HOW TO USE SOSTAC IN YOUR SME
Udal Govender
Clinical Nurse Practitioner, Philanthropist, Forever Student, Aspiring Writer, Motivator&Coach, CoffeeWithV co-presenter
This week has been a week of SOSTAC, a tool used by both big, small and medium enterprises to analyze, plan, improve and repeat…
So what is SOSTAC? Created by PR Smith, the SOSTAC? model is used in the creation of an overall marketing strategy, digital marketing strategy or in the improvement of individual channel tactics like SEO or email marketing. (Dave Chaffey, 2021)
Why use SOSTAC? This model allows you to delve into a deeper understanding of your company’s situation in terms of:
1.?????Who are your customers?
2.?????Who are your competitors?
3.?????Who are your intermediaries/ partners?
4.?????What does your wider macro-environment look like?
5.?????What are your own capabilities?
6.?????What objectives do you need to set based on where you are and where you want to be?
7.?????What is your strategy to achieve your objectives, using positioning and the 7P’s of the marketing mix?
8.?????How to create your digital strategies?
9.?????How to use your company’s’ individuality to create tactics to achieve your objectives?
10. And lastly, what actions and controls do you need to take?
I KNOW IT CAN BE A LOT...
But as I have learned from Dave Chaffey… we can use RACE-G.?
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RACE-G stands for: Reach, Act, Convert, Engage and Governance. Along with our trusty SWOT analysis, Dave Chaffey also gives us “The 6 Targeting options” which assist with step 1 of SOSTAC- namely Strategic Analysis.
1.?????Customer profile characteristics
2.?????Customer value (current and future)
3.?????Customer life-cycle groups
4.?????Customer behavior response and purchase
5.?????Customer multi-channel behavior (channel preference)
6.?????Customer persona’s including psychographics
These options help you rate customer’s quality vs customers potential and so assists with correct targeting and positioning towards the best customer segment.
After your Situational analysis comes Objective setting. This means setting SMART goals that are also simple enough to be used later as part of your Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). They should be broad and include what it means to have a Return of Investment (ROI) that is specific to your company. (Doesn’t have to be monetary)
After Objectives are set it is time to create a Strategy that fits the individuality of your business. Here I have found that the RACE model works well to-Include substantiation informed by situation analyses/ insight; Strategies to achieve goals and can also include KPI’s as critical success factors.
For small businesses I have found that it helps to receive assistance from Online Marketing Company’s for the more specialized work of website setting up and analysis, however where possible you can try to use your available resources to becomes more present online. These are the Tactics, Actions and Controls you will follow to carry out your planned Strategy.
But then where do we start, where do we end and what do we still need…these are still some questions you may have after reading this blog. The only answer I have is a Road map. (Dave Chaffey, 2021)
This tool will assist you in terms of your marketing planning. You can use it to identify where you are and what resources you have during your situational analysis, as well as plan what you still need for your business.
In conclusion it is vitally important to be aware of your business standing in your environment, to know what resources you have and what you need to remain relevant in this ever changing online world. In a world on E-money and Online mining, traditional marketing is not enough for ANY business to be sustained…
I wish you all the luck as you continue on your online marketing journey.
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