Course: Marketing Management (8511)

Semester: Autumn, 2022

ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q. 1 Describe the nature and contents of a marketing plan. Undertaking actions based on a marketing
plan can place a company better than its competitors. Preparing the plan requires a few sequential steps,
which should be followed for a better plan.
A marketing plan contains an executive summary, statement of the current marketing situation, analysis of the
opportunities and issues, objectives of the firm, marketing strategy to be pursued, action programs to be taken,
projected Profit-and-loss statement, and the control measures to be taken.
Marketing planning refers to developing marketing strategies that will help the company accomplish its over
strategic objectives. A detailed marketing plan is required for each business, product, or brand.One of the most
important marketing process outputs is the marketing plan, and each business unit must develop a marketing plan.
The development of such a plan is necessary for the achievement of goals.Marketing planning is selecting a
marketing strategy and the tactics to implement it to reach a defined set of goals. It focuses on the shorter term,
often one year.
In addition, it tends to detail line-by-line expense budgets and tactical approaches.
involves an assessment of where the company stands in the marketplace;
• is a determination of where the company wants to be in the future;
• the creation of marketing actions designed to achieve that future desired position; and
• a provision of determining how the effectiveness of those actions will be evaluated at the end of the
operating period
• The executive summary is the opening section of the marketing plan. It presents a summary of the main
goals and recommendations to be presented in the planTheexecutive summary helps top management to
locate the plan’s major points quickly. A table of contents should follow the executive summary.
The current marketing situation is the first major section of the plan. It describes the target market and the
company’s position therein.This section contains information about the market, product performance,
competition, and distribution. It contains a market description that defines the market, including major market
segments.The market planner estimates market size as a whole and segments for the few preceding years and then
reviews customer needs and factors in the marketing environment that may influence customer purchasing.Then
comes product review, which shows sales, price, and gross margins of the product line’s major products.A
subsection on competition identifies major competitors and evaluates their strategies for product quality, pricing,
distribution, and promotion. It also shows the companies and each of its competitors’ present market share.
Finally, a subsection on distribution describes recent sales trends and changes in the major channels of
distribution.In this section, the planner lists as many threats and opportunities as anticipated that the product might
face. This section enables the manager to anticipate important developments that might affect the company.An
increase in the number of competitors and the introduction of new products are examples of threats. In contrast,
the improvement of economic conditions and product innovation are .The objectives should be stated in terms of
goals the company would like to attain during the plan’s period.For example, a company’s goal may be ”to
increase market share by 10 percent during the next year.”This raises an important issuemarketer should consider
the major issues regarding increasing market share.In this section of the marketing plan, the manager outlines the
broad marketing strategy or ”game plan” for attaining the objectives. Marketing strategy is the marketing logic
by which the business unit hopes to achieve its marketing objectives.
It consists of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, the marketing mix, and marketing expenditure
levels. The marketing strategy should detail the market segments on which the company will focus.These
segments differ in their needs and want, responses to marketing, and profitability.
The company would be smart to put its effort and energy into those market segments; it can best-serve from
acompetitive perspective and then develop a marketing strategy foreach targeted segment.
The manager should also outline specific marketing mix elements such as new products, field sales, advertising,
sales promotion, prices, and distribution.The manager should explain how each strategy responds to the threats,
opportunities, and critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan.Marketing strategies should be translated into
specific action programs that will indicate what to do and when and by whom it will be done and its cost. The
action plan indicates when activities will be started, reviewed, and completed.Action plans allow the manager to
make a supporting marketing budget that is essentially a projected profit-and-loss statement. It shows the
forecasted number of units that would be sold and the average net price for revenues.
On the expense side, it shows the cost of production, physical distribution, and marketingThe difference is the
projected profit. Top management will review the budget and either approve or modify it.Once approved, the
budget is based on materials buying, production scheduling, personnel planning, and marketing
operations.Budgeting can be very difficult, and budgeting methods range from simple ”rules of thumb” to
complex computer modelsControl is the last section of the marketing plan. It outlines the control methods that
will be used to monitor development. Goals and budgets are set for a specific time period.
This allows the management to review the results each period and identify businessesproducts that are not meeting
their goals.Persons responsible for managing these businesses and products have to explain these problems and
the corrective measures. One of the most important marketing process outputs is the marketing plan, and each
business unit must develop a marketing plan. The development of such a plan is necessary for the achievement
of goals.
Marketing planning is selecting a marketing strategy and the tactics to implement it to reach a defined set of goals.
It focuses on the shorter term, often one year.
In addition, it tends to detail line-by-line expense budgets and tactical approaches.
Marketing planning;
• involves an assessment of where the company stands in the marketplace;
• is a determination of where the company wants to be in the future;
• the creation of marketing actions designed to achieve that future desired position; and

