PPP2 // What is PEST Analysis

PEST Analysis is a little more tricky than SWOT it seems, their is a large amount of brainstorming and research involved in PEST and the results of this PEST Analysis could help you develop your organisation or make you realise that there are areas that need to be changed to suit either the Political, economical, social and technological environment.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_09.htm

Political Factors to Consider

• When is the country's next local, state, or national election? How could this change government or regional policy?
• Who are the most likely contenders for power? What are their views on business policy, and on other policies that affect your organization?
• Depending on the country, how well developed are property rights and the rule of law, and how widespread are corruption and organized crime? How are these situations likely to change, and how is this likely to affect you?
• Could any pending legislation or taxation changes affect your business, either positively or negatively?
• How will business regulation, along with any planned changes to it, affect your business? And is there a trend towards regulation or deregulation?
• How does government approach corporate policy, corporate social responsibility, environmental issues, and customer protection legislation? What impact does this have, and is it likely to change?
• What is the likely timescale of proposed legislative changes?
• Are there any other political factors that are likely to change?

Economic Factors to Consider

• How stable is the current economy? Is it growing, stagnating, or declining?
• Are key exchange rates stable, or do they tend to vary significantly?
• Are customers' levels of disposable income rising or falling? How is this likely to change in the next few years?
• What is the unemployment rate? Will it be easy to build a skilled workforce? Or will it be expensive to hire skilled labor?
• Do consumers and businesses have easy access to credit? If not, how will this affect your organization?
• How is globalization affecting the economic environment?
• Are there any other economic factors that you should consider?

Socio-Cultural Factors to Consider

• What is the population's growth rate and age profile? How is this likely to change?
• Are generational shifts in attitude likely to affect what you're doing?
• What are your society's levels of health, education, and social mobility? How are these changing, and what impact does this have?
• What employment patterns, job market trends, and attitudes toward work can you observe? Are these different for different age groups?
• What social attitudes and social taboos could affect your business? Have there been recent socio-cultural changes that might affect this?
• How do religious beliefs and lifestyle choices affect the population?
• Are any other socio-cultural factors likely to drive change for your business?

Technological Factors to Consider

• Are there any new technologies that you could be using?
• Are there any new technologies on the horizon that could radically affect your work or your industry?
• Do any of your competitors have access to new technologies that could redefine their products?
• In which areas do governments and educational institutions focus their research? Is there anything you can do to take advantage of this?
• How have infrastructure changes affected work patterns (for example, levels of remote working)?
• Are there existing technological hubs that you could work with or learn from?
• Are there any other technological factors that you should consider?

PPP2 // SWOT Analysis

I found this website very useful when researching SWOT Analysis - it focuses on SWOT from a business point which can be applied to starting or developing businesses as well as personal analysis.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

SWOT stands for Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats

Originated by Albert S Humphrey in the 1960s, SWOT Analysis is as useful now as it was then. You can use it in two ways - as a simple icebreaker helping people get together to "kick off" strategy formulation, or in a more sophisticated way as a serious strategy tool.

Strengths

• What advantages does your organization have?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't?
• What do people in your market see as your strengths?
• What factors mean that you "get the sale"?
• What is your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

Consider your strengths from both an internal perspective, and from the point of view of your customers and people in your market.
Also, if you're having any difficulty identifying strengths, try writing down a list of your organization's characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
When looking at your strengths, think about them in relation to your competitors. For example, if all of your competitors provide high quality products, then a high quality production process is not a strength in your organization's market, it's a necessity.

Weaknesses

• What could you improve?
• What should you avoid?
• What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses?
• What factors lose you sales?

Again, consider this from an internal and external basis: Do other people seem to perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Are your competitors doing any better than you?
It's best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities 

• What good opportunities can you spot?
• What interesting trends are you aware of?

Useful opportunities can come from such things as:

• Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale.
• Changes in government policy related to your field.
• Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, and so on.
• Local events.

