Do you want to become a more effective marketer within your business or develop more competitive strategies for bringing your product or service to consumers? Maybe you’re launching a new product or feeling like your competitors are always a step ahead. Well, the solution isn’t out of reach; in fact, it starts with a simple skill called analysis.
Analysis is defined as ‘a detailed examination of the elements or structure of something’.
Put into a marketing context, it is the detailed examination of the market you wish to enter. This includes exploring competition, supply chain, consumer demand and patterns, as well as external, legal or government factors that may impact your business and bringing this product to market. If an analysis is not conducted, then you are launching your product blindly into a potentially dead or overly competitive market.
So how do you do a market analysis? Here are 3 models to consider before launching your product or service.
- PESTEL Model
The first is called a PESTEL analysis, PESTEL is an acronym that breaks down six key areas businesses should scan for challenges or impacts upon their products or operations.
These key areas are political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. These six key areas are umbrellas that cover almost all of the potential impacting factors of the context surrounding you that could affect the launching of your product or services into the market at a macro level.
- Porter’s 5 Forces Model
The second analysis is called Porter’s five forces. This model is a tool for analysing the market you are looking to enter into. The five forces are the level of competition, supplier power, consumer power, the threat of new entrants and the threat of substitutes.
This model helps you understand your product’s position in the market, whether you have a monopoly or are fighting for 1% of the market with 50 other companies. It also will help you form the base of your pricing strategy. In a market, your product is not just priced according to what you need to cover your margins, but your product needs to be priced to create a competitive advantage in the market.
- SWOT Model
The third analysis tool is used across a range of industries and purposes, and I am sure you are somewhat familiar with it. It’s called a SWOT analysis. Though often used in a different context, it is also effective as a marketing analysis tool.
Much like the PESTEL and Porter’s models, this analysis provides valuable insights you can use before launching your product or business. This analysis tool is beneficial for developing a competitive advantage. The main consideration with this tool is that anything that is a weakness or threat can be turned into a strength or opportunity to grow and improve your business. Instead of feeling concerned or threatened about those areas, look for ways to improve your processes to turn them into strengths. Coschedule has a really good example of this in use and summarises the use of this tool for marketing purposes like this:
Your goal for each step is to:
- Double-down on your strengths
- Turn your weaknesses into strengths
- Create a plan to act on opportunities
- Set up measures for mitigating threats
These 3 analysis models will help you gain a greater understanding of how your brand is positioned within the market, which will help you see existing opportunities and maximise your competitive advantages. Using this information, you will be able to out-strategise the market and leverage the power of your brand to grow your sales. Now get out there and analyse your market!