“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”
SWOT analysis can be used to assess:
A company’s-
Sales distribution
Brand
Business ideas
Potential partnership
Supplier Relations
Outsourcing
Strengths of the company might include
Advantages of proposition
Capabilities of the company executives
Competitive advantages for the company
USP's – The firm possess.
Resources, Assets, People etc
Experience, knowledge, data
Marketing - reach, distribution, awareness
Innovative aspects
Location and geographical
Price, value, quality
Accreditations, qualifications, certifications
Processes, systems, IT, communications
Cultural, attitudinal, behavioral
Management cover, succession
Weaknesses
Disadvantages of proposition
Gaps in capabilities prevalent in the human resource
Lack of competitive strength
Reputation, presence and reach
Timescales, deadlines and pressures
Continuity, supply chain robustness
Effects on core activities, distraction
Reliability of data, plan predictability
Morale, commitment, leadership
Accreditations
Processes and systems
Management cover, succession
Opportunities
Market developments
Competitors' vulnerabilities
Industry trends
Technology Innovation
Global influences
New markets, vertical, horizontal
Niche target markets
Geographical, export, import
New USP's
Tactics - surprise, major contracts, etc
Business and product development
Information and research
Partnerships, agencies, distribution
Volumes, production, economies
Seasonal, weather, fashion influences
Threats
Political effects
Legislative effects
Environmental effects
IT developments
Competitor intentions - various
Market demand
New technologies, services, ideas
Vital contracts and partners
Sustaining internal capabilities
Obstacles faced
Insurmountable weaknesses
Loss of key staff
Sustainable financial backing
Economy - home, abroad
Seasonality, weather effects
The Marketing Plan also includes
Mission
Objectives
Description of the target market
Description of competitors
Description of the product of service
Marketing communication
Tactics
Logistics
Marketing budget
Pricing strategy
Location
Timeline
Preparing product / service description
Conducting market research
Predefined strategies and goals
You can start with a narrow market focus thus describing your customer.
Next you can position your business with the details like what you are best in what’s best in them etc.
Never cold call; make sure all your advertising is geared toward creating prospects, not customers.
Earn media attention. Create a list of journalists who cover your industry or community, and build relationships with each by becoming a reliable resource of information. Plan out an entire year of new items you can promote by season or event.
Expect referrals. Create a referral marketing engine that systematically turns each client and referral network into a kind of unpaid sales pro. You must instill a referral marketing mind-set into your business's culture.
After you complete steps 1 through 6, determine what you need to do to put them into action. Then create an annual marketing calendar, noting the required monthly, weekly and daily appointments necessary to move your plan forward.
Following the steps they can also plan the channels of marketing like online marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking, social bookmarking, email marketing, banner marketing, performance marketing, word of mouth marketing, print media marketing etc.
Companies have devised a variety of MLM compensation plans over the decades.
Uni-level plans
Simplest of compensation plans
The common goal of this plan is to recruit a large number of frontline distributors and then encourage them to do the same.
Stairstep Breakaway plans
Once predefined personal and/or group volumes are achieved, a representative moves up a commission level.
Matrix plans
Recruits beyond the maximum number of first level positions allowed are automatically placed in other downline positions. Matrix plans often have a maximum width and depth. When all positions in a representative's downline matrix are filled a new matrix may be started. Like Uni-Level plans, representatives in a matrix earn unlimited commissions on limited levels of volume with minimal sales quotas.
Binary plans
A binary plan is a multilevel marketing compensation plan which allows distributors to have only two front-line distributors. If a distributor sponsors more than two distributors, the excess are placed at levels below the sponsoring distributors front-line. This "spillover" is one of the most attractive features to new distributors since they need only sponsor two distributors to participate in the compensation plan. The primary limitation is that distributors must "balance" their two downline legs to receive commissions. Balancing legs typically requires that the number of sales from one downline leg constitute no more than a specified percentage of the distributor's total sales.
Hybrid plans
These plans are compensation plans of the last generation, which are made of the best elements taken from the ones above. A color of Life has a Hybrid plan.