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 • a provision of determining how the effectiveness of those actions will be evaluated at the end of the
operating period.
Q. 2 Discuss how institutional and government buyers make their buying decisions.
Government buying practices often seem complex and frustrating to suppliers, who have voiced many complaints
about government purchasing procedures. Those include too much paperwork and bureaucracy, needless
regulations, emphasis on low bid prices, decision-making delays, frequent shifts in buying personnel and too
many policy changes. Yet, despite such obstacles, selling to the government can often be mastered in a short time.
The government is generally helpful in providing information about its buying needs and procedures, and is often
as eager to attract new suppliers as the suppliers are to find customers. When the mighty US Fleet edged its way
up the Gulf during Desert Storm, five little plastic boats led it. The little Royal Navy Hunt Class MCMVa (Mine
Counter-Measure Vessels) were in a league of their own at the dangerous job of clearing a path for the main fleet.
They were made by Vesper Thornycroft, a small British company which is a master at selling to governments
around the world. While the world's leading defence contractors seek alliances and mergers to meet the 'peace
dividend's' reduced demand, Vosper has an order book worth £600 million and 14 vessels under construction, 95
per cent of them for export. Part of its strength is Vesper's dominance in the niche for glass-reinforced plastic
(GRP) mine hunters, corvettes and patrol craft. Just the sort of ships that small navies want.
Vbsper's strength extends beyond the vessels. With its vessels it offers a maritime training and support service
where it has pioneered computer-based learning. Many clients come from the Middle East and travel with their
families, so Vosper has built an pupils next to the maritime training centre. It now does training for other firms
selling to the Middle East, so strengthening its position in the region. Others of
at the White House, President Bill Clinton's chef de cabinet was forced to resign. He had used a government
helicopter to take him to a game of golf. lie was ordered to reimburse the Treasury for the cost of his jaunt,
813,129.66. Other continents; other morals.the new Members of the European Parliament were invited to a
briefing on the many perks attached to their new status. The subject excited Jean-Francois Hory, president of
Bernard Tapie's socialist MRG party. From his place in the front row lie turned in his seat, fixed a knowing eye
on his new colleagues and addressed them in the manner of an old hand talking down to university freshmen:
'One thing you need to know about travel allowances - they'll want to know your address. If you have one or more
second homes, make sure you list the one furthest from Brussels.' Obviously, a return flight from Marseilles to
Brussels is worth more than the tram fare from Loos-les-Lille to Brussels. Do you detect a whiff of moral purity
Political corruption used to be a thing other countries did, but no more. In the United States, United Kingdom,
France, Spain, Italy, Japan and elsewhere, accusations of political corruption involving businesses have shaken
the countries' leaders. Eurofraud is estimated to cost EU taxpayers over 10 billion ecu per year. Sometimes the
t'iddles are minor, like exaggerating expense claims on Eurojaimts, but often they are not. In Antonio Quatraro
leapt to his death from a Brussels window. He was a European Commission official responsible for authorizing
subsidies. In a fraud was discovered where he allegedly received backhanders for rigging the auction of Greek-

