PCM cheat sheet

Ansoff matrix: market penetration (existing product/existing market), product development (new product/existing market), market development (existing product/new market), diversification (new product/new market); risk rises in that order.

SWOT feeds strategy by pairing internal strengths/weaknesses with external opportunities/threats into SO, ST, WO and WT options; it is an input tool, not a strategy statement.

Porter's generic strategies: cost leadership, differentiation and focus; a firm stuck between cost leadership and differentiation is 'stuck in the middle' and earns below-average returns.

Porter's five forces: rivalry, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers; high forces depress industry profitability.

BCG matrix axes are market growth rate and relative market share; cells are star, cash cow, question mark and dog. Cash cows fund stars and selected question marks.

SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. A share target without a defined market and time frame is not measurable.

Market share = company sales / total market sales; relative market share = company share / largest competitor's share (BCG uses this ratio).

70-20-10 budget rule of thumb: about 70% to proven media/activities, 20% to promising new options, 10% to experimental bets; treat as a heuristic, not a law.

TAM/SAM/SOM: total addressable market, serviceable available market, serviceable obtainable market; SOM is the realistic near-term share of SAM.

Margin of error for a proportion at 95% confidence is about 1.96 x sqrt(p(1-p)/n); worst case p=0.5 gives roughly 1/sqrt(n) at 95%.

Sample size for a proportion: n = z^2 x p(1-p) / e^2; for 95% confidence and 5% error, worst case is about 384 respondents.

Correlation measures linear association only, ranges -1 to +1, and does not establish causation; causation needs design (experiment, temporal order, control of confounders).

A/B test significance: a two-proportion z-test uses the pooled rate; peeking repeatedly at results inflates false positives, so fix the sample size or use sequential methods.

Statistical significance is not business significance: report effect size and confidence interval alongside the p-value.

Likert items are ordinal; report medians, frequencies or top-two-box scores rather than treating the scale as interval data.

Net Promoter Score = % promoters (9-10) minus % detractors (0-6); passives (7-8) are excluded from the calculation.

Cost per acquisition = total campaign cost / number of acquisitions; return on ad spend = revenue attributed / ad spend.

Primary research is collected for the current question (surveys, interviews, experiments); secondary research uses existing data (reports, panels, internal CRM).

Brand equity models (e.g., Keller's CBBE) build in sequence: salience, performance/imagery, judgments/feelings, resonance; awareness precedes meaningful differentiation.

Brand positioning statement form: for (target), (brand) is the (frame of reference) that (point of difference) because (reason to believe).

Product life cycle stages: introduction, growth, maturity, decline; profit typically peaks in late growth/early maturity while sales peak later in maturity.

Line extension adds a variant within an existing category; brand extension enters a new category; category extension carries the brand into a new category under the same name.

Cannibalization occurs when a new SKU or extension takes sales from existing own-brand items; assess incremental volume, not gross volume.

Conjoint analysis estimates part-worth utilities for attribute levels and reveals the relative importance of each attribute and the trade-offs buyers make.

Price elasticity of demand = % change in quantity / % change in price; demand is elastic when the absolute value exceeds 1.

The four Ps are product, price, place and promotion; in services the extended mix adds people, process and physical evidence.

AIDA is attention, interest, desire, action; the funnel view maps awareness, consideration, conversion and retention to different message and channel roles.

Reach x frequency = gross impressions; effective frequency is the number of exposures needed for a message to register, so reach and frequency trade off against a fixed budget.

CPM = cost per thousand impressions; CPC = cost per click; CPA = cost per acquisition; CTR = clicks / impressions.

Attribution models: last-click credits the final touch, first-click the first, linear splits evenly, time-decay weights recent touches; each distorts channel value in a different way.

Search intent types: informational, navigational, commercial investigation, transactional; keyword and landing-page choice should match the intent.

Email metrics: open rate = opens / delivered; click-through rate = clicks / delivered (or / opened for click-to-open rate); bounce rate = bounces / sent.

Consent-based marketing (e.g., GDPR/ePrivacy) requires a lawful basis, clear notice and an easy opt-out; purchased lists without consent are not a compliant basis.

Share of voice = brand advertising spend / total category advertising spend; share of voice above share of market is associated with share growth (excess SOV).

Programmatic buying trades inventory in real time via RTB auctions; brand safety and viewability controls are set at the inventory and placement level.

Customer lifetime value (simple form) = average order value x purchase frequency x retention years x margin; discounted CLV divides each period's margin by (1+d)^t.

CLV:CAC ratio is a common efficiency gauge; values around 3:1 are often cited as healthy, but the benchmark is context-dependent.

Churn rate = customers lost in period / customers at start of period; retention rate = 1 - churn rate.

RFM segmentation scores recency, frequency and monetary value; it is behavioral and requires no survey data.

Customer effort score measures perceived effort to resolve an issue; it is a stronger predictor of loyalty in service recovery than satisfaction alone.

Sales funnel stages: prospecting, qualification, needs discovery, proposal, objection handling, close; conversion rate per stage = stage exits / stage entries.

Pipeline coverage = open pipeline value / quota; a common rule of thumb is 3x to 4x coverage, varying with win rate and cycle length.

Distribution intensity: intensive (mass availability), selective (chosen intermediaries), exclusive (single or very limited outlets per territory).

Push vs pull: push incentives target channel members (trade allowances, spiffs); pull incentives target end customers (consumer promotions, advertising).