What Is a SWOT Analysis? Evaluating your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will help you gain a competitive edge with your marketing efforts.
Q: What is a SWOTanalysis, and how can it help me?
A: Marketing isprobably the most fun aspect of small-business management. Itinvolves direct communication with your customers and clients andallows you the opportunity to share what you bring to themarketplace in a creative way. Unlike most other elements of yourbusiness, marketing does not have rigid boundaries. You can be asformal as you like by mapping out marketing plans and strategies,or you can practice grassroots/guerrilla marketing as your budgetallows. But before you begin any marketing campaign, you shouldperform a SWOT analysis of your business. This acronym stands forstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
At the foundation of your marketing plan are the products andservices you offer, along with the personal talents and abilitiesthat you possess. If your products or services have features thatare unique to the market, you offer unparalleled customer service,you have lower prices, or you have specialized education ortraining that your competitors do not, then these things would beattributed to your business's strengths. Make sure that each ofthese elements is pointed out in your marketing pieces and youconvey these strengths to both current and potential customers inyour marketing pieces.
Weaknesses are those internal elements that keep you fromoffering the same level of products or services as yourcompetitors. These can be found in product attributes such as size,price or quantity, or in service levels such as delivery time,customer satisfaction and warranties. You may find that you haveonly a few weaknesses compared to your competition, or you may findthat you have many. Determining your business's weaknesses willhelp you to improve upon your products and services in the future.It's not wise to point out your weaknesses in your marketingpieces if you know that your competition can do somethingbetter.
Opportunities can be both internal and external circumstancesthat you have yet to take advantage of but are attainable in theforeseeable future. Opportunities can be bulk discounts availablethrough your suppliers, coming across a great price on equipment atan auction, seeing an ad for classes that are available to furtheryour professional education, or customers who have beendissatisfied dealing with your competitors. Opportunities are onlybeneficial when they are taken advantage of.
Threats, on the other hand, are those things that yourcompetitors do better. They may offer lower prices, faster service,a wider selection of products or services, or have more financialbacking. In any case, you must determine which of these elementspose the greatest threat to the survival of your business in themarketplace and determine how you will counterattack them. Can youlower your prices or increase your product line? Can you increaseyour capital or speed up delivery time? These are all things thatyou have to analyze and then change based on the opportunities thatyour business faces. You may not be able to compete with somethreats. That's just part of business. In that case, you haveto make sure that the things you can do better, your strengths,continue to ring clear in your marketing pieces.
Brian O'Rourke is the CEO and publisher of EnTrends, an onlinepublication devoted to exploring how entrepreneurs work andlive.
