Marketing Analysis Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide
Week 1: Situation Analysis
Before formulating marketing strategies, managers need a deep understanding of the internal and external marketing environments. This involves analyzing information through methods like Market Scanning, which explores past, present, and future trends.
The 5Cs Analysis
This framework examines five crucial dimensions of the marketing environment:
- Customer Analysis: Understanding customer needs and decision-making processes.
- Context Analysis: Assessing the impact of external factors like demographics, socio-cultural trends, and economic conditions.
- Company Analysis: Evaluating the business model and competitive strategies.
- Collaborators and Complementers Analysis: Identifying companies or individuals who support the firm’s marketing efforts.
- Competitor Analysis: Examining competitors’ business models, strategies, and advantages.
Porter’s 5 Forces
This model analyzes industry competitiveness based on five forces:
- Industry Competitors
- Potential Entrants
- Availability of Substitutes
- Buyer Power
- Supplier Power
SWOT Analysis
This framework provides a snapshot of the current situation by summarizing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Week 2: Marketing Arithmetic and Related Terms
This section covers key concepts like contribution, fixed costs, profit impact, market share analysis, margin, chain discount, and terms of sale.
Week 3: Break-Even Analysis
Break-even analysis helps determine the number of units needed to cover costs. It’s crucial for assessing the feasibility of marketing expenditures, price changes, and promotions.
Week 4: Customer Profitability and Lifetime Value
Understanding customer profitability and lifetime value helps firms identify valuable customers and optimize marketing efforts. Key metrics include response rate, retention rate, acquisition cost, return on investment (ROI), and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Week 5: Customer Management
Customer experience is crucial for building loyalty. Firms need to understand customer expectations, track experiences, and design meaningful touchpoints. Co-creation experiences, where customers participate in value creation, can enhance satisfaction and engagement.
Week 6: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
Market segmentation involves dividing the market into distinct groups. Targeting focuses on specific segments, while positioning aims to create a desired brand image in the target market’s mind. Perceptual mapping helps visualize brand positioning relative to competitors.
Week 7: Branding
Brands provide value by differentiating products, building trust, and creating emotional connections. Strategic brand management involves understanding brand image, managing brand meaning, and maintaining relevance. Brand personality and brand icons play a significant role in building sustainable brands.
Week 8: Branding Continued and Digital Marketing
Digital technology has transformed consumer behavior and the marketing landscape. The consumer decision journey has evolved from a funnel to a more complex process involving evaluation, advocacy, and bonding. On-demand marketing and crowdsourcing are key trends in the digital age.
Week 9: Marketing Communication and Integration
Marketing communication aims to influence consumers and achieve goals like awareness, information dissemination, attitude change, and call-to-action. Tools include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, digital marketing, and personal selling. Effective communication management involves considering mission, market, message, media, money, and measurement.
Week 10: Pricing
Pricing plays a crucial role in generating revenue and creating value. Different pricing methods include cost-based, demand-based, competition-based, and value-based pricing. Understanding price elasticity of demand and customer-based differentiated pricing is essential for effective pricing strategies.
Week 11: Retailing
Retail success involves managing inventory turnover, optimizing store space, and understanding direct profit. Omni-channel retailing provides a seamless shopping experience across various channels. Choosing the right product assortment and understanding consumer preferences are key aspects of successful retailing.