Doing a SWOT Analysis for Your Internet Marketing Plan

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as the successor.

Restaurants ought to make bigger napkins, since some of the most productive business ideas seem to come to mind over a meal. The SWOT analysis technique (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) lends itself to napkin planning and snapshot insights.

To conduct a SWOT analysis, 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 sketch your company’s situation.

SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

Though a great deal of research may lie behind what’s in each box, keep it simple and incisive. Collecting these facts and ideas together in one place energizes you to see the big picture. Use it as a brainstorming tool. A strategy formation tool.

Note that the first pair of categories (Strengths, Weaknesses) refers to your company’s internal nature, while the second pair (Opportunities, Threats) refers to external conditions.

Strengths. In the first box, list all the strengths your company possesses. Don’t be modest. Spell them out. If you do this with others, begin by brainstorming words that characterize your company and writing them down as fast as people say them. Then use those ideas to construct a profile.

Weaknesses. In the weaknesses box, list areas your business lacks or doesn’t have the personnel to cover well. Be honest. It’s better to face the bad news now rather than construct an unrealistic plan doomed to failure.

Opportunities. The third box is for opportunities. Look at gaps in the overall market (particularly on the Internet). What do you see? What are your competitors not doing that customers require? None of these elements stands alone; they’re all interrelated. Gaps may not last long. What you see as an opportunity today may not exist in three months. A SWOT analysis is only a snapshot in time, not a permanent document.

Threats. The final box is to list threats to your business. What trends do you see that could eliminate or make your service or product obsolete? What are your competitors doing to push themselves ahead? What new dot-com start-up is trying to move into the market?

Example SWOT Analysis

Here’s a made-up example of how a SWOT Analysis might look for a fictional animal greeting card site, CrawlyCards.com, specializing in pictures of ground-clinging creatures such as slugs and snails.

Strengths

• Unique idea, no one else is even close.
• Strong artistic team includes some of the finest slug and insect illustrators in the country.
• Excellent animation abilities.
• Source of inspirational card inscriptions for all occasions.
• Experienced and innovative company officers.

Weaknesses

• Small opt-in customer list; most site users seek to remain anonymous.
• Few advertisers are interested in this strangely targeted market.
• The Perl script that runs the site is slow and requires a compiled language.
• Lack of interest from venture capitalists.
• Single stream of revenue is advertising, and that is slim pickins.

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Opportunities

• No real competitors in our precise space.
• Much of the traffic is from students at the University of California at Santa Cruz (Banana Slug is the mascot), sending cards to one another. Possible joint venture with an alumni association.
• Seek advertising from French restaurants and their suppliers.
• Possible book sales such as: “Slugs and Snails,” “Field Guide to the Slug,” and “Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects.”
• Possible sales of Turbo Snails to browse algae in fish tanks.
• Partnership with CyberSlug Adoption Center.
• E-commerce venture selling scarab (beetles) jewelry.
• Possible advertisers among pet supply and fish supply stores, bug jewelry manufacturers.
• Possible affiliate program with snail bait companies.
• Possible cross-promotion with Conchologists of America.

Threats

• Chemical companies are producing more effective snail bait that may destroy populations in our lifetime.
• Large card sites such as Blue Mountain Arts might want to take over the slug and mollusk traffic and edge us out.

Problems

This company has some real problems: it lacks an effective revenue model. This is what a SWOT analysis can do for you, and may be the germ of an idea that will remake your business.