WHO CARES AND WHO MATTERS: THE 4C'S STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS by Freddy J.

Nager Updated 20 September 2009 Marketing connects an organization with the outside world. Consequently, when you're planning a marketing campaign, you need to consider all the stakeholders who might influence its effectiveness. These stakeholders are categorized in a framework called "The 4C's" for easy memorization: Customers Competitors Company Community

This 4C's Analysis is based in part on the 3C's Model of Dr. Kenichi Ohmae, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, who based his corporate strategies on the corporation, customer, and competitors. Marketers adopted and expanded this model to factor in the growing importance of the community, including the influential roles of regulators, the news media and interest groups. Some marketers have added other "C's," such as context, collaborators and complements. But context (such as economic factors) is not really a stakeholder, and not all businesses have collaborators and complements. You may choose to consider collaborators and complements under either community or company, whichever is more appropriate. What's most important is remembering that a marketing plan involves much more than serving customer needs. Let's now address each of the categories: Customers This is simple, right? A customer is anyone who uses your product. (You may also call this group "consumers" or "clients," if appropriate.) However, there are a few complexities to consider:

First, the end customer who uses your product is not always the one who makes the purchasing decision. For example, parents obviously make purchases for their children you wouldn't advertise diapers to a baby. On a less obvious level, students buy textbooks usually because a professor requires them to do so; hence, textbook companies market to professors, not students. Second, the prospects you target might not be the ones who ultimately buy

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your product. For example, Toyota launched a new brand, Scion, for Americans under age 30. Scion sponsored hip-hop concerts, promoted "street rod" styling, and priced their vehicles relatively low. Nonetheless, the average age of Scion buyers turned out to be 31. All that youth oriented-marketing appealed to older buyers who wanted to feel young and who wanted Toyota-made cars at an entry-level price.

Third, the customers you have might not be the customers you want. Your business might be serving small businesses, but you would prefer to serve larger corporations. Consequently, you should research the needs of your prospective customers, not just your current customers.

Important Note: While understanding your customers is critical, that does not mean you should let your customers tell you what to do. Rather, you should understand their needs, habits, behavior and motivations so you can create smarter, more strategic marketing campaigns. Marketing Plan Action: Describe your current customers. Who are they, what is their size (both in terms of population and market value), and how do they make their purchasing decisions? Be sure to provide both demographic and psychographic information. Most importantly, try to explain what your customers want or need. Do you have more than one target segment? Are there targets you want but don't have? Competitors A competitor is any product (or service) that can substitute for your product in meeting a customer need. For example, Coke's direct competitor is Pepsi, but it has numerous indirect competitors that also quench thirst, such as bottled water, fruit juice, energy drinks, etc. That's why the Coca-Cola corporation has products in all those categories. You should also use your imagination to predict where surprise competitors might come from. Did the traditional record stores ever foresee Apple's iTunes changing their market and taking their customers? Did Encyclopedia Britannica ever imagine Wikipedia destroying their business? Important Note: Competition is not always over sales. Companies might compete for executives, supplies, publicity, investors, real estate, or anything else they need to operate and succeed. Marketing Plan Action: List your primary competitors, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and describe their marketing activities. How will you react to their strengths and weaknesses? Be sure to also consider indirect and future competitors. Company Your marketing campaign must reflect your company's brand and the interests of its

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internal stakeholders: employees executives investors

In most cases, you need to communicate your plan to your internal stakeholders before launching it. Failure to do so might lead to internal dissension and disorder. Obviously, the diversity of interests makes pleasing everyone impossible: for example, cutting costs might please your investors, but anger your employees. Still, knowledge of what matters to your company stakeholders will help you sell your plan to them. For example, many marketers use sexy imagery to sell products. That might be appropriate for some companies, but for others, it could cause employees to complain or defect, investors to flee, and senior executives to condemn your decisions. While workers are grateful to have a job, most prefer to work for a company they're proud of. Marketing plays a huge role in building that pride. In addition, if your company is listed on the public stock market, your stockholders exert a powerful influence. They might demand rapid growth, which would force you to minimize investments in long-term programs, charitable policies, or worker benefits. Important Note: Beyond analyzing internal stakeholders, you need to describe your brand and position; your strengths and weaknesses; and the resources (technological, human, and financial) that will help your marketing plan succeed. Marketing Plan Action: Identify your key internal stakeholders and how this marketing plan might affect or involve them. How will your marketing strategy affect your brand and position? What resources do you have to support this plan? It's recommended that you conduct a SWOT analysis and create a positioning map. Community The interests of the wider community are integral in shaping a marketing plan. The community includes government officials in your target market, interest groups (such as environmental organizations), labor unions, journalists and others who might be monitoring your business and who might influence its success. The Austrian government's tight regulations forced Red Bull to launch a whole new product category, and that created interest in the product in other countries. This proves that a clever marketer can turn a regulation into an advantage. The key is to predict how your product and actions might be received by the community. This is not to say that you should try to please everyone; indeed, a little controversy can actually be great for business. The key is to plan ahead for what might happen.

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Important Note: In today's world, the community transcends borders. Recently, a British commercial for the Snicker's candy bar was retracted after Americans saw it on YouTube and began to protest it. In addition, there are two other community categories to consider:

Complements: A complement is a product that causes an increase in demand for your product. For example, software and hardware are complementary products, since the purchase of one inspires the purchase of the other. Here's a simple rule of thumb: o If sales of Product A cause sales of Product B to DECREASE, they are competitors. o If sales of Product A cause sales of Product B to INCREASE, they are complements. Collaborators: These are other companies -- not your customers -- that help your company succeed. Collaborators do not have to be in your industry: many interesting cross-promotions exist between two companies in entirely different industries. For example, Apple and Nike have collaborated on various products. (Note: collaborating with your competitors is usually illegal in many countries.)

You may also consider the needs of major suppliers and vendors. If you have a particularly close relationship with any of these complements and collaborators, you may describe them in your company analysis. Marketing Plan Action: Think about the community in which you operate. Which members of your community could influence the outcome of your plan? Consider also how your campaign might affect international stakeholders, such as powerful environmental organizations. Conclusion As you can see, many different stakeholders can shape a marketing plan and affect its performance. That's why there are no real "best practices" in marketing some strategies work only for a certain situation at a certain time with a certain set of stakeholders. What works in New York might not work in New Delhi. The key is not to rely on "best practices," but to analyze all the variables and possibilities within the 4C's , then to develop the plan thats right for your business.