Marketing Strategy: Understanding Your Business

Name: Marketing Strategy: Understanding Your Business
Author: Marc Weniger

These lessons focus on how PESTEL and SWOT analysis tools can help you develop your marketing plan. You will discover the importance of having a comprehensive…

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Course: On-Demand

Let's discuss how PESTEL and SWOT analysis tools can aid in the development of your marketing plan. You'll also learn why you need to have a comprehensive understanding of the industry you operate in. The customers you want to attract. The products you want to offer. The markets you want to target. And the macro environmental factors that influence your company. In today's markets, organizations don't just compete against one another individually, but across their entire value chain. You need a firm grasp of the differences between your company and your competition when it comes to the sourcing of raw materials, unique upstream vendors such as suppliers and downstream vendors, such as wholesalers, retailers, and resellers. In comparing industries, you'll need to examine the similarities and differences of your value chain compared to your competition. For example, there are power tools sold at Lowe's that differ from those sold at Home Depot. Although Lowe's and Home Depot sells similar goods, they differentiate themselves through their value chain, by carrying certain goods that are exclusively sold at their stores. A market analysis is another major part of your business plan. When analyzing your market, you're not looking to market to everyone that purchases your product. You want to market to those that represent a large percentage of your sales, as well as markets that are the easiest and least expensive to reach. Although they may be profitable, not all markets are cost efficient to reach. Companies often focus on the marketing cost per sale. For example, Lowe's might decide to market their tools to contractors instead of homeowners, even though homeowners also purchase these tools, contractors are likely to purchase a higher quality and quantity of tools. So marketing efforts targeting contractors rather than individuals may yield a higher return. Understanding the macro environment your company operates in plays a crucial role in your market plan. The macro environment consists of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal forces. These factors can be both domestic and international, which can make them even more difficult to predict. A PESTEL analysis is a great tool for analyzing your macro environment. According to the Oxford College of Marketing, a PESTEL analysis consists of political factors, government rules, regulations, policies, and government stability, and how they impact the marketing effort. Economic factors, how local, state, national and international economic issues impact your business. This includes the cost of raw materials, labor, unemployment, insurance, and exchange rates. Social factors, how culture and society influence a customer's needs, wants, and desires. This includes many demographic factors, such as age, race, gender, income and education. Technological factors, innovation such as new tech products, manufacturing techniques, and sales mediums that affect your market and industry. Environmental factors, how new regulations or social consciousness plays a role in protecting the environment and the degree your products and services are influenced by these elements. And legal factors, new or existing laws and the consequences for your company. These can include regulations on raw materials, products, distribution and sales. Completing a PESTEL analysis can deliver valuable insights on the various factors that can affect your business and the environment in which it operates. The more you understand about these forces, the clearer your marketing plan will be.

Intermediate Provider : Marc Weniger 4 Lessons · 14m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

These lessons focus on how PESTEL and SWOT analysis tools can help you develop your marketing plan. You will discover the importance of having a comprehensive understanding of the industry you operate in and how to identify the right customers you want to attract. This will help you determine which products you want to offer. These lessons will also demonstrate which macro environmental factors can influence your organization.

What You'll Learn

Define your target market and identify the right customers to attract
Conduct a SWOT analysis to understand your organization's strengths and weaknesses
Analyze your industry, market, and macro environments
Analyze your market, products, and customers to determine which products to offer
Analyze your competitors using marketing strategy tools
Apply PESTEL analysis to identify macro environmental factors influencing your organization

Key Takeaways

PESTEL and SWOT analysis tools support the development of a marketing plan.
A comprehensive understanding of the industry you operate in helps you identify the right customers to attract.
Understanding your customers helps you determine which products you want to offer.
Macro environmental factors can influence your organization.
The course covers analyzing your competitors as part of building a marketing strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will this course teach me about marketing strategy?

It focuses on how PESTEL and SWOT analysis tools can help you develop your marketing plan, including understanding your industry, identifying the right customers, determining which products to offer, and recognizing the macro environmental factors that can influence your organization.

What topics are covered in the lessons?

The lessons cover analyzing industry, market, and macro environments; understanding your SWOT analysis; analyzing your market, products, and customers; and analyzing your competitors.

What skills will I gain from this course?

You will gain skills in PEST analysis and SWOT analysis.

What are the learning objectives of this course?

The learning objectives are to know how to define your target market and to learn how to analyze your competitors.