Stakeholder Analysis for Your Marketing Plan

Earlier this month, I summarized my discussions on competitors as stakeholders. Now I want to continue this look at analyzing the groups that are stakeholders in a particular buiness. This is a vital element in preparing a marketing plan.

Johnson & Johnson, known for its health-care products, has a separate section on its website devoted to relations with stakeholders, within the business's strategic framework. It says, in part:

We foster and maintain ties with the suppliers and external manufacturers who help us make our products; the customers who purchase our products; the doctors, nurses, patients and consumers who use them, and our own employees and shareholders. We routinely engage with civic society leaders in our efforts to ensure access to health care for all.

J&J includes a detailed matrix (excerpt at left) of how it engages each major stakeholder group and the topics of interest to each group. It also has separate pages looking at relations with specific stakeholder groups, such as suppliers.

This level of analysis indicates how important stakeholder relations are to the success of the company--and how important the company is to these internal and external stakeholders.

Your marketing plan should include similar analyses to be sure you understand the concerns and actions of groups that can affect or be affected by your business's performance.