SWOT analysis can be used to assess:
A company’s-
Sales distribution
Brand
Business ideas
Potential partnership
Supplier Relations
Outsourcing
Strengths of the company might include
Advantages of proposition
Capabilities of the company executives
Competitive advantages for the company
USP's – The firm possess.
Resources, Assets, People etc
Experience, knowledge, data
Marketing - reach, distribution, awareness
Innovative aspects
Location and geographical
Price, value, quality
Accreditations, qualifications, certifications
Processes, systems, IT, communications
Cultural, attitudinal, behavioral
Management cover, succession
Weaknesses
Disadvantages of proposition
Gaps in capabilities prevalent in the human resource
Lack of competitive strength
Reputation, presence and reach
Timescales, deadlines and pressures
Continuity, supply chain robustness
Effects on core activities, distraction
Reliability of data, plan predictability
Morale, commitment, leadership
Accreditations
Processes and systems
Management cover, succession
Opportunities
Market developments
Competitors' vulnerabilities
Industry trends
Technology Innovation
Global influences
New markets, vertical, horizontal
Niche target markets
Geographical, export, import
New USP's
Tactics - surprise, major contracts, etc
Business and product development
Information and research
Partnerships, agencies, distribution
Volumes, production, economies
Seasonal, weather, fashion influences
Threats
Political effects
Legislative effects
Environmental effects
IT developments
Competitor intentions - various
Market demand
New technologies, services, ideas
Vital contracts and partners
Sustaining internal capabilities
Obstacles faced
Insurmountable weaknesses
Loss of key staff
Sustainable financial backing
Economy - home, abroad
Seasonality, weather effects
The Marketing Plan also includes
Mission
Objectives
Description of the target market
Description of competitors
Description of the product of service
Marketing communication
Tactics
Logistics
Marketing budget
Pricing strategy
Location
Timeline
Preparing product / service description
Conducting market research
Predefined strategies and goals
You can start with a narrow market focus thus describing your customer.
Next you can position your business with the details like what you are best in what’s best in them etc.
Never cold call; make sure all your advertising is geared toward creating prospects, not customers.
Earn media attention. Create a list of journalists who cover your industry or community, and build relationships with each by becoming a reliable resource of information. Plan out an entire year of new items you can promote by season or event.
Expect referrals. Create a referral marketing engine that systematically turns each client and referral network into a kind of unpaid sales pro. You must instill a referral marketing mind-set into your business's culture.
After you complete steps 1 through 6, determine what you need to do to put them into action. Then create an annual marketing calendar, noting the required monthly, weekly and daily appointments necessary to move your plan forward.
Following the steps they can also plan the channels of marketing like online marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking, social bookmarking, email marketing, banner marketing, performance marketing, word of mouth marketing, print media marketing etc.
Companies have devised a variety of MLM compensation plans over the decades.
Uni-level plans
Simplest of compensation plans
The common goal of this plan is to recruit a large number of frontline distributors and then encourage them to do the same.
Stairstep Breakaway plans
Once predefined personal and/or group volumes are achieved, a representative moves up a commission level.
Matrix plans
Recruits beyond the maximum number of first level positions allowed are automatically placed in other downline positions. Matrix plans often have a maximum width and depth. When all positions in a representative's downline matrix are filled a new matrix may be started. Like Uni-Level plans, representatives in a matrix earn unlimited commissions on limited levels of volume with minimal sales quotas.
Binary plans
A binary plan is a multilevel marketing compensation plan which allows distributors to have only two front-line distributors. If a distributor sponsors more than two distributors, the excess are placed at levels below the sponsoring distributors front-line. This "spillover" is one of the most attractive features to new distributors since they need only sponsor two distributors to participate in the compensation plan. The primary limitation is that distributors must "balance" their two downline legs to receive commissions. Balancing legs typically requires that the number of sales from one downline leg constitute no more than a specified percentage of the distributor's total sales.
Hybrid plans
These plans are compensation plans of the last generation, which are made of the best elements taken from the ones above. A color of Life has a Hybrid plan.