11. Situation Analysis and SWOT Analysis
Situation Analysis
A Situation Analysis is a brief overview of company’s current situation. It’s similar to a balance sheet as it provides a brief snapshot of the company’s current situation. It provides enough of an overview that the reader will understand the company’s products and services and the value its products and services provide to customers. The key issues, concerns, and business drivers are summarized to give the reader a good idea of the business environment. This section may also include brief information about competitors and past financial performance as well as a brief summary of the products and services in the marketing plan.
All of this information should total two or three pages. Detailed information about the market, competitors, and target market will be developed in the Market Opportunity Analysis in the next section.
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis is an important outcome of the situational analysis. It is a simple and effective way to summarize your company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, relative to its external opportunities and threats. The outcome of the SWOT matrix is that it helps company leaders develop contingency plans to overcome threats and understand the best opportunities to pursue where the company has a competitive advantage. But remember that competence alone does not constitute a competitive advantage. You must be able to perform and execute better than your competitors. The following summary outlines additional benefits and outcomes from doing the SWOT Analysis.
Marketing Tip
If you are working with another person or a team, it will be valuable to do this exercise as a group to list all the issues and get agreement. Opportunities can be prioritized according to their attractiveness and success probability. Threats may be expressed as a challenge, an unfavorable trend, or a competitive situation that may lead to a possible downturn in sales, profits, or market position. As a group, plan defensive marketing actions to minimize potential threats.
Use the chart in Table 11.1 to create your SWOT Analysis. Create bullet points in each category and then summarize actions in the marketing plan template to do the following:
1. Expand and leverage your strengths.
2. Understand your weaknesses and seek to overcome those that you can control.
3. Identify opportunities and create strategies to act on them.
4. Reduce threats where possible and create a defensive plan.
Summary
Now you are ready to summarize the first section of your marketing plan. Using the following checklist to summarize this section in the marketing plan template in the Appendix.
P • R • A • I • S • E™ Marketing Process
Purpose
Summary: Section I
Create your company values with buy-in and commitment from senior leaders.
Write a vision statement that summarizes the future direction of what the company will become in the future.
Write a mission statement that incorporates the company values and vision.
Create goals for the desired timeframe of the plan (usually three to five years).
Summarize the Situation Analysis:
• Key issues the plan will address and the business drivers
• Brief product and services description
• SWOT Analysis
Review and finalize goals following completion of the marketing plan.