Situational Analysis Marketing – A Complete Guide

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Even if you’ve been working in the industry for quite some time, you may have never heard of the concept of Situational Analysis Marketing. In simple words, this type of marketing that uses situations to its advantage. For instance, the usage of a news feed as part of your marketing campaign to promote your online product. Or using a really big event everyone is talking about or looking forward to to promote your business. These are the general examples.

To move onto something particular a great example would be the 2021 Olympics in Sochi. During the opening ceremony only one ring didn’t open. This news quickly spread around the globe and became a big issue. Many brands used this situation (even foreign ones) as part of their marketing strategy during that time. You must have seen similar examples when the football World Cup comes to the host country. Geographically isolated event becomes the talk of the entire country, continent and the world. Such a great opportunity for marketers to promote their business.

Now let’s get a little deeper into the details and discuss different ways in which marketers can benefit from such events.

In the case of the event like Olympics and The World Cup, situational marketing works perfectly because it reaches out to a wide range of different audiences. First, the sportsmen and their teams, including coaches, doctors, federation members and such. All those participating in the games are in the same boat. They want to be ready for the games. Their main goal is to be the best and come on top, which includes getting fit, building up their muscles, and having fun.

As a brand you can promote your products by reaching out to specific teams and offering a sponsorship. This can be a single sportsman too. They work just like a famous influencer. Lots of sportsmen are, in fact, considered a celebrity. Furthermore, you can do the collaboration pre or post the event. Of course, getting the winner promote your business is the best you can do here. But that’s something bigger businesses can allow themselves because A. the competition is too fierce. Everyone wants to get to the winner. And B. It’s costly. They will probably land a deal with a really popular brand who pays them a lot.

If that is the case, just observe the event from the beginning and try to reach out to those that have people’s sympathy. They may not even be a gold medalist; not even silver or bronze. But whoever manages to capture the audience, gets the most attention. Which is exactly what you are looking for.

Focus On the Audience

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More so than the participants, the reach you can cover during such events is incomparable. Fans, spectators, just regular citizens who inevitably become a part of the event. Locally or globally such events gets lots of attention from all over the world. And the biggest advantage? You can hardly think of a business that can’t benefit in this situation.

Doesn’t matter what your niche is, when the audience is this wide, you can find your target market among the crowds. No need to rack your brains here. Fans and tourists coming into the host country will be looking for all kinds of local products and experiences. Therefore, local businesses can offer their products and services to them. A food establishment, no matter how small, can just hang a flag of any participant country during The World Cup and the fans supporting the team from that country will start to flock in.

Likewise businesses and companies outside the host country can do something similar. They just need to modify and customize their products and services to indicate they are part of the process (situation). They don’t have to go all out and spend lots of money featuring stars in their TV ads, like how Pepsi does for instance. No need to spend lots of money. Just do the minimum and get maximum profit. That’s because the timing and atmosphere do the work for you.

The Worst Thing You Can Do As A Brand

Miss the opportunity to do situational marketing. It really doesn’t have to be a worldwide sports event. There are thousands of relevant and talked-about social events such as musical or arts festivals, fashion weeks, even exams. Heck, even some big political and social issues can be utilized to your benefit. If the latter is the case though, you need to be extra cautious to not offend anyone. And you also to be genuine about showing your support. Just showing where you stand, without doing much, is the promo to your business.

And what do some brands do? Many of them overlook this very viable opportunity and treat it as if it is not viable at all. Now, there are two points to consider here.

Not Doing Situational Analysis During A Relevant Social Event

Very damaging to your business but just as a missed opportunity. That’s it. Nobody’s going to cancel you for not caring about The World Cup. What that can do to your business is that you will lose the customers. And that includes potential as well as already existing ones. They will simply focus on your competitors who are participating in a general craze. You will be forgotten. At least for a period of time. Such a regretful way to waste an amazing promo potential.

Not Doing Situational Analysis During A Relevant Social Uprising

Unlike the first case, this can actually be very damaging to your business. Ignoring a social issue and not expressing where you stand may lead to customers boycotting your business. Has happened to the biggest brands out there. And it can be irreversible. At least big companies have enough funds to sustain themselves during hard times and wait until the situation somewhat dies down. Smaller business can’t afford to risk it. The time they are being boycotted can be vital to company’s very existence.

