Brand – a brand is an offering from a known source. A brand name and image such as family day care and the red star house logo seeks to make positive associations in the minds of consumers: children, learning, home, fun etc.

Competition – includes all the actual and potential rival services that your target market/s might consider (eg nannies, OOSH services, occasional care, centres, in-home care, vacation care, pre-schools, informal care).

Features and Benefits – a feature is simply what your service is, eg ‘high quality childcare at home with a single carer who offers flexible hours by negotiation’. A benefit is what the feature then does for the user, eg ‘childcare that can accommodate my shift work hours and give me peace of mind because I know my child is with someone who cares about her’. Marketing messages work best when they are written from the user’s point of view, ie ‘what’s in it for me?'

service channels – used to carry out transactions with potential buyers. The coordination unit is a service channel that transacts with families by placing their children with a suitable carer; Centrelink is also a service channel.

Technological factors, eg growing use of the internet

You also need to understand the internal strengths and weaknesses in your scheme. A SWOT analysis combines the external and internal analysis to summarise your Strengths, Weaknesses (internal), Opportunities and Threats (external). It should also include implications, eg X is a weakness and if we don’t address it Y may be the consequence.

Marketing mix – generally regarded as the ‘four Ps’ of marketing – product, price, place and promotion, ie what is your product (service), how much will it cost, where can I get it and how will you tell me about it?

Marketing plan – a marketing plan is essential to achieve your marketing objectives. You need to make decisions about what mix of marketing tools you need to use to pursue those objectives in the market/s you have chosen to target.

Needs, wants and demands – needs are basic human requirements – air, food, water etc. People also have strong needs for education, recreation and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need, eg ‘I need childcare, but I want my child to grow up at home’. Demands are wants that are backed up by an ability to pay, eg ‘I need childcare, I want my child to grow up at home and I can afford the best, therefore I will choose family day care’.

Target markets and segmentation – family day care will not be of interest to everyone and it’s a waste of money to ‘mass market’ to everyone in your community. So you need to look at distinct groups of buyers (market segments), which are identified by examining geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural differences.

Value proposition – needs are addressed through the offering of a value proposition – the set of benefits offered to customers to satisfy their needs. This proposition is made tangible by a physical offering – a combination of product, service, information and experience. A value proposition then is simply the sum total of benefits a customer is promised to receive in return for his or her custom and the associated payment.