SWVOT Analysis
Posted by in Marketing Tips Friday, 19 February 2010 19:34
If you do much investigation into developing a marketing plan it will not take long before you run across the acronym SWOT. If you haven’t completed a SWOT analysis for your business, now is a good time.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is an excellent tool to help position and prepare the marketing for your business both on a short term and long term basis.
The best way to get the most of out of an SWOT analysis is to sit down with your staff and complete it as a group. Once all the influencing factors under each header are identified, selecting the marketing options to address each weakness or threat and to capitalize on strengths and opportunities will be easier to select and develop.
As you are conducting your analysis keep in mind that Strengths and Weaknesses are typically elements that reside within a business where as Opportunities and Threats exist mostly outside a company. Thus your SWOT may look something like the following.
Strengths
What do you offer that no one else can?
• Size – Remember being big isn’t always an advantage. Smaller organizations can oftentimes be more nimble and provide better customer service.
• Awareness
• Reputation
• Past success
• Product differentiation
• Price point
• Customer Service
• Internal resources
Weaknesses
What internal cracks in the walls may prevent you from succeeding?
• Limited marketing budget
• Poor location
• Limited awareness, new business
Opportunities
Identify the exterior factors in your business’ environment that could be used to increase sales.
• A new or growing population or new geographical area you can target
• New laws or regulations that have recently passed
• New neighbors or traffic patterns in your trading area
Threats
Detail outside pressures that could negatively impact sales
• Competitive activity in your trading area increases either via
New locations or
Aggressive tactics
• Road construction threatens accessibility to your store
• Bad weather
• Poor economic environment
After the Analysis – Remember V” stands for “Vanity Number”
Upon completion of a SWOT you will have a wealth of information from which to tailor your marketing strategies and tactics. One such tactic that will significantly maximize your strengths and opportunities while simultaneously minimizing weaknesses and threats is the use of a vanity phone number in all marketing efforts. In fact you may have noticed in the title of this blog was inserted the initial “V” for “vanity”. As a marketing veteran, I can not underscore the importance enough of having a memorable and compelling message which a vanity numbers can significantly improve. A vanity phone number can overcome a host of obstacles from strong competitive activity to limited awareness for a new business, by delivering instant credibility and increasing memorability. As well, it can spin opportunities and strengths to a much higher level. Consequently, as you design your marketing plan to meet the challenges of the coming months give your efforts the edge by incorporating an intuitive vanity phone number in your plans.
