Ansoff Matrix Template
This Ansoff Matrix template allows you to record the high-level implications of adopting one of its four strategies. This matrix enables you to use the findings of your SWOT analysis and to assess the implications of each strategy.
The marketing direction of a company is one of the most important facets of ensuring the short and long-term success of the business. As a manager, you need to understand the marketing strategy as a whole, and how it affects your department specifically. The Ansoff matrix is a good way to think about marketing strategies as it offers four separate directions in which a marketing plan can be taken. By using this matrix to work through all of the possible marketing options and settling on one that is best for the business, you can be sure any decisions you make will have been well-considered and appropriate for the circumstances.
The four sectors of the Ansoff matrix represent the following four possible marketing strategies:
- Market Penetration
- Market Development
- Product Development
- Diversification
When using the Ansoff matrix within your organization, the biggest downside is the potential for investing large amounts of time and capital in efforts that may not be successful. Some of the options, especially product development and diversification, can be very costly and require a high degree of confidence to undertake. When done right, these moves can take a business to a whole new level. The possibility of failure always exists when expanding, however, and those failures can be catastrophic if not mitigated properly.
Good managers will use the Ansoff matrix as a way to think about all marketing angles going forward. There is no one right way to use the matrix – rather, it is a good way to start a marketing discussion and begin the process of developing ideas. Include this matrix in your next marketing staff meeting and look forward to finding new ways of growing the business that you may have never thought possible.
