STar urges you to SWOT up on your marketing

Posted: 06/12/2011

Before you write your strategy, STar thinks it’s time for you to assess your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Not just for those starting out in business, a SWOT analysis is a good way to give your business a healthcheck which will enable you to analyse your current position (the Horizonworks elves can do one of these for you for free if you’re too busy!) Make sure someone does it in any case because it is the first stage of planning your marketing strategy and it will help you to focus on key issues.

Strengths and weaknesses tend to be internal factors affecting the business, whereas opportunities and threats are factors in your external environment. Remember that weaknesses and threats can usually be turned into positive opportunities to improve and expand your business if you tackle them correctly.

A strength is basically an aspect of your business that adds value to your product or service.

This could be:

• A product or service that is new and/or innovative
• Where your business is located – central, local, excellent transport links
• Company name recognised on a Local or National level.
• Processes and procedures that are high quality
• Any other aspect of your business that adds value to your product or service.
• Weaknesses need to be determined as soon as possible as they can be potentially very damaging to your business if not addressed.

A weakness could be:

• Lack of sales or marketing expertise
• A weak internet presence
• Products or services that aren’t differentiated compared to your competitors
• The location of your business
• Goods or services that are an inferior quality
• A damaged reputation

You need to think long and hard about potential opportunities as they can add major value to your business.

An opportunity could be:

• Focusing more on the internet and social media– does your website need a re-vamp?
• Think about mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances with other companies
• You could move into new market segments that offer improved profits
• A new international market may offer opportunities
• A market that has been vacated by an ineffective competitor

Threats are external factors affecting your business. They are not easy to control but must be identified in order to overcome them.

A threat could be:

• A new competitor that has entered your home market
• Price wars with competitors – remember that a low cost strategy is not always the best way forward
• A competitor may have a new, innovative product or service
• Competitors who may have superior access to channels of distribution
• Taxation that is introduced on your product or service
• Changes in customer tastes

Tomorrow STar will tackle another aspect that you need to evaluate before you write your marketing strategy – determining your USP.

Have any questions for the elves? Please email us and we'll be sure that one of our elves answers them. They are waiting to help you...

Call us on 0845 075 5955 or drop us an email: hello@horizonworks-marketing.co.uk.