Back to Page 1: Implementing a Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans you Develop
Back to Page 2: Using a SWOT Analysis to Boost Your Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans
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Your Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans you are developing, relies on additional elements.
The Competitive Landscape – How This is Relevant to Your Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans You are Developing
What is the competitive situation of your industry:
- Have the number and types of competitors changed or are they likely to change in your industry?
- What are the approximate market shares of the different key players in the industry?
- Is it likely that any of these competitors will break out of the pack and become major players or fall out of the competitive pack?
- What other industries are you competing with, where the printing industry competed with photocopies, and bookstores compete with Amazon?
- Are there any anticipated changes or trends in your industry that could affect you? Which distribution channels are available and are there any changes expected that could affect you or competitors?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the major players in your industry? What are your strengths and weaknesses compared to them?
The Company
Your Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans you are developing needs to review your company’s situation in depth.
- What are your company’s primary strengths and weaknesses?
- How about your products and services?
- Do you have special skills or capabilities that could help you become more successful or weaknesses that could hurt?
Target Markets
Do you have a clear understanding of who your potential customers are?
- Their demographics?
- Their psychographics (psychological traits)?
- What do these people buy and why? What will they never buy and why?
- What are their media habits, meaning what media do they use? Television? radio? Facebook? Mobile devices? Newspaper? What else?
- What do these people really want that they cannot get elsewhere?
- What makes them feel frustrated or unsatisfied?
- What products and services do they love and why?
Opportunities and Issues
- What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that face you and your business?
- What are the greatest unfulfilled opportunities that are available to you?
- What might happen that could have a major negative effect to you and your business?
Information Sources Essential to Creating Your Situation Analysis for Marketing Plans You are Developing
The greatest sources for information on these areas include your own observation, online research, surveys and interviews and competitive benchmarking (analyzing your competitors strengths, weaknesses and other major traits).
If you have the financial capability, professional services are available to help you uncover information in each of the above areas.
The good news is, even without professional help, much of this type of research is now available through online and researched resources.
From:
- services such as SurveyMonkey which offers free online surveys to web-based information sources,
- your competitors own websites and press releases,
- search engine research including free services such as Google Alerts which provides you an ongoing list of articles pertinent to specific keywords you select, and even
- specialized research through your public, university and bank libraries,
…there is a myriad of valuable resources available absolutely free, that can provide you with enough data to help make strategically valuable decisions and uncover opportunities waiting to be exploited.
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Also See: Strategic Marketing Plans
Also See: Small Business Marketing Plans
