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Marketing Plan
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
Web Marketing Today, March 13, 2000
Restaurants ought to make bigger napkins, since some of the most productiv
business ideas seem to come to mind over a meal. The SWOT analysis techn
lends itself to napkin planning and snapshot insights. To conduct a SWOT an
draw a vertical line in the center of your napkin (or whiteboard or flipchart),
intersected by a horizontal line. Now you have four quadrants where you'll sk
your company's situation.
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Though a great deal of research may lie behind what's in each box, keep it s
and incisive. Collecting these facts and ideas together in one place energizes
see the big picture. Use it as a brainstorming tool. A strategy formation tool.
that the first pair of categories -- strengths and weaknesses -- refer to your
company's INTERNAL nature, while the second pair of categories refer to EXT
opportunities and threats.
Strengths
In the first box list all the strengths your company possesses. Don't be mode
them out. If you do this with others, you might begin by brainstorming word
characterize your company and writing them down as fast as people say them
use those ideas to construct a profile of your company's strengths.
Weaknesses
In the second box list weaknesses, areas your business lacks or doesn't have
personnel to cover well. Be honest. It's better to face the bad news now rath
construct an unrealistic marketing plan that is doomed to failure.
Opportunities
The third box is for opportunities. When you look at the market (and we're lo
particularly at the Internet market in this series), what do you see? What AR
your competitors doing that customers need? Look for gaps. Of course, this i
to a competitive analysis; none of these elements of a marketing plan stand
they're all interrelated. Gaps may not last long. What you see as an opportun
today may not exist in three months. A SWOT analysis is only a snapshot in
not a permanent document.
Threats
The final box is to list threats to your business. What trends do you see that
wipe you out or make your service or product obsolete? What are your comp
doing to push themselves ahead? What new dot-com start-up is trying to mo
the market?
Here's an example of how a SWOT Analysis might look for a fictional animal
card site, CrawlyCards.com, specializing in pictures of ground-clinging crea
such as slugs, snails, and puppydog tails.
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Obviously this company has some real problems -- no effective revenue mod
at least they're looking at alternatives. This is what a SWOT analysis can do
and may be the germ of an idea that will revolutionize the snail and slug card
business as we know it.
(To those of you from a different culture, this example is a joke. Please don't
seriously, just an example of Yankee poor taste. :-) It helps lighten up an ot
dull subject.)
Read additional articles from Web Marketing Today, Issue 74, March 13
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