SWOT and Marketing
SWOT and Marketing
SWOT and Marketing
T he hardest part of
developing a market-
ing plan is committing
to a careful analysis of
your business, including
examination of your prod-
uct and service, your mar-
gaining market share or
maintaining the status
quo? Are you losing or
gaining sales volume? Are
you experiencing cash flow
problems? What is your
employee turnover? Are
and discover how to please
customers in a better way
than the competition.
Know Your
Competition
Those pesky competitors
Remember to be thor-
ough in assessing the com-
petition. Start by gathering
these basic facts about your
five largest competitors:
• names and addresses of
competitive companies;
kets and your position in you playing follow the are perhaps the biggest • names and roles of key
them, and your business's market leader, letting your impediment to achieving company players;
strengths and weaknesses. competitor set the pace? your marketing goals — • number of employees;
Many companies use a Next, look at external yours is not the only busi- • years in business;
SWOT (strengths, weak- business environments. ness looking to your target • sales in both dollars
nesses, opportunitries and These areas include current markets for your next sale. and units;
threats) analysis to deter- customers, prospects, com- Start assessing the compet- • market share;
mine the best product petitors, technology, polit- itive environment by identi- • targeted markets;
marketing strategies. Capi- ical climate, government fying your immediate com- • key customers;
talizing on your strengths and other regulatory orga- petitors. Who are they? • position of products and
while understanding your nizations, and the legal What do they do better services; and
weaknesses will help you and economic environ- than you? What do you do • distribution patterns.
take full advantage of ments. For example, con- better than they? Are they Supplier relationships
opportunities and mini- sider how desktop publish- investing in research and are a good source of com-
mize threats. ing revolutionized the development, a new prod- petitive intelligence. There
typesetting and printing uct line or technology? is nothing sneaky or
Know Yourself industries, and how the What are their target mar- unethical about gathering
A SWOT anal)'sis begins events of 9/11 and the kets? What image are they and using information. It's
by examining internal Internet have challenged trying to project? Are they part of being in business.
strengths and weaknesses the trade show industry. heavily in debt? There are a number of
in the areas of profitability, To begin your SWOT, You can quickly deter- ways to obtain information
Sedes and marketing, qual- select five strengths and mine your position in the on the competition — from
ity, customer service, pro- opportunities, and five marketplace by identifying scanning of financial and
ductivity, financial re- weaknesses and threats. the unique selling proposi- trade publications or hiring
sources, financial manage- Knowing these will help tion of your product or ser- a clipping service, to using
ment, operations and distri- you identify and develop vice. What makes your an Interhet search engine
bution. Involve your em- marketing strategies. For product or service stand like www.infoseek.com.
ployees in this process — example, do you have an out from the competition? Maintaining files on the
their frontline experience area of expertise worth Is it quality, price, conve- five most direct competi-
will be invaluable. promoting? Are you under- nience, style, location or tors can yield big dividends
Take a straightforward capitalized? Is your market professionalism? The goal for a relatively small
look at your company, ask- growing or shrinking? is to develop an image in amount of time and ener-
ing such questions as: Are The goal is to determine the marketplace that you gy. Place every bit of infor-
you losing or gaining cus- which small market niches offer something special that mation you can glean in
tomers? Are you losing or to focus on and dominate. your competitors do not. the files. Clip advertise-
ments and articles about Once a month, spend a additional property? Build- customers want; competitor
their products or employee few minutes reviewing ing a new facility, or clos- provides; and we provide.
promotions. Want ads can your files to determine if ing one? Developing a new Place the following items
help you estimate growth patterns are developing. image? Changing its posi- (and add your own for your
and track key personnel Track how often your com- tioning or pricing strategy? particular market) under
changes. Clip anything petitors advertise and in Redesigning products? the customers want catego-
that gives you a handle on which publications. Study Conducting professional or ry — quality, low price,
their positioning or pricing their advertising message market research? Expand- high price, wide product
strategies. Attend trade to determine their posi- ing trading areas or aban- line, deep product line,
shows or trade association tioning strategies. Look at doning certain markets? product information, relia-
meetings, and gather bro- the image they are convey- Increasing or reducing bility, warranty, location,
chures and other collateral ing to determine their tar- advertising frequency? just-in-time delivery, acces-
material they are distribut- get markets. Some ques- You can use a simple sories and spare parts, and
ing. Visit their websites tions to consider during form as a quick reference well-trained technicians —
often to stay abreast of competitive intelligence on your position versus that then let your SWOT analy-
expanding lines or new gathering include: Is your of your competitors. This sis determine how you fill
product introductions. competitor purchasing form has three columns: in the next tvv'o columns.