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The auction rigging would be illegal anywhere, but often what is common practice in one country will bring a
senior politician down in another. All governments have codes of practice, but as Table 1 shows, they are not
consistent. There are also different cultural traditions about obeying rules. In Britain a Treasury minister had to
fight for his political life following accusations that a controversial Arab businessman had paid for a weekend
that the minister had had at the Paris Ritz Hotel. The bill was less than Ffr4,000 and in no other European country
would he have had to declare such a gift. German political representatives have to sign a register, but the
Bundestag's guidelines suggest only declaring gifts over DM10,000.
In Japan the attitude towards political corruption is changing slowly. In 1988 Kiichi Miyazawa resigned as finance
minister after being caught up in the Recruit scandal. Recruit, an employment agency, had secretly given large
tranches of its own shares to politicians, including cabinet ministers, in exchange for political favours. But by Mr
Miyazawa was sufficiently rehabilitated to become prime minister. This follows the 'traditional' pattern for
Japanese politicians caught taking bribes oro-shoku, 'defiling one's job'. O-shoku carries no moral overtones about
wrongdoing, it just means that through carelessness the publicity has dishonoured the politician's honoured
position. The usual line of defence in the Diet is that the politicians knew nothing, since their aides took the
money. In that way the politician does not lose face, junior aides are not worth prosecuting and ever;'one is happy.
The mood changed after the Sagawa scandal. Shin Kanemaru needed money to split the ruling LDP and start one
of his own. He needed a lot of cash and most of it came from Sagasva Kyubin, a trucking company that wanted
political favour in order to expand its business. Gold bars and bonds were found in Mr Kanemaru's home and
office. He was found guilty of not reporting Y2SO million in 'political donations', but fined less than SOURCES;
The loading quotation is from 'An open letter to chose unnerved by the little judges', by MEP Thierry JeanPierre
Terry; other sources are Terry McCarthy, 'It's not graft, just duty anil obligation', /ndependenl , p, 16; 'Hands up
all those hit by sleaze', The Economist ), pp. 49-51; 'The sour taste of gravy', The Kconvmist p. 50; Alix Christie
and Julie Read, 'fraud crusader gears up for a fight, 7'hu European
p. 11; John McBeth, 'Ground zero', For Eastern,-Economic Review ), pp. 14-17. See also a series of five special
reports on 'Asia in Crisis' published in the Financiul Times between 12 and 16 January W98.
Vesper's activities get it closely involved in its customers' operations. The company has a three-year contract for
the Ministry of Defence's Record Data Centre and has a five-year contract to operate maritime services craft for
the Royal Air Force. Not had for a company sold by British Shipbuilders to a management team in for £18.5
million - in the company's value was $236 million.25
Many companies that sell to the government are not so marketing oriented as Vosper Thornycroft for a number
of reasons. Total government spending is determined by elected officials rather than by any marketing effort to
develop this market. Government buying has emphasized priee, making suppliers invest their effort in technology
to bring costs down. When the product's characteristics are specified carefully, product differentiation is not a
marketing factor. Nor do advertising or personal selling matter mueh in winning bids on an open-bid basis.

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More companies now have separate marketing departments for government marketing efforts. British Aerospace,
Eastman Kodak and Goodyear are examples.
These companies want to co-ordinate bids and prepare them more scientifically, to propose projects to meet
government needs rather than just respond to government requests, to gather competitive intelligence, and to
prepare stronger communications co describe the company's competence.
The business market is vast. In many ways, business markets are like consumer markets, but business markets
usually have fewer, larger buyers who are more geographically concentrated. Business demand is derived, largely
inelastic and more fluctuating. More buyers are usually involved in the business buying decision and business
buyers are better trained and more professional than are consumer buyers. In general, business purchasing
decisions are more complex and the buying process is more formal than consumer buying.
The business market includes firms that buy goods and services in order to produce products and services co sell
to others. It also includes retailing and wholesaling firms that buy goods in order to resell them at a profit. Business
buyers make decisions that vary with the three types of buying situation: straight re&ijys, modified rebuys and
new tasks. The decision-making unit of a buying organization -the buying centre - may consist of many people
playing many roles. The business marketer needs to know the following: Who are the main participants? In what
decisions do they exercise influence? What is their relative degree of influence? And what evaluation criteria does
each decision participant use? The business marketer also needs to understand the primary environmental,
interpersonal and individual influences on the buying process. The business buy ing-decision process itself
consists of eight stages: problem recognition, general needs description, product specification, supplier search,
proposal solicitation , supplier selection, order-routine specification and performance review. As business buyers
become more sophisticated, business marketers must keep in step by upgrading their marketing accordingly.
The institutional market consists of schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions that provide goods and
services to people in their care. Low budgets and captive patrons characterize these markets. The government
market is also vast. Government buyers purchase products and services for defence, education, public welfare
and other public needs. Government buying practices are highly specialized and specified, with open bidding or
negotiated contracts characterizing most of the buying. Government buyers operate under the watchful eye of
politicians and many private watchdog groups. Hence, they tend to require more forms and signatures and to
respond more slowly in placing orders

