Marketing SWOT Analysis

April 14th, 2009

The usefulness of SWOT Analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management.

A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective.

• Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful to achieving the objective.
• Weaknesses: attributes of the organization that are harmful to achieving the objective.
• Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
• Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the business’s performance.

SWOT Marketing
In many competitor analyses, marketers build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor’s cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments, and other factors.

Marketing management often finds it necessary to invest in market research to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing analysis. Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common include:

• Qualitative / ethnographic marketing research, such as focus groups
• Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys

Please Note: M&IT (Rogers) has an in-house professional research department that can help your organization conduct all types of research on the meetings / travel industry.