What is 5W1H? The meaning and application of the 5W1H method in various fields

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Businesses encounter numerous challenges daily. It's relatively challenging to find answers quickly and efficiently. 5W1H is a tool that assists organizations in answering all questions thoroughly and appropriately.

5W1H is a model that helps businesses solve many problems in business and marketing activities. What is 5W1H? What is the meaning of this model? Let's find it out with Navigos Search through the information below.

1. What is 5W1H?

5W1H (What - When - Where - Why - Who - How) is a model that helps determine goals, plans, and implementation steps for a project or idea. 5W1H is commonly applied in marketing thanks to its simplicity, effectiveness, and high applicability.

5W1H helps businesses and managers make the right decisions to achieve their set goals quickly.

What is 5W1H?

2. Advantages of the 5W1H method

Some advantages of  5W1H are:

  • Simple: Easy to do by answering the questions of the 5W1H model.
  • Versatile: Business activities used to design new processes and overcome a problem in marketing, business, and human resource management.
  • Comprehensive: The questions in the model are built logically. By answering all the questions, you will get the big picture of the problem and object of interest.

3. The meaning of each component in 5W1H

As mentioned, 5W1H is a handy formula for the marketing activities of a business. The components in 5W1H have the following specific meanings:

What

What element needs to be specifically described such as product, problem, project purpose.

For example, if a business is about to launch a new product or service, What means asking about that product or service? If your business is planning to market a product or service, you need to determine what the product or service is, its characteristics, its uses, how it works, and the meaning of that product or service to the user.

To find out What element is, you need to answer the following specific questions:

  • What's that?
  • What is the problem?
  • What happens after this activity?

When

When is the time for you to develop your plan. What is the meaning of When in 5W1H?

When is the product or campaign launch time, how long it takes place, frequency, the timelines.

To determine When factor, answer the following questions:

  • How long does it take for a product, plan, or campaign to be implemented?
  • When will implementation start?
  • How much time is needed to complete a phase of a plan or project?
  • When does the problem usually occur and for how long?

Where

Where is the location associated with a project or campaign, or areas your customers live, or the market the business is targeting for its products. The location could also be where the problem has arisen. Where can be in more places, and you need to list all the locations relevant to your plan.

Questions need to be answer for this element are:

  • Where does the problem occur?
  • Where does the product originate from?
  • Where are the customers?
  • Where will the event be held?

Why 

What is the meaning of Why in 5W1H? Why is the factor that explains the cause of a problem, the motive behind a plan being implemented, a product or service being launched in the market. This factor helps determine the goals and objectives of the plan and evaluate whether it should be implemented.

For products and services, this element clarifies why it should be launched, what factors make that product/service stand out compared to existing products on the market, and what makes the product/service gain users' trust and push customers to make purchasing decisions.

To dêtrmine why, you must first answer:

  • Why does the problem occur?
  • Why should you use that product or service?
  • Why does the problem need to be resolved quickly?

Who 

Who are the people involved and affected by the project, plan, product or service. It could be the implementer, investor, or user.

This component in the 5W1H model helps you determine the number of people involved in the project or plan and easily divide and manage work appropriately for each person.

You can apply the following questions to find out Who:

  • Who is responsible for this?
  • Who found the problem?
  • Who should I contact when a problem occurs?
  • Who is the target audience for this product or service?

How

What is the meaning of How in 5W1H? How element will determine the method of implementing projects and campaigns. In this step, you must define the method and steps to implement the project in each phase.

The questions to answer for the How element are:

  • How should this method be applied?
  • How much does the project or plan cost?
  • How do relevant departments need to coordinate with each other?
  • How to get customers to pay attention to products and services?

View more: What are SMART goals? Principles of effective SMART goal setting

Meaning of the elements in 5W1H

4. Application of  the 5W1H method in some fields

What is the application of the 5W1H method? As mentioned, 5W1H is commonly applied in many fields, specifically as follows:

Marketing 

5W1H is widely applied in marketing. Based on this model, you can view the problem comprehensively. Given the context of a business wanting to launch a new product, how will 5W1H be applied? Specifically, you need to determine the following:

  • What: What is your product? What is the use of the product?
  • When: When is it appropriate to start advertising the product? When will customers want to buy your product the most?
  • Where: Where is this product sold a lot? Where to reach customers?
  • Why: Why should customers use this product? 
  • Who: Who are potential customers of this product?
  • How: How to advertise the product? How to implement an idea? How to deploy promotional campaigns?

Business

What is the application of the 5W1H method in business? To make the most of the advantages of the 5WH1 model in business, you need to clarify the following issues:

  • What: What business products are? What field or industry does it belong to?
  • When: When should I start a business? When does the promotion run?
  • Where: Where does the item originate from? Where is it convenient for customers to buy products?
  • Why: Why should customers choose your products and services?
  • Who: Who are the users of the product or service? 
  • How: How do users buy products? How do products and services reach users?

Event-organization

What is the application of the 5W1H method in event organization? 5W1H is the standard formula for coming up with event ideas:

  • What: What is the event name? What are the activities taking place at the event? What are the themes, ticketed events, free admission, and regulations for participants?
  • When: When is the appropriate time for the event? When does the event start and end?
  • Where: Where to hold the event? Is there a means of transport to pick up guests if it is far from the venue?
  • Why: What is the goal of the event? Why is the event being held?
  • Who: Who is the event for? Who are the sponsors and partners? Who are the guests?
  • How: How does the event take place? How to proceed?

Application odd the 5W1H method in all fields

Hopefully, the above information from Navigos Search has helped you understand what the 5W1H model is and the meaning of 5W1H in business activities, marketing, SEO, and content. You can also apply the 5W1H formula in the presentation and communication to improve the efficiency of activities.

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