Q. 3 Define price. Identify and define the internal and external factors affecting a firm’s pricing decisions.
Internal factors that pricing are organisational factors, marketing mix, product differentiation, cost of the product
and objectives of the firm. External factors that influence pricing decisions are demand, competition, suppliers,
economic conditions, buyers and government.
A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return
for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good"

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in the commercial exchange, the payment for this product will likely be called its "price". However, if the product
is "service", there will be other possible names for this product's name. For example, the graph on the bottom will
show some situations [1] A good's price is influenced by production costs, supply of the desired item,
and demand for the product. A price may be determined by a monopolist or may be imposed on the firm by market
conditions.
Internal factors that pricing are organisational factors, marketing mix, product differentiation, cost of the product
and objectives of the firm. External factors that influence pricing decisions are demand, competition, suppliers,
economic conditions, buyers and governmentBoth internal and external factors affect determination of pricing
method adopted by any organisation. Internal factors that pricing are organisational factors, marketing mix, product
differentiation, cost of the product and objectives of the firm. External factors that influence pricing decisions are
demand, competition, suppliers, economic conditions, buyers and government.
The organisation is usually divided into two levels where the pricing decisions take place. The top executives in the
organisation determine the overall pricing strategy. The top executive also decides the basic ranges in which the
product category falls into. The lower levels in the firm determine the individual product strategies On the other
hand some firms may deliberately raise the prices to convey that their product is of high esteem value. In both cases,
the pricing strategy has to match the total marketing strategy, that is, for pricing the product higher, the product
quality should also be good. The firm may also give a more attractive packaging, re-launch the product or Product
characteristics also determine the price of the product. Marketers provide distinct features to the product in order to
attract more sales. These features include high quality, various sizes, different colours, attractive packaging, multiple
uses and large scale availability. Customers usually do not mind paying higher amount for ..
Cost of production and price of the product are closely related. If the cost of production itself is high or demands
heavy investment or has a high fixed cost, the price of the product would also be higher. The marketer intends to
realise the cost of production and incur profits. Moreover, marketers constantly try to minimise the cost of Economic
conditions such as inflation and deflation also affect product prices. During recession, prices of products and services
is reduced. This is done to maintain sales since demand for products and services reduces due to decrease in
purchasing power of people. On the other hand, during an economic boom, the prices of goods and services increases
because the purchasing power of people is high and there is greater demand for products. Marketers follow various
pricing techniques in order to meet the changesoccurring due to change in demand and price.
Q. 4 Define salesman and describe the role of salespeople in creating value for customers and building
customers relationship.
The of a salesman is a person who is employed in the job of promoting products and services and getting people
to buy them.
product, you’ve priced it right, and you’ve set a wonderful marketing communication strategy in motion. Now
you can just sit back and watch the sales roll in, right? Probably not. Unless your company is able to sell the

