In the strategy step, we do analysis and set direction.  The analysis looks at the market and customers, the competitors, and the company itself.  The direction setting encompasses product definition, a position statement, and branding.

 

Marketing is about people so first you start with the customers and markets:

Market and Customers

· Who are the customers? Each town and area within a town is different. So what is the area from which your customers come like?

· What are their needs?

· How can you group them according to their needs (rank these “segments” from largest to smallest)? Families have different needs than senior citizens or professionals. And probably each group of customers has a different "profit margin" - so which group do you target? This isn't to mean that you won't serve ALL customers - but which ones would you like to attract with your marketing efforts?

· What are their influencers and motivators? If you are picking a brand, you have to know how to make this visible to your customers. To do that, you need to know what influences them - images, words, phrases.

· To which media do they subscribe? And more importantly, which media do they gain information that influences their "buying" decision for your products and services? Newspapers? Radio? TV? eZines? Word of mouth? Each one will take different marketing activities and you need to pick the most effective activities for your marketing money.

· What messages and forms of messages are they prone to be drawn to?

· Which customers for each segments do you go after first and why? Expand share at existing customers? New customers?

 

Competition

· Who are the competitors?

· What are they strengths and weaknesses?

· How well do they satisfy the customers’ needs (by segment)?

· How do they market themselves? Branding?  Position Porter’s Five Forces Analysis)?

·  

 

Your Company

· What are the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)?

· What are the core competencies of the company? i.e. What can the firm do best?

· How can the company use its core competencies to:

à take advantage of its strengths to exploit the competitions’ weaknesses

à make its weaknesses into strengths

à take advantage of opportunities

à avoid threats

· How can the firm leverage theses core competencies to satisfy the needs of the customers?

 

SWOT Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces

Next:  Direction Setting