#Marketing - Marketing Analysis Reveals the Present.

If we compare marketing to a journey, we are currently just at the starting line. However, taking the first step blindly is not easy. This is because we don't know where we are.

So, how can we figure out where we are?

This is where the term 'analysis' comes into play. We conduct analysis to understand our current reality (location). What if we don't know where we are located and proceed with marketing without analysis? Marketing without a clear understanding of the situation increases the probability of failure rather than success. Therefore, analysis must be a mandatory step.

So, how do we analyze for marketing?

First, we start with a basic 3C analysis.

Here, 3C refers to Company, Competitor, and Customer. This means that we prioritize the analysis of these three elements. By understanding our current position, we can gauge the distance between the starting line and the goal, preventing us from getting lost along the way. It also allows us to discover new opportunities.

Company

In the 'Mo Gong' chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War, there is a saying: 'Know yourself and know your enemy; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.' This phrase, emphasizing the importance of understanding both oneself and the opponent, is a recurring theme in countless marketing books. Similarly, we must have a precise understanding of our own company to navigate the battlefield of the market.

While most agree that we need to know our company, they often neglect to perform the necessary analysis. This is understandable, as the information is readily available and can be accessed at any time. However, the crucial aspect is not simply collecting information, but rather cultivating an objective perspective of our own company. Furthermore, company analysis can be frequently used in company profiles, proposals, etc. Therefore, it's important to collect information periodically and keep backups.

So, what kind of information is needed for our company?

Company Goals or Vision: This is crucial for guiding our marketing efforts and establishing direction.

KPI (Key Performance Indicator): It refers to key performance indicators that measure the degree of task completion for achieving goals. (Mostly numerical data).

3M (Men, Material, Money): This refers to the essentials for management: manpower, resources, and capital. Regarding manpower, understanding the number of personnel in each department and core competencies is extremely important. And the importance of resources and capital goes without saying.

※SWOT analysis is also important, but we will cover it separately in a future post.

Competitor

Understanding competitors is a crucial factor in market analysis. In particular, the number of competitors (including potential competitors) helps determine the 'barriers to entry,' indicating whether entering the market is easy or difficult. It also allows us to implement differentiation strategies to aid customers in making rational purchase decisions. Furthermore, for beginners such as startups, it can provide opportunities for benchmarking, making it a vital area to investigate.

Competitive Intensity: Checks whether the number of competitors is high or low compared to the market.

Price Range: Price is the most frequently monitored aspect. Promotions, prices, etc., change frequently in highly competitive markets, making constant monitoring crucial.

Competitor List: It's very convenient to create a list of competitors, including potential competitors, along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Customer

As we've seen in the sales formula, without customers, there can be no sales. It's an incredibly important area of analysis, so important that I often say that my salary comes from customers.

Through numerous consulting experiences, I've realized that when asked, "Who are your customers?" most people provide vague responses based on imagined customers. However, we should not do that. If we accurately identify our customers, all we need to do is find where they are. Instead of shouting 'Buy me!' in a wasteland, it's more efficient to show our products where potential customers gather. And it would be even more efficient to present our products only where customers who need them are located.

To understand customers, we must first understand the market. We need to analyze market size, market structure, growth potential, and then further investigate customer characteristics, needs, and purchasing processes.

• Demographics: Segmenting customers into groups based on characteristics like region, gender, age, occupation, etc. and classifying them into groups with similar characteristics.
• Customer Journey Map: This process involves categorizing the elements of the path that a customer takes to purchase a product.
• Market Size, Structure, and Potential: This involves assessing the size and structure of similar business sectors and evaluating potential.

Analysis is the foundation of marketing. To achieve this, we should develop the habit of regularly reading market information through various newsletters and reports and documenting it numerically. This will lay a solid foundation for our future marketing efforts, allowing us to develop a robust marketing strategy that minimizes failure.

In reality, we need to delve deeper into the analysis than what we've briefly outlined here. In the next post, we'll examine company, competitor, and customer aspects in more detail and explore how to gather and record data in the digital environment.