Threats

• What obstacles do you face?
• What are your competitors doing?
• Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing?
• Is changing technology threatening your position?
• Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
• Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business?

PPP2 // Life's a Pitch - E flyer design

The eflyer visual concept was thought of by Ross, he came in with the idea of producing a motion GIF which would both brand out company as well as contain minimal but informative written content about our practice and ourselves.

The production of this E flyer was done by Myself, Joel and Ross and I think the outcome looks quite innovative and visually pleasing.

Life's a Pitch // E flyer development

We have had a little trouble finding time this week for our entire group to sit down together and talk through ideas as we have all been in different workshops and we have had some group absences.
However we have still maintained a good level of communication, which has allowed us to go away individually and develop the ideas we have got. So on Monday when we have time to have a meeting, we can sit and look at each of our design ideas as well as the information needed to go on the E flyer.

Mission Statement 

 Initial idea for mission statement.

Founded in November 2012, five attractive, hilarious and trendy designers put their heads together to create Four IIII (we never said maths was our strong point).
We do branding & identity, photography & film, packaging & publication as well as promotional campaign & strategy.
Four IIII can do more than SEE your design solutions, we take a creandly, proffordable & funique approach to any design problem you want solving.
Four IIII is our name, we design Four IIII's because we have an IIII Four design.

Life's a Pitch // logo design ideas

Having decided last week that we were to be called Four iiii, we decided to go away and try and think of our own individual ideas on what the logo should be. The decision to do this was mostly because we have had very little time together since the brief was set, I thought maybe individually doing designs would give us a good choice of design ideas to pick from on Monday morning. Then we would be able to make clear and processed decisions on what direction we want our studio to go in.

Initial ideas.

 Developed ideas from chosen designs.

I don't want to follow any ideas through too seriously at this stage, however there are some designs which I like and may consider digitalising before Monday just so if it is chosen we would have a starting point.

PPP2 // the 4 P's of marketing

What are the 4 P's?

Understanding the Tool

The marketing mix and the 4 Ps of marketing are often used as synonyms for each other. In fact, they are not necessarily the same thing.
"Marketing mix" is a general phrase used to describe the different kinds of choices organizations have to make in the whole process of bringing a product or service to market. The 4 Ps is one way – probably the best-known way – of defining the marketing mix, and was first expressed in 1960 by E J McCarthy.
The 4Ps are:

• Product (or Service)
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

A good way to understand the 4 Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define you marketing mix. Here are some questions that will help you understand and define each of the four elements:

Product/Service

• What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
• What features does it have to meet these needs?
  
  • Are there any features you've missed out?
  • Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
• How and where will the customer use it?
• What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
• What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?
• What is it to be called?
• How is it branded?
• How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
• What is the most it can cost to provide, and still be sold sufficiently profitably? (See also Price, below).

Place

• Where do buyers look for your product or service?
• If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via a catalogue?
• How can you access the right distribution channels?
• Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?
• What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?

Price

• What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
• Are there established price points for products or services in this area?
• Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin?
• What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
• How will your price compare with your competitors?

Promotion

• Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?
• Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshot? Through PR? On the Internet?
• When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider environmental issues that suggest or dictate the timing of your market launch, or the timing of subsequent promotions?
• How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?

The 4Ps model is just one of many marketing mix lists that have been developed over the years. And, whilst the questions we have listed above are key, they are just a subset of the detailed probing that may be required to optimize your marketing mix.
Amongst the other marketing mix models have been developed over the years is Boom and Bitner's 7Ps, sometimes called the extended marketing mix, which include the first 4 Ps, plus people, processes and physical layout decisions.
Another marketing mix approach is Lauterborn's 4Cs, which presents the elements of the marketing mix from the buyer's, rather than the seller's, perspective. It is made up of Customer needs and wants (the equivalent of product), Cost (price), Convenience (place) and Communication (promotion). In this article, we focus on the 4Ps model as it is the most well-recognized, and contains the core elements of a good marketing mix.