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Staying Ahead of the Competition

Completed 2009

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Keeping in touch with market trends and competitor activity.

Course aims

To enable participants to grasp how critical it is to keep one step ahead by being well informed about the market place and to provide methods and means for analysis and interpretation of the market.

Who will benefit?

Junior or first level marketers, those with responsibility for research and planning, newcomers to marketing, marketing support staff, sales and customer service staff and those with sales responsibility who need to keep abreast of marketing conditions.

Why should you attend?

  • To improve your awareness of the realities of how changing trading conditions can seriously impact a business.
  • To learn new methods for interpreting the impact of competitor activity and the changing environment.
  • To understand what your company can bring to bear and why meeting customers needs is so key.

Key content

Unit 1 – Customers, competitors and capabilities – all in a changing environment the 4Cs of marketing.

  • Define marketing by the 4Cs, their interaction and their impact.
  • Understand how the “environment” affects a marketplace.
  • Review the external factors which influence a market and trading conditions, identifying which ones are most likely to impact your business.

Unit 2 – “Where are we now?” Analysing market and competitive position.

  • Competitors – who, how many and where are they?
  • Analysing competitors – how much power do they wield?
  • Evaluate customers needs in your market.
  • Assess the product / service, what customers think, value and benefits.
  • Review your organisation’s special capabilities and assess whether this is a good match to customers needs.