APPLYING THE 5W1H FORMULA TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY

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The 5W1H formula is known as a “survival” rule and is a tool to assist planners in building an effective content strategy. In marketing, 5W1H helps provide more comprehensive information and gives you a multidimensional perspective to create an outstanding marketing campaign. Let’s explore how to use the 5W1H Formula in marketing to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy, ensuring that all your advertisements achieve their goals effectively!

Introduction to 5W1H in marketing

5W1H is a familiar tool that helps identify and answer a series of fundamental questions about a situation, event, or specific information. The term “5W1H” represents six words beginning with the letters “W” and “H” in English, corresponding to the following questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How.

In marketing, the 5W1H formula includes the following elements:

• Who: The target audience of the campaign.
• What: The product or message that the campaign aims to convey to the target audience.
• Where: The location where the marketing campaign will be deployed or where customers can access your message. This could be a physical location, a website, social media, or any channel used to reach the target audience.
• When: The timing of the marketing campaign deployment.
• Why: The reason behind the campaign, the choice of the target audience, timing, and location of the campaign.
• How: How the marketing campaign will be executed, including the strategy, methods, and specific activities to achieve marketing goals.

Using the 5W1H formula helps marketers identify objectives, create specific messages, plan campaign implementation, and evaluate its performance in a detailed and well-founded manner.

Steps to build a marketing plan using 5W1H

Step 1: Identify the product or service you want to offer (What?)

What makes the product special, its strengths, etc. You need to determine:

• What product needs to be advertised?
• What are the product’s competitive advantages?
• What message will be conveyed to customers?

Step 2: Identify the target audience (Who?)

Identifying the correct target audience ensures campaign consistency. The clearer the customer profile, the more effective and cost-efficient the campaign will be. You need to determine:

• Who are the primary product users? (Age, gender, location, consumer habits)
• Who is the primary audience for the product? (Age, gender, location, consumer habits)
• Who is the primary focus of the campaign? (Age, gender, location, consumer habits)
• Secondary target audience?
• Customer segments suitable for the product?

Step 3: Determine where your customers are (Where?)

Focusing marketing efforts by region helps optimize costs and increase conversion rates. You need to determine:

• In which regions are your customers primarily located?
• Which regions does the campaign target?
• Which media will you advertise on?

Step 4: Determine when it’s appropriate to advertise the product (When?)

You need to determine:

• Customer consumption habits over time?
• The best time to implement the campaign to effectively reach the target audience?
• How long should the campaign run?
• How to schedule campaign implementation throughout the entire campaign?

Step 5: Why should customers care about your product? (Why?)

Asking why helps you reevaluate whether your chosen factors are appropriate. You need to determine:

• Why is this campaign necessary?
• Why choose this target audience?
• Why implement the campaign in these locations?
• Why use this message?

Step 6: How to develop communication and brand promotion ideas (How?)

Before delving into detailed campaign planning, this step involves outlining ideas based on information gathered from the previous steps. You need to determine:

• Which channels will execute the campaign.
• How to prioritize channels in the campaign.
• The most effective way to convey the product and message to customers.
• Are there any risks during implementation?

At Vector, we provide comprehensive marketing consulting services, from market and business analysis to building marketing strategies, project implementation, and performance evaluation. Whether you want to increase brand awareness, enhance customer interaction, or maximize your brand’s competitive advantage, our professional and comprehensive consulting services can help you achieve those goals.