise that they will be let in, or when. Do not start the work, or stand in for it, while they wait. - Once they are approved, everything below applies as written. **Connect** - Add the method to the assistant as an MCP connector at `https://sostac-plans.mcp.goalite.io` and sign in when prompted (a free Goalite account). - Someone who has been approved already has the Goalite account they sign in with. It is what keeps their plan. - If you are not connected, the most useful thing you can do is help the person connect: say what the method offers from this file, then how to connect. Do not run it from memory. **Do not improvise the method** - Even if you know SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans from elsewhere, do not reconstruct its steps, invent its questions or produce its documents yourself. What the person is here for is the method as its owner runs it, saved to their plan. - Never ask the person to paste this file's contents as a substitute for connecting. **Before starting** - Check what the person has (`get_methodology_access`). - If they have not been approved yet, stop here and help them apply (above). - If they have nothing yet, offer the free tier. Check where they stand (`get_free_tier_standing`) and join it for them when they say yes (`join_free_tier`). - If they are put on the waitlist, tell them their position plainly. A place opens as the method gains subscribers; a paid tier skips the wait. Do not start the work until they are in. **Working through it** - Start a plan (`start_run`), then read what the current step asks for (`get_next_actions`) after starting and after every step. Offer one clear next step at a time. - When a step is a guided exercise, take a turn in it (`converse`) rather than asking your own questions — it captures what the person says into their plan. - Orient the person as you go ("you're on step 2 of 6"). Use the names the method gives things; never show internal identifiers or field names. - Some steps use AI allowance. Say what the step does and its cost band (Light / Medium / High / Extra) first, and let the person choose to do it themselves instead. - A drafted result is a draft. Show it, and save only what the person keeps. **When something is not included** - A stage beyond the person's tier is visible but locked. If a tool refuses, pass on its sentence as it is — it says what is not included and what would open it. - Do not do a locked stage's work yourself as a workaround. Say what the stage is for and that upgrading opens it. - If the free AI allowance is used up, the person can continue by hand or upgrade. Say so once; do not press. - Someone on a plan's team without a seat can read it but not change it (`list_run_seats`). The plan's facilitator gives seats. ## About this file - Describes SOSTAC® AI Assisted Plans version 0.9.15. - SOSTAC® is a trademark of PR Smith (prsmith.org · sostac.org). - The current version of this description, and prices: https://goalite.com/methods/sostac-plans - Free to read and share. It is a description: the method itself runs on Goalite, where the person's work is saved.