［SKILL］MARKETIEG PRINCIPLE

Blog is my privacy library now.

These are some principles of marketing that I arrange from Internet and textbooks.

Strengths

• What advantages does your organization have?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can’t?
• What do people in your market see as your strengths?
• What factors mean that you “get the sale”?
• What is your organization’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your customers and people in your market.

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Weaknesses

• What could you improve?
• What should you avoid?
• What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
• What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external basis: Do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don’t see? Are your competitors doing any better than you?

It’s best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities

• What good opportunities can you spot?
• What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

• Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.
• Changes in government policy related to your field.
• Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.
• Local events.

Tip:

A useful approach when looking at opportunities is to look at your strengths and ask yourself whether these open up any opportunities. Alternatively, look at your weaknesses and ask yourself whether you could open up opportunities by eliminating them.

Threats

• What obstacles do you face?
• What are your competitors doing?
• Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?
• Is changing technology threatening your position?
• Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
• Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

Tip:

When looking at opportunities and threats, PEST Analysis can help to ensure that you don’t overlook external factors, such as new government regulations, or technological changes in your industry.

Further SWOT Tips

If you’re using SWOT as a serious tool (rather than as a casual “warm up” for strategy formulation), make sure you’re rigorous in the way you apply it:

• Only accept precise, verifiable statements (“Cost advantage of $10/ton in sourcing raw material x”, rather than “Good value for money”).
• Ruthlessly prune long lists of factors, and prioritize them, so that you spend your time thinking about the most significant factors.
• Make sure that options generated are carried through to later stages in the strategy formation process.
• Apply it at the right level – for example, you might need to apply the tool at a product or product-line level, rather than at the much vaguer whole company level.
• Use it in conjunction with other strategy tools (for example, USP Analysis and Core Competence Analysis) so that you get a comprehensive picture of the situation you’re dealing with.

(insert subject for PEST analysis – market, business, proposition, etc.)

political ecological/environmental issues current legislation home market future legislation international legislation regulatory bodies and processes government policies government term and change trading policies funding, grants and initiatives home market lobbying/pressure groups international pressure groups wars and conflicts	economic home economy situation home economy trends overseas economies and trends general taxation issues taxation specific to product/services seasonality/weather issues market and trade cycles specific industry factors market routes and distribution trends customer/end-user drivers interest and exchange rates international trade/monetary issues
social lifestyle trends demographics consumer attitudes and opinions media views law changes affecting social factors brand, company, technology image consumer buying patterns fashion and role models major events and influences buying access and trends ethnic/religious factors advertising and publicity ethical issues	technological competing technology development research funding associated/dependent technologies replacement technology/solutions maturity of technology manufacturing maturity and capacity information and communications consumer buying mechanisms/technology technology legislation innovation potential technology access, licencing, patents intellectual property issues global communications

* Impress – So much value is perceived in seconds as clients interact with your online or offline brand. Many will decide instantly that they are not impressed and leave. Make sure your prospects see value in the way your imagery and message are presented…it’s vital to the next step in a conversion process.

*Intrigue – Ok, you impressed them…you’ve gained a few more seconds of a prospects attention span. They are now much more likely to read or interact…time to set the hook…build value by using benefit-oriented professional web design and content that caters to your prospects goals. (Not your own, theirs!) I prefer a “transitional header”, a header which further describes and entices your audience to read on. Gadgets and interactive media work well also

* Inform – Ok, pretenders step aside…now it’s time to build real value…and this is done through compelling, informative content that assists in Web Development. This content must be designed in a scan-able manner, and fused with calls to action so that a prospect can easily interact when they reach the “I’m interested” phase.

* Interact – Use online forms, phone prompts, kits, webinars, landing pages, links, and anything that might encourage your customers to convert. Make sure this information is populated in your CRM or email database.