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product entirely over the Internet, you probably have a lot more work to do. For example, if you want consumers
to be able to buy the product in a retail store, someone will first have to convince the retailer to carry the product.
“Nothing happens until someone sells something,” is an old saying in business. But in reality, a lot must happen
before a sale can be made. Companies count on their sales and marketing teams not only to sell products but to
the lay the groundwork to make it happen. However, salespeople are expensive. Often they are the most expensive
element in a company’s marketing strategy. As a result, they have to generate business in order to justify a firm’s
investment in them.
Salespeople act on behalf of their companies by doing the following:
• Creating value for their firms’ customers
• Managing relationships
• Relaying customer and market information back to their organizations
In addition to acting on behalf of their firms, sales representatives also act on behalf of their customers. Whenever
a salesperson goes back to her company with a customer’s request, be it for quicker delivery, a change in a product
feature, or a negotiated price, she is voicing the customer’s needs. Her goal is to help the buyer purchase what
serves his or her needs the best. Like Ted Schulte, the salesperson is the expert but, in this case, an expert
representing the customer’s needs back to the company.
From society’s perspective, selling is wonderful when professional salespeople act on behalf of both buyers and
sellers. The salesperson has a fiduciary responsibility (in this case meaning something needs to be sold) to the
company and an ethical responsibility to the buyer. At times, however, the two responsibilities conflict with one
another. For example, what should a salesperson do if the product meets only most of a buyer’s needs, while a
competitor’s product is a perfect fit.Salespeople also face conflicts within their companies. When a salesperson
tells a customer a product will be delivered in three days, she has made a promise that will either be kept or broken
by her company’s shipping department. When the salesperson accepts a contract with certain terms, she has made
a promise to the customer that will either be kept or broken by her company’s credit department. What if the
credit department and shipping department can’t agree on the shipping terms the customer should receive? Which
group should the salesperson side with? What if managers want the salesperson to sell a product that’s unreliable
and will swamp the company’s customer service representatives with buyers’ complaints? Situations such as these
create role conflict. Role conflict occurs when the expectations people set for you differ from one another. Now
couple the situation we just mentioned with the fact that the salesperson has a personal interest in whether the
sale is made or not. Perhaps her income or job depends on it. Can you understand how role conflict might result
in a person using questionable tactics to sell a productSo are salespeople dishonest? Many people think so in part
because certain types of salespeople have earned poor reputations that have tarnished the entire profession. As a
result, some business students avoid sales despite the very high earnings potential and personal growth
opportunities. You might be surprised to learn, however, that one study found that salespeople are less likely to
exaggerate in order to get what they want than politicians, preachers, and professors. Another study looked at

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how business students responded to ethical dilemmas versus how professional salespeople responded. What did
the study find? That salespeople were more likely to respond ethically than students were.
In general, salespeople handle these conflicting expectations well. Society benefits because salespeople help
buyers make more informed decisions and help their companies succeed, which, in turn, creates jobs for people
and products they can use. Most salespeople also truly believe in the effectiveness of their company’s offerings.
Schulte, for example, is convinced that the pacemakers he sells are the best there are. When this belief is coupled
with a genuine concern for the welfare of the customer—a concern that most salespeople share—society can’t
lose.
Most marketing majors begin their career in sales. While a growing number of universities are offering a major
in sales, the demand for professional salespeople often outstrips supply, creating opportunities for marketing
majors. Sales is a great place to start a career not only because the earnings are at the top of any business major
but because sales is the only place to really learn what is happening in the market.
At the beginning of the chapter, we described a real-life situation—a cardiac surgeon with a high-risk patient is
wondering what to do. The physician calls Ted Schulte at Guidant to get his input on how to handle the situation.
Schulte recommends the appropriate pacemaker and offers to drive one hundred miles early in the morning in
order to be able to answer any questions that might arise during the surgery.
• A food wholesaler is working overtime to prepare invoices. Unfortunately, one out of five has a mistake.
The result is that customers don’t get their invoices in a timely fashion, so they don’t pay quickly and
don’t pay the correct amounts. Consequently, the company has to borrow money fulfill its payroll
obligations. Jay King, a salesperson from DG Vault, recommends the wholesaler purchase an electronic
invoicing system. The wholesaler does. Subsequently, it takes the wholesaler just days to get invoices
ready, instead of weeks. And instead of the invoices being only 80 percent accurate, they are close to being
100 percent accurate. The wholesaler no longer has trouble meeting its payroll because customers are
paying more quickly.
• Sanderson Farms, a chicken processor, wants to build a new plant near Waco, Texas. The chambers of
commerce for several towns in the area vie for the project. The chamber representative from Waco,
though, locates an enterprise zone that reduces the company’s taxes for a period of time, and then works
with a local banker to get the company better financing. In addition, the rep gets a local technical college
involved so Sanderson will have enough trained employees. These factors create a unique package that
sells the company on setting up shop in Waco.
All these are true stories of how salespeople create value by understanding the needs of their customers and then
create solutions to meet those needs. Salespeople can adapt the offering, such as in the Sanderson Farms example,
or they can adapt how they present the offering so that it is easier for the client to understand and make the right
decision.

