The Six Forces Model is a variation of Porter’s Five Forces. The sixth force, according to this model, is the complementary products. In short, the six forces model is an adaptation especially used in the tech business world to assess the change of the context, based on new market entrants and whether those can play out initially as complementary products and in the long-term substitutes.
A SWOT Analysis is a framework used for evaluating the business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It can aid in identifying the problematic areas of your business so that you can maximize your opportunities. It will also alert you to the challenges your organization might face in the future.
First proposed by accounting academic Robert Kaplan, the balanced scorecard is a management system that allows an organization to focus on big-picture strategic goals. The four perspectives of the balanced scorecard include financial, customer, business process, and organizational capacity. From there, according to the balanced scorecard, it’s possible to have a holistic view of the business.
The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.
The PESTEL analysis is a framework that can help marketers assess whether macro-economic factors are affecting an organization. This is a critical step that helps organizations identify potential threats and weaknesses that can be used in other frameworks such as SWOT or to gain a broader and better understanding of the overall marketing environment.
In the 1970s, Bruce D. Henderson, founder of the Boston Consulting Group, came up with The Product Portfolio (aka BCG Matrix, or Growth-share Matrix), which would look at a successful business product portfolio based on potential growth and market shares. It divided products into four main categories: cash cows, pets (dogs), question marks, and stars.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was developed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow. His hierarchy, often depicted in the shape of a pyramid, helped explain his research on basic human needs and desires. In marketing, the hierarchy (and its basis in psychology) can be used to market to specific groups of people based on their similarly specific needs, desires, and resultant actions.
To optimize its marketing communications, a business can categorize media as either paid, earned, shared, or owned media (PESO). Analyzing these four categories is particularly useful for content-driven, online marketing strategies to build brand awareness, customer loyalty, and gain market share.
The GE McKinsey Matrix was developed in the 1970s after General Electric asked its consultant McKinsey to develop a portfolio management model. This matrix is a strategy tool that provides guidance on how a corporation should prioritize its investments among its business units, leading to three possible scenarios: invest, protect, harvest, and divest.
Marketing consultant Philip Kotler developed the Five Product Levels model. He asserted that a product was not just a physical object but also something that satisfied a wide range of consumer needs. According to that Kotler identified five types of products: core product, generic product, expected product, augmented product, and potential product.
Product development, known as new product development process comprises a set of steps that go from idea generation to post launch review, which help companies analyze the various aspects of launching new products and bringing them to market. It comprises idea generation, screening, testing; business case analysis, product development, test marketing, commercialization and post launch review.
Customer experience maps are visual representations of every encounter a customer has with a brand. On a customer experience map, interactions called touchpoints visually denote each interaction that a business has with its consumers. Typically, these include every interaction from the first contact to marketing, branding, sales, and customer support.
AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. That is a model that is used in marketing to describe the potential journey a customer might go through before purchasing a product or service. The AIDA model helps organizations focus their efforts when optimizing their marketing activities based on the customers’ journeys.
Social selling is a process of developing trust, rapport, and a relationship with a prospect to enhance the sales cycle. It usually happens through tech platforms (like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and more), which enable salespeople to engage with potential prospects before closing the sale, thus becoming more effective.
The CHAMP methodology is an iteration of the BANT sales process for modern B2B applications. While budget, authority, need, and timing are important aspects of qualifying sales leads, the CHAMP methodology was developed after sales reps questioned the order in which the BANT process is followed.
The BANT process was conceived at IBM in the 1950s as a way to quickly identify prospects most likely to make a purchase. Despite its introduction around 70 years ago, the BANT process remains relevant today and was formally adopted into IBM’s Business Agility Solution Identification Guide.
The MEDDIC sales process was developed in 1996 by Dick Dunkel at software company Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). The MEDDIC sales process is a framework used by B2B sales teams to foster predictable and efficient growth.
STP marketing simplifies the market segmentation process and is one of the most commonly used approaches in modern marketing. The core focus of STP marketing is commercial effectiveness. Marketers use the approach to select the most valuable segments from a target audience and develop a product positioning strategy and marketing mix for each.
The sales funnel is a model used in marketing to represent an ideal, potential journey that potential customers go through before becoming actual customers. As a representation, it is also often an approximation, that helps marketing and sales teams structure their processes at scale, thus building repeatable sales and marketing tactics to convert customers.
Venture capitalist, Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables to understand what metrics and channels to look at, at each stage for the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.
The general concept of Bootstrapping connects to “a self-starting process that is supposed to proceed without external input.” In business, Bootstrapping means financing the growth of the company from the available cash flows produced by a viable business model. Bootstrapping requires the mastery of the key customers driving growth.
In the Business Model Canvas, the Customer Segments building block details the different groups of people the organization hopes to reach and serve. Customer segmentation is one of the key building blocks, as it’s the foundation of a business model, and it enables it to go through its first stages of traction.
Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.
The bullseye framework is a simple method that enables you to prioritize the marketing channels that will make your company gain traction. The main logic of the bullseye framework is to find the marketing channels that work and prioritize them.
Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.
Brand marketing describes the process of an organization building a relationship between its brand and customers from the target audience. Instead of marketing the features of a particular product or service, brand marketing promotes the whole brand by mentioning how those products and services support the brand’s promise.
Project portfolio management (PPM) is a systematic approach to selecting and managing a collection of projects aligned with organizational objectives. That is a business process of managing multiple projects which can be identified, prioritized, and managed within the organization. PPM helps organizations optimize their investments by allocating resources efficiently across all initiatives.
Brand storytelling involves the use of authentic, sustainable, and emotion-driven narratives that promote organizational growth and customer loyalty. Brand storytelling is a form of integrated marketing where a company’s brand content is streamlined across multiple media channels and market activities. This may include social media, content marketing, public relations, video, search engine optimization, sales collateral, messaging, and advertising.
The brand essence wheel is a templated approach businesses can use to better understand their brand. The brand essence wheel has obvious implications for external brand strategy. However, it is equally important in simplifying brand strategy for employees without a strong marketing background. Although many variations of the brand essence wheel exist, a comprehensive wheel incorporates information from five categories: attributes, benefits, values, personality, brand essence.
Meme marketing is any marketingstrategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Key Highlights
Six Forces Model: The Six Forces Model is an adaptation of Porter’s Five Forces, adding the sixth force of complementary products. It is used in the tech business world to assess the impact of new market entrants and potential substitutes, especially in the context of complementary products.
SWOT Analysis: A SWOT Analysis is a framework used to evaluate a business’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It helps identify problematic areas, maximize opportunities, and anticipate future challenges.
Balanced Scorecard: Developed by Robert Kaplan, the balanced scorecard is a management system focusing on big-picture strategic goals. It includes four perspectives: financial, customer, business process, and organizational capacity, providing a holistic view of the business.
Marketing Mix: The marketing mix refers to a multi-faceted approach for a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, it includes the four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place, with newer additions like physical evidence, people, process, and politics.
PESTEL Analysis: The PESTEL analysis is a framework to assess macro-economic factors affecting an organization. It helps identify potential threats and weaknesses, providing a broader understanding of the marketing environment.
BCG Matrix: The BCG Matrix categorizes a product portfolio into cash cows, pets (dogs), question marks, and stars, based on their potential growth and market shares.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Developed by Abraham Maslow, this hierarchy explains human needs and desires. In marketing, it’s used to target specific groups based on their needs, desires, and actions.
PESO Model: The PESO model categorizes media into paid, earned, shared, and owned media, useful for content-driven, online marketing strategies.
GE McKinsey Matrix: This matrix guides a corporation on how to prioritize investments among business units, leading to scenarios like invest, protect, harvest, and divest.
Kotler’s Five Product Levels: This model identifies five types of products: core product, generic product, expected product, augmented product, and potential product, based on the satisfaction of consumer needs.
New Product Development Process: This process goes from idea generation to post-launch review, helping companies analyze aspects of launching new products.
Customer Experience Map: Visual representations of customer interactions with a brand, including touchpoints, to enhance customer engagement.
AIDA Model: The AIDA model describes the potential journey a customer goes through before purchasing a product: attention, interest, desire, and action.
Social Selling: The process of developing trust and rapport with prospects through social platforms before closing sales.
CHAMP Methodology: An iteration of the BANT sales process for modern B2B applications.
BANT Sales Process: A process to quickly identify prospects most likely to make a purchase: budget, authority, need, and timing.
MEDDIC Sales Process: A framework used by B2B sales teams to foster predictable and efficient growth.
STP Marketing: A common approach in modern marketing, focusing on commercial effectiveness by selecting valuable target segments and developing a positioning strategy and marketing mix for each.
Sales Funnels vs. Flywheels: Models representing the customer journey and structuring sales and marketing tactics.
Pirate Metrics (AARRR): Metrics and channels to look at during the customer journey toward becoming customers and referrers.
Bootstrapping: Financing growth from available cash flows in a viable business model.
Customer Segmentation: Identifying different groups of people a business hopes to reach and serve.
Real-Time Marketing: In-the-moment marketing to customers based on interactions with the brand.
Affinity Marketing: Partnerships between businesses to sell more products, benefiting both brands.
Brand Marketing: Building a relationship between the brand and customers, promoting the brand as a whole.
Project Portfolio Management: A systematic approach to selecting and managing projects aligned with organizational objectives.
Brand Storytelling: Using authentic, emotion-driven narratives to promote brand growth and customer loyalty.
Brand Essence: Templated approach to understand the brand based on attributes, benefits, values, personality, and essence.
Meme Marketing: Using memes to promote a brand, leveraging viral internet content.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
