Our guide to creating a SWOT matrix analysis to prioritize digital marketing strategy with the TOWS technique
A SWOT analysis is an essential part of any business or marketing plan. It allows you to create a plan of action based not on what you’re interested in doing or on your gut-feel, but what you need to do given the situation in the marketplace. It considers your capabilities for marketing against competitors plus looks at opportunities created as new technologies are introduced.
What is a SWOT?
As you’ll know it’s a planning tool summarising the internal Strengths and Weaknesses against external Opportunities and Threats. These external opportunities and threats are available to all competitors in the marketplace. Our technique recommends a 2 X 2 matrix for SWOT and TOWS analysis, you'll find examples below.
Why is SWOT analysis useful?
When creating a digital marketing plan, SWOT analysis is an essential step. I think it’s sometimes seen as…
How to use the power of the 70:20:10 rule as a marketing model to prioritize your digital marketing strategy
With new marketing tools and techniques available to us almost daily, it can be difficult to know where to prioritize your marketing activities to get the most 'bang for your buck'. This is where the 70:20:10 rule can really help, since it's a simple device which helps us think through how we prioritize the time and budget we put into different marketing activities.
As marketers, we need to be agile through reacting to new developments in order to gain an upper hand on competitors, but at the same time, we need to avoid being 'technology magpies' following seductive, shiny new tools that may distract us from working on optimizing the most effective channels. By splitting your spending or output into three differently sized areas, it helps you to identify priority areas, and allocate…
Set the right goals for digital marketing using the 5Ss
Do your set of goals for online marketing cover all the bases? A good set of digital marketing goals covers a range of different measures to help set, review, and control performance across all digital marketing activities. In this article, we cover the 5S framework which are a simple method to gain more focus on how digital marketing can support a business.
The 5Ss are a great simple framework, as the examples show. It's worth bearing in mind that goals are broader than objectives which we recommend as essential for setting targets and reviewing performance using digital marketing dashboards. If you need to use a more data-driven approach to digital marketing, see these primers or our free template for more examples:
Setting SMART objectives for…
What is the 7Ps Marketing Mix and how should it be used?
The marketing mix is a familiar marketing strategy tool, which as you will probably know, was traditionally limited to the core 4Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It is one of the top 3 classic marketing models according to a poll on Smart Insights.
It's an essential part of a marketing plan structure that defines the tactics to be used to implement the marketing strategy.
The traditional 7Ps of marketing consist of:
Product
Promotion
Price
Place
People
Process
Physical evidence
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Who created the 7Ps marketing mix model?
The 7Ps marketing model was originally devised by E.…
Learn how you can use the Product Life Cycle (PLC) marketing model to project changes in the perception and use of your products
The Product Life Cycle describes the stages of a product from launch to being discontinued. It is a strategy tool that helps companies plan for new product development and refine existing products.
What are the stages of the Product Life Cycle?
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline
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New Product Development
The new product development stage occurs before the product's life-cycle begins, consisting of market research leading up to product launch. Hence this stage can include:
Reviewing…
Examples of using the BCG Matrix (Growth Market Share Matrix) to review your product portfolio
What is the BCG Matrix?
The Boston Consulting group’s product portfolio matrix (BCG matrix) is designed to help with long-term strategic planning, to help a business consider growth opportunities by reviewing its portfolio of products to decide where to invest, to discontinue, or develop products. It's also known as the Growth/Share Matrix.
The Matrix is divided into 4 quadrants based on an analysis of market growth and relative market share, as shown in the diagram below.
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1. Dogs: These are products with low growth or market share
2. Question marks or Problem Child: Products in high growth markets with low market share
3. Stars: Products in high-growth markets with high market share
4. Cash cows: Products in low growth markets with high market share
Strategic marketing models for…
Examples of how SMEs can use Porter’s 5 Forces to assess marketplace viability
Right now, Porter's 5 Forces is the most useful tool for owners and managers to stay one step ahead of the competition in a challenging market. The Porter's 5 Forces model has always been popular with SMEs in particular, looking to invest for growth and manage risk to their limited resources.
Earmarked as the best marketing model to help small businesses analyze the competition in the marketplace, balancing these 5 forces is a must for your 2022 marketing action plan.
What are Porter’s 5 Forces?
Porter’s 5 Forces is an analytical model that helps marketers and business managers look at the ‘balance of power’ in a market between different organizations on a global level, and to analyze the attractiveness and potential profitability of an industry sector.
Competitive rivalry
Threat of substitute products
Bargaining power of buyers
Threat…
The Ansoff Model is a matrix that helps marketing leaders identify business growth opportunities for their marketing strategies in a challenging market
What is the Ansoff Model?
Also referred to as the Ansoff matrix, due to its grid format, the Ansoff Model helps marketers identify opportunities to grow revenue for a business through developing new products and services or "tapping into" new markets. So it's sometimes known as the ‘Product-Market Matrix’ instead of the ‘Ansoff Matrix’.
The Ansoff Model's focus on growth means that it's one of the most widely used marketing models. It is used to evaluate opportunities for companies to increase their sales through showing alternative combinations for new markets (i.e. customer segments and geographical locations) against products and services offering four strategies as shown.
How to use the Ansoff Matrix
Strategic questions that can be answered using the matrix include:
Market Penetration:…
How do you summarise a business model canvas or marketing plan for online startups using a single sheet of A4? Our top business model frameworks for you
Defining a clear online business model framework is essential for a new startup online business to help create a sustainable business and communicate the features of their new business to partners and within the company.
Reviewing business models is also important for existing businesses thinking about options to refine their business model or add new services to their offerings in the light of new opportunities made possible by the Internet.
As you know, I'm a big fan of simple frameworks to help communicate strategy. In particular, I love the Business Model Canvas which is a valuable framework for summarizing strategy for online businesses. It was published as part of a co-creation creative commons project involving 470 practitioners from 45 countries.
We feature it as part of our…
Do you know your 4Cs from your 4Cs? Read more about these two marketing models, plus find practical examples to apply to your marketing strategy
What is the 4Cs marketing model?
Two groups of marketers have created the 4Cs marketing model. This often leads to confusion about what’s being discussed and where!
Let’s clarify the two models:
The 4Cs to replace the 4Ps of the marketing mix: Consumer wants and needs; Cost to satisfy; Convenience to buy and Communication (Lauterborn, 1990).
The 4Cs for marketing communications: Clarity; Credibility; Consistency and Competitiveness (Jobber and Fahy, 2009).
Lauterborn’s 4Cs: Consumer wants and needs; Cost to satisfy; Convenience to buy and Communication
What is it?
In 1990 Bob Lauterborn wrote an article in Advertising Age saying how the 4Ps (he didn’t address the 7Ps) were dead and today’s marketer needed to address the real…