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Adapting a message or product on the fly isn’t something that can be easily accomplished with other types of
marketing communication. Granted, some Web sites are designed to adapt the information and products they
display based on what a customer appears to be interested in while he or she is looking at the sites. But unless the
site has a “chat with a representative” feature, there is no real dialogue occurring. The ability to engage in dialogue
helps salespeople better understand their customers and their needs and then create valuable solutions for them.
Note also that creating value means making sales. Salespeople sell—that’s the bulk of the value they deliver to
their employers. There are other ways in which they deliver value, but it is how much they sell that determines
most of the value they deliver to their companies.
Salespeople aren’t appropriate channels for companies in all situations, however. Some purchases don’t require
the salesperson’s expertise. Or the need to sell at a very low cost may make retail stores or online selling more
attractive. But in situations requiring adaptation, customer education, and other value-adding activities,
salespeople can be the best channel to reach customers.
Because their time is limited, sales representatives have to decide which accounts they have the best shot at
winning and which are the most lucrative. Once a salesperson has decided to pursue an account, a strategy is
devised and implemented, and if a sale happens, the salesperson is also responsible for ensuring that the offering
is implemented properly and to the customer’s satisfaction.
We’ve already emphasized the notion of “customers for life” in this book. Salespeople recognize that business is
not about making friends, but about making and retaining customers. Although buyers tend to purchase products
from salespeople they like, being liked is not enough. Salespeople have to ensure that they close the deal with the
customer. They also have to recognize that the goal is not to just close one deal, but as many deals as possible in
the future.
Salespeople are boundary spanners, in that they operate outside the boundaries of the firm and in the field. As
such, they are the first to learn about what competitors are doing. An important function for them, then, is to
report back to headquarters about their competitors’ new offerings and strategies.
Similarly, salespeople interact directly with customers and, in so doing, gather a great deal of useful information
about their needs. The salespeople then pass the information along to their firms, which use it to create new
offerings, adjust their current offerings, and reformulate their marketing tactics. The trick is getting the
information to the right decision makers in firms. Many companies use customer relationship management (CRM)
software like Netsuite or Salesforce.com to provide a mechanism for salespeople to enter customer data and others
to retrieve it. A company’s marketing department, for example, can then use that data to pinpoint segments of
customers with which to communicate directly. In addition to using the data to improve and create and marketing
strategies, the information can also help marketing decision makers understand who makes buying decisions,
resulting in such decisions as targeting trade shows where potential buyers are likely to be. In other words,
marketing managers don’t have to ask salespeople directly what customers want; they can pull that information
from a customer database. (For an online demonstration of Aplicor, plicor is a computer software program that

