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What is a SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis is a framework for knowing the internal and external factors that can make or break the success of your marketing goals. The term “SWOT” is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Specifically, ‘strengths’ are internal positives which is where you write down everything that’s great about the business. Try to get specific here – you want to be asking questions about what you’re good at, how skilled your people are, how popular your products or services are, and other important factors along those lines.
As you might have guessed, weaknesses are internal negatives where you list any negative aspects of your company. It's crucial to keep in mind that these drawbacks are factors that the owners can influence in some way. For instance, a company can improve its vulnerability by shifting to a location that is easier to access.
Opportunities are outside advantages where you should consider the directions your firm can go in order to develop and prosper. Who else could you sell your products to or marketing your services to, is there room for expansion within your present sector? Your business won't have as much control over these outside issues but they can have a positive influence on the direction and success of your business.
Lastly, threats are external negatives and they are disadvantages that the company cannot control in. A threat can be a new company next door that starts selling the same product for less money or when the government changes the regulations that applies directly to your business in a negative way. For example consider the laws governing cigarette advertising or the impending prohibition on live export.
When it comes to taking stock of you business, getting an overall view of where it sits using the SWOT method is the most common and useful way of doing what we call a situational analysis. This helps the business to be more prepared for the future and know where they stand compared to competitors and other organizations.
What Are the Benefits of SWOT Analysis in Marketing?
Some benefits of performing a SWOT analysis include:
Cost-effective
You do not require extensive training nor any form of technical skill for conducting a SWOT analysis. In addition, you won’t require an external consultant because all you need is a staff member who has prior knowledge of the business and the industry it operates in.
Wide Range of Applications
SWOT analysis can be used to conduct competitive analysis, strategic planning or any other study. This is because, through a SWOT analysis, a business can identify any environmental factor that plays a favorable or unfavorable role in any particular objective.
Promotes Discussion
A SWOT analysis promotes discussion which is why it is important that you have your employees on the same page. Every single employee plays an important role in driving an organization to success. Discussing the core strengths and weaknesses of a company helps identify threats and capitalize on any emerging opportunities.
Provides Visual Overview
A SWOT analysis is usually presented as a square diagram, each quadrant representing one factor. This visual arrangement provides a quick overview of the company’s position and encourages internal company dialogue. While each quadrant may not be of equal importance, the quick overview helps any organization determine its success and progress, maximizing their strengths and diminishing their weaknesses.
Offers Insight
SWOT analysis can be used to gain insight about the market, giving you a better understanding of your competition. This gives you the opportunity to formulate a plan to craft a coherent and competitive position in the market.
Integration and Synthesis
A SWOT analysis gives the analyst the opportunity to integrate and synthesize diverse information, despite it being qualitative or quantitative in nature. SWOT analysis organizes information that is already known, as well as information that has just been acquired or discovered. A SWOT analysis deals with a wide diversity of information sources. This makes it easier for a company to transform information diversity from a weakness into a possible strength.
Fosters Collaboration
SWOT analysis fosters collaboration and encourages open information exchange between a variety of functional areas in a firm that would otherwise not collaborate or interact much. It benefits a company when the analysts understand what their counterparts know, think, feel, and do. This allows the analyst to solve problems, eliminate disagreements and foster a better working environment.
How to perform a SWOT analysis for marketing campaigns
Choosing the scope is the first stage in doing a SWOT analysis for marketing. Do you wish to analyse your marketing plan as a whole or just a certain aspect of it? You might wish to concentrate solely on your content strategy, SEO, or a certain marketing campaign, for instance. Setting the parameters for your analysis aids in maintaining focus.
This guide can help you get started, but feel free to omit questions that are inappropriate for your company and include those that give a more comprehensive picture of your marketing initiatives.
1) Analyze your marketing strengths
What do you do well? If you’re looking at a specific campaign, think about what elements of the campaign are really working. For example, does your landing page convert at a higher rate, or are ads with people more likely to earn clicks?
Start by asking these questions and documenting the answers. Adjust the questions as needed to focus on a campaign or your entire marketing strategy. For instances: What does your company or campaign do better than others in your industry? What do your customers love most about your company/product/services? What positive attributes do customers associate with your brand?
2) Look for your marketing weaknesses
This is frequently the most difficult section of a SWOT analysis. The reason for this is because you must be honest with yourself, and it can be difficult to acknowledge when campaigns have failed.
Start by asking questions, for examples, What do your customers most dislike about your company or offering? What complaints are often mentioned in negative reviews? If you sell products, why don’t customers come back?
Nearly 40 percent of marketers report having no documented marketing strategy at all, and that can hold you back. Looking at your weaknesses is the first step toward creating or improving your marketing strategy.
3) Find opportunities
Specifically, this step is about looking for areas to grow and build on your past successes. Where can you make changes and see the biggest impact? This step will help you figure it out. Begin by considering the questions: How can you improve your marketing funnel or UX? What kind of marketing messaging resonates with your customers? Can you leverage that on more platforms? Who are your most vocal brand advocates? How can you use them more effectively?
While reading customer reviews, looking at support tickets, and digging into GA data, you’ve likely already noted a few areas where you could improve. Take a step back and try to look at the data with an open mind. What areas, platforms, or strategies are most likely to drive the best results? You can also look at the competitive analysis data, industry trends and new reports, marketing blogs, and emerging markets.
4) Locate threats
One thing the most successful brands have in common is the ability to see threats coming and adjust before they become a major issue.
For example, many websites were devastated when Google rolled out its Panda update, which targeted thin and spammy content. Those who saw it coming had already made changes and they were not nearly as impacted. That should be your goal—to see threats on the horizon and take action.
Here are few questions that are worth to be considered:
Economic trends
What economic trends can or might impact your industry? For example, rising costs, increases in gas prices, a move to remote work, and so forth.
Marketing trends
How are marketing trends changing? For example, Google is getting rid of third-party cookies—how will that impact your marketing campaigns?
Technology trends
What technological changes are coming? Automation is gaining popularity, but could that go wrong?
Relationships
What relationships do you rely on, such as brand ambassadors, vendors, manufacturers, and contractors? How would your business recover if those relationships ended? Can you work to mitigate the impact now?
Intuition
What is everyone else doing that just feels wrong to you for some reason? Try to get to the bottom of why it feels off to you and whether that may become a threat in the future.
Audience
Think about your target audience—are they aging out of your market? Is the market shrinking or shifting?
Whether you use SWOT to analyze your overall marketing strategy or focus on specific campaigns like your content marketing, this approach provides the information you need to launch more effective marketing campaigns.
