Every successful marketing story can potentially become the platform for a new “marketing guru”, but is this really what you should be looking for when you are in desperate need of a marketing makeover in your businesses? Should you copy what others do or follow their steps as a recipe for success?
At Twelve12, we are firm believers that every case is unique and should have its own formula – which is what any top marketing company would say to their customers.
Does this mean that you shouldn’t look at your competitors? Not at all! You need to understand where a “marketing guru” come from, and then decide whether to follow their lead or not. Your business is not alone, and many other companies probably do exactly the same as you do; sometimes with better products, a higher budget, and more knowledge. This shouldn’t discourage you! What you need to learn is how to navigate the market and keep in mind that there’s always room for improvement.
One of the most important things to understand about how to succeed is to know that two forces are acting upon your business: internal forces and external forces. This was cleverly presented around the late 60s and early 70s as the SWOT analysis, which is a framework that assesses the internal and the external factors of a company regarding its competitiveness.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This might seem very basic, however, and an exhaustive analysis of these factors is a great source of knowledge for a company. This is a tool that should be used even in your personal life, as it gives you a true vision of where you are, where you want to be, how you can get there, and the obstacles that might stand between you and achieving your goals.
It is not as simple as it seems. Take the strengths for example. The strengths of a company might be a lot of things: the supply deals, the highly trained personnel at a factory, the easy access to a product, the delivery system, customer service, location, prices, the value of the brand, etcetera. I could cite at least a hundred things that come to my mind, but I’m sure you get the point. The important part of this analysis is not “citing” any of the aspects of this framework; the real deal will be exploring each of them and finding out why is part of any of the four categories.
When you really get all the forces working for or against your company, you won’t need a guru to tell you to do this or that, as you will be able to understand how to move forward and become better – and more successful.
If you want to know more about how a top marketing company can use this tool for your business, give us a call today. At Twelve12 we’ll be happy to help you.