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enables salespeople to capture and track information on their accounts. This information can then be used by
marketing mangers to design better marketing strategies and offerings. The system also helps salespeople manage
their accounts better, because they have access to more customer information.
There are different ways to categorize salespeople. They can be categorized by the customers they work with,
such as whether they are consumers, other businesses, or government institutions. Another way to categorize
salespeople is by the size of their customers. Most professional sales positions involve selling to other businesses,
but many also sell to consumers like you. For the purposes of this book, we will categorize salespeople by their
activities. Using activities as a basis, there are four basic types of salespeople: missionary salespeople, trade
salespeople, prospectors, and account managers. In some discussions, you’ll hear that there are three types: order
getters, order takers, and sales support. The four we describe in the following are all types of order getters; that
is, they actively seek to make sales by calling on customers. We’ll also discuss order takers and sales support
after we discuss the four types of order getters.people who make decisions about products but don’t actually buy
them, and while they call on individuals, the relationship is business-to-business. For example, a pharmaceutical
representative might call on a physician to provide the doctor with clinical information about a medication’s
effectiveness. The salesperson hopes the doctor will prescribe the drug. Patients, not doctors, actually purchase
the medication. Similarly, salespeople call on your professors urging them to use certain textbooks. But you, the
student, choose whether or not to actually buy the books.
There are salespeople who also work with “market influencers.” Mary Gros works at Teradata, a company that
develops data warehousing solutions. Gros calls on college faculty who have the power to influence decision
makers when it comes to the data warehouses they use, either by consulting for them, writing research papers
about data warehousing products, or offering opinions to students on the software. In an effort to influence what
they write about Teradata’s offerings, Gros also visits with analysts who write reviews of products.
A trade salesperson is someone who calls on retailers and helps them display, advertise, and sell products to
consumers. Eddy Patterson is a trade salesperson. Patterson calls on major supermarket chains like HEB for
Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, a company that makes barbecue sauces, rubs, marinades, and other barbecuing products.
Patterson makes suggestions about how Stubb’s products should be priced and where they should be placed in
store so they will sell faster. Patterson also works with his clients’ advertising departments in order to create
effective ads and fliers featuring Stubb’s products. Ah, those pesky competitors. They're like mosquitoes in the
woods of New Hampshire in July, always buzzing about and occasionally biting you where you can't slap them.
So it seems.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars or days on end to analyze your competitors. You can get most of
the information you need by spending a couple of hours online and using a few free tools and, maybe, one paid
tool to get a full picture of their strengths and weaknesses. Based on this information, you can craft a plan to
exploit their weaknesses to your advantage.

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 • Q. 5 Explain in detail the steps involved in analyzing competitors.
STEP 1 - CHOOSE YOUR TOP COMPETITORS
• Choose your top 3 to 5 competitors for the analysis. Be realistic in the competitors you pick. Consider
competitors you come up against on a regular basis and where you have similar capabilities. In other
words, if you're making computers in a small warehouse, don't choose Apple or Dell for one of the
companies you analyze unless you are directly competing. If your customer base is mainly local or
regional, then select local or regional competitors. If you consistently compete for business with one or
two companies where you win some, or you lose some, by all means, put them on your list.
STEP 2 - DESCRIBE EACH COMPETITOR
Choose attributes you can quantify and measure for your competitor description. The attributes you choose to
define your competitors should be meaningful for your market and should help to understand what you're up
against as far as general resources. For example, if you are a metal fabrication company, you might choose to
describe your competitors based on manufacturing space, the number of machines, or quality certifications. Most
competitive analyses will include company size in employees and annual revenue as well. If you are analyzing a
public company, be sure to include their critical financial metrics like gross margin, net margin, cash on hand,
etc.
If your competitors are private companies who do not disclose financial information, a good rule of thumb to
estimate annual sales is to take the number of employees and multiply it by $150,000 and $200,000 to get a
bracket for annual net sales. Many private companies will share their employee count on their website, or you can
get a pretty good estimate of employees on LinkedIn.
Some tools you can use to gather information about the competitor's business include data.com or D&B Hoovers.
Both services are paid subscriptions.
STEP 3 - DESCRIBE THEIR COMPETITIVE OFFERING
Describing the offering is an easy step to do since most companies go to great lengths in describing their offering
on their public websites. You can usually download brochures and spec sheets galore from any website to get a
full understanding of the competitive offering. Be sure to list those products or services you also offer and those
that you do not provide. This step is a good place for a table if it helps to clarify who offers what.
STEP 4 - SUMMARIZE THEIR ONLINE PRESENCE
This is the most important step of the competitive analysis. The reason it is most important is that the online
presence has the most potential for gaining advantage or for losing out to your competitor. We all start our buying
process with an online search, so this is the most obvious place to gain an advantage or lose the advantage. It is
essential to understand your competitors' online presences as it compares to your online presence. Products
like Ghostery or Datanyze give you a window into the tools they use on their websites like the type of platform,
ad tools, plug-ins, or marketing automation platform.

