The 5C analysis model is popular because it’s simple and effective, and works well for small and medium sized businesses. Reviewing them doesn't take long, and will help you keep on top of the most important factors affecting your business.
Here are what the 5Cs represent.
1 - Company
The question to answer here is - what is the purpose of your company and how do you position it?
Areas that should be considered here include how your business operates, your products and services, and the marketing tactics you use to position your brand. A company analysis should help identify key marketing messages and inform many of its promotional decisions.
Communication channels you’re currently leveraging and those you want to explore.
Key influencers for marketing decisions, including representatives from sales, operations and customer service.
With this section, pay close attention to your marketing approach. While it’s advisable to also consider elements like finances and new products, the main focus should be on what you have to sell and how you can share it with your audience.
Once established, revisit your competitive advantage about every six months.
2 - Collaborators
For this section of the framework, take a look at the collaborators you currently work with as well as keeping an eye open for more potential partnerships.
What do we mean by collaborators? Consider businesses aligned with you in the marketplace but aren’t competitors. Working in partnership with them may prove to be valuable for creating mutually beneficial content. Examining your supply chain can be helpful as well. There’s a good chance you’ll find opportunities to work with other companies that have shared interests.
Collaborations are a great way for marketers to attract new audiences through blogging and social media networks. Collaboration enables access to a new audience for both parties.
Collaborators can also refer to influencer marketing. If you want to work with influencers, be selective and concentrate on quality rather than quantity.
Finding Influencers
Look for influencers relevant to your niche
Check their following and interactions with their audience
Agree the expected ROI from any collaboration with the influencer
Decide on a collaborative project
3 - Customers
Customers are one of the most important of the 5Cs in the framework. The goal here is to determine your ideal customer profile (ICP) for a product or campaign. This might include creating customer personas and profiles, or gaining insight from real customers through interviews and market research.
Connected with the first C, ‘company’, you need to understand what issue your product is solving - for whom, and where those customers spend their time.
It all comes down to understanding customer needs, identifying the market, working out which strategies to deploy to interact with that market, and making sure your messaging resonates.
In essence, this C revolves around understanding what your customers and potential audience need, and nailing how to most effectively reach them.
4 - Competitors
The key for this section is identifying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, market share, and marketing strategy.
Competition is a threat to your business, but at the same time it represents opportunity for you. You can understand what works well in the marketplace, and use that as inspiration to take elements of what others are doing, and then do it better than them to gain a competitive advantage.
Take a look at your competitors and examine how they handle products, services, price, quantity, shipping, returns, incentives and customer service. Order products to see what the customer experience is like. See what they’re not doing well, or what they’re missing, and then make sure you implement those things well.
Look into SEO to focus on getting more quality links to your store from other sites, create and publish good, valuable content for your audience, improve your Shopify store’s UI and UX, and focus on getting ahead of the competition everywhere you can.
5 - Context
Context (or ‘conditions’) is all about the relationship between you and your customers: what they want, and why they buy from you, and in what climate.
The idea is to really look beyond your own brand to get a better understanding of the whole ecosystem in which your company is a part. To develop an effective strategy that attracts new potential customers while retaining loyal clients, you have to assess the overall climate.
Valuable questions to ask include:
What’s happening in the external landscape and how are you positioned to win?
What business do you operate in?
Do you perform better or worse during recessions?
How can you diversify to ensure sustainability during difficult times?
How has the industry changed in the last five years?
How might the industry change in the next 5 years?
How does the macro economy affect how you do business?
How Can The 5 Cs Help Businesses?
Digital marketing is constantly in the midst of evolving processes, new tech, tools and channels where online businesses can advertise and promote their brand. It's a significant change. Everyone is using digital marketing methods to communicate with their customers.
Some principles remain constant, however. If you plan your digital marketing goals clearly, you will always have a true north to guide you, even if tactics keep changing. The 5C's can help you achieve them efficiently.