With the rise of social networks, it is very easy to reach out to many brands and their target audiences. As a business, you absolutely have to be an avid social media user on multiple platforms. One of the most effective uses of social media marketing for a brand to guide situational marketing is reaching out to young audiences and creating brand awareness for upcoming events or seasons.

On the other hand, social media makes it very easy to spread information super fast to a large amount of people. Whether they are registered on the platform is not of relevance. And it also has a great influence of customer behavior. Think about negative word of mouth. Now multiply that by ten and that’s where ignoring a big social issue will get you.

But again, you need to be careful. Not overdo your situational marketing campaign during difficult times. You don’t want to be accused of insensitivity and offend a group of people. Be subtle and to the point. Remember, you don’t have to do much during situational marketing. Just go with the flow and the events will work as your very effective marketing team.

The Takeaway

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Timing

When it comes to situational marketing timing is the key. The first step is to make sure your company’s brand name is available at the right time. You can and absolutely should prepare for the events. It’s a bit different with big social issues as you don’t know when something strikes. But for popular events, they are likely to be scheduled months before they take place. Select few you want to participate it and plan ahead. Make useful links, look into the ways you can participate and budget for it.

Location

In this modern marketing environment, no company is too old or too new to be included in this strategy. Most established players can take advantage of this strategy by creating an interactive website where consumers can get to know their brand more. These websites should include both a home page and a landing page. The landing page should provide consumers with information on the brand and what it has to offer. In the case of location-based marketing, it is also important for the brand to have a physical location where consumers can visit them in order to experience the offerings firsthand.

There is still a lot to learn about location-based marketing, but for now, this is how it is being handled by most companies. 

So overall, situational marketing strategy involves making sure your brand is available at the right place at the right time. And once a consumer gets to you, make sure they leave impressed. That’s how you turn a one time visitor to a loyal customer. Adjust depending on who your target audience is (meaning local or global) and where you mainly operate (locally or globally).

Altering Customer Behavior

  • A great benefit of situational marketing campaign done right is that consumers tend to remember those products and services that are A. displayed to them during an important situation for them. B. Displayed to them regularly when something big is happening that they are a part of. If your brand keeps up to date with the latest news, there is a great chance that customers remember you.
  • The second benefit concerns the promotion you can do involving your digital presence. Most people enjoy reading updates about the big event from different point of view. This should be one of the factors that you could use in your situational marketing campaign. Know the right way to approach this part of the campaign though.

Being humorous could work during some events, but you should definitely be subtle and serious during sensitive times. Then there is no doubt readers will click on your website or follow your social media accounts for more. When they engage with your online content, they can be directed to your homepage or a specific landing page where they can further explore your products and services.

  • The third benefit is that through the process of engaging with your news feed, they might also come across other sources of information that can help them with their decision making process. Once they ‘get distracted’, most visitors will most likely check out other content that can be found on your website (or a social media page). Like any challenges you may have done, interesting past campaigns, charity and donations you’ve made. This will make your business even more attractive.

The final benefit is that your target audience will be able to remember you and identify your brand. This way you get new customers.

Wrapping Up

So in a nutshell, situational analysis marketing is a strategy that you should definitely use when the timing is right. In fact, it’s something you should never ignore. Despite not being talked about and hyped, today, situational marketing is as just as important as digital, influencer or social media marketing.

With situational marketing campaign, you are likely to attract a wide range of new customers. This is because you inevitably get to target different demographics at the same time. It also enables you to give them the relevant information in a subtle way and positively alter their behavior and attitudes towards your brand. It can be amazingly convenient and beneficial opportunity for a lot of businesses. Especially the startups as they can really get their name out there with just a single campaign.

Utilize what you’ve learned here the next time an opportunity comes up and you won’t be disappointed. If you have had the experience with this marketing technique share it down below. But if this is your first time, hopefully you have learned some useful tactics you can benefit from. Come back to this post to let us know how it went for your business. Don’t hold back any questions or comments either.

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