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 • Do a quick analysis of their website structure. I like to use the HubSpot Website Grader free tool, but you
can also use various other tools like Google Page Speed Insights to get an understanding of your tech
savvy (or not) competitors. You'll know right away if your competitors are stuck in a 1990s website, if
they are on the leading edge, or someplace in between. This analysis alone may uncover a enormous
potential opportunity for your business to gain competitive advantage.
o For example, if your competitor's website is not mobile responsive, that means they won't show
up in mobile searches. If your customers are using mobile for search, there is an opportunity to
gain an immediate advantage by making sure your website is mobile responsive.
• Analyze your competitor's keyword performance. This information is publicly available to anyone and
everyone. SEMRUSH offers a free analysis of your competitor's website, or you can sign up for a
subscription for more in depth results. Moz also provides free analysis but requires you to sign up for a
free trial. Another useful tool for keyword analysis is SpyFu. By understanding the top keywords your
competitors are ranking for, you can compete organically with more and better quality content, or you can
see how they may be attracting new customers. You can also determine if they are using online
advertisements to promote their business. Not only can you determine whether they are advertising online,
but you can also see the actual ads they are using. Similarweb is another great tool to research your
competitors' websites.
o For example, if you see that your competitor is ranking on page 1 of the SERP for a local term like
"sheet metal fabrication in Denver" all by themselves, you could use that knowledge to get your
company ranked above them. If you see a competitor ranking high for a paid keyword at a low
price, you could outbid them and take the top spot.
• Peruse their website and observe how much and what type of content they are offering. Make a note of
how it is offered (gated or open). A competitor that provides a lot of educational content, in addition to
product or service content, will be a strong contender for market share. If the only content offering is
product or service brochures and company profiles, they are weak marketers and your firm could gain an
edge in top of mind awareness and credibility.
• As you peruse your competitor's website, observe how they offer engagement with the site visitors. Do
they just offer email, a phone number, and a contact form? If yes, there is an opportunity for your firm to
engage in a broader and more meaningful way by offering education in the form of webinars, white papers,
educational videos, infographics, etc.
STEP 5 - LIST THEIR STRENGTHS
Now that you have a good idea of your competitor's business attributes and online presence, you can put together
a list of their strengths. This step is not a time to be biased. Be honest with yourself as you compile the list of
strengths compared to your company. Examples of strengths include company size, location, focused value

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proposition, specific target market, deeper or broader offering, faster delivery, lower price, certain quality
standards, etc.
Be sure to list strengths they have in their online presence such as high website traffic, high rank in critical search
keywords, large library of content, multiple ways to engage, ease of doing business, use of a marketing automation
tool, etc.
STEP 6 - LIST THEIR WEAKNESSES
Weaknesses should be considered in the context of the market where you compete. Examples of weakness include
having a small or non-existent sales team, low gross margin, low net profit margin, low cash flow, high employee
turnover, location, building size, etc.
Be sure to list the weaknesses in their online presence. This will be the low hanging fruit where you can gain a
very quick advantage if they have a weak online presence. Online presence weakness could include poor website
structure, non-mobile responsive design, complex or confusing user interface, lack of useful content, product or
company focus, slow page load time, no paid ad strategy, lack of awareness in critical keywords, etc.
STEP 7 - IDENTIFY YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities will manifest based on the list of weaknesses you have compiled in the previous step. Some
opportunities will require a lot of resources and other opportunities will require only time. It's a good idea to meet
with your team to prioritize the opportunities you choose to pursue.
A frequent opportunity for a manufacturing company might be to develop educational content if your competitor
does not offer any content themselves. By developing educational content and posting it on your website, you
will gain the advantage in search results and audience engagement which both lead to more business for you and
less for your competitor.
STEP 8 - IDENTIFY THREATS
There will be some competitors who have formidable strengths which are, or could be, a threat to your firm.
Consider what, if any, your response will be to current or potential threats. In some cases, you may be able to
easily counter a threat, such as optimizing for a critical key phrase or taking over top position for a paid keyword.
In other cases, you may concede a strength to your competitor and focus on your strengths. Every threat does not
warrant a response, but you should be aware of as many threats as possible.

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