A SWOT analysis is one of the first steps in any marketing research exercise. This acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats and is great to use when researching a new product or service. One way to do this is by comparing your strengths and weaknesses with those of your competitors and you may also want to consider market changes outside of your area.
8 Key Steps To Write SWOT analysis
In this blog post, I will show you why a product SWOT is an important aspect of situational analysis when considering risk and marketing a product. A SWOT evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of your product internally, as well as opportunities and threats externally. If you need help with that next business studies assignment, consider using this SWOT analysis and report guide below.
Step 1: Specify your Business Goals
To create an engaging product SWOT analysis, it's essential to have a clear understanding of your objectives and motivations before you set your business. Give the report a brief outline of the brand by filling in specific questions like the following:
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What is your business about?
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What is the main product or service?
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What is the reason for SWOT analysis?
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Who are your potential customers?
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How will you use this report to improve?
Step 2: Collect Information
When conducting a product SWOT analysis, ensure proper citation and make sure the source of information is credible. A product SWOT analysis helps a company identify the earning opportunities and risks in the different areas of their business involving their product. It includes customer preferences, buying trends and demand patterns which help the market to customers more efficiently.
Step 3: Categorize Data
A SWOT analysis is an essential tool for marketers, often marketing case studies provide information about the product and its place in the market. Use these insights to make your final analysis that takes into account. A company performs a SWOT analysis as part of its marketing. You divide the information into four main categories- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Step 4: Data Analysis
The next step is data analysis, where you generate insights. You can order the information, which reveals the importance of using a robust algorithm that expedites data sorting. Make sure to use a spreadsheet or checklist to organize your findings for easy viewing. There are two types of opposing elements in the SWOT analysis. Understand that a strength can also be a weakness and vice versa. Similarly, an opportunity is not always a good thing.
Step 5: Identify your Company's Strengths
Start by analyzing the advantages of your product or service. List out specific points as well as considerations for others. This information will then help you generate a list of strengths and weaknesses from which you can cross-reference to plot your strategy. You can refer to this to identify the strengths of your product:
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Capital investment and cash flow
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Growth and profit turnover
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Skilled management
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Strong inventory management
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Increasing customer demand
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Good credit rating
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Great marketing team
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Effective online presence
Step 6: Find out the Core Weaknesses
The SWOT strengths and weaknesses of a product on the market. A SWOT is used to assess internal and external factors to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In this chapter, common weaknesses are highlighted with remedial advice. A product SWOT analysis should be objective and orderly. Here are a few items to consider: Unclear brand image, ineffective or impractical packaging, poor market research.
Step 7: Explore the Opportunities
One of the solely external factors in a SWOT analysis is opportunities. These are related to your niche, as a change in policies can indirectly affect your opportunities. For example, if the industry changes one of its rules, this will directly create a new opportunity for you. Students with the SWOT report learn to read an emerging market and opportunities hovering ahead. Here are some opportunities you can discuss:
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Weak competition
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Change in demand trends
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The decrease in prices
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A shift in technology
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A new trend or tool
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Change of customer behavior
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Political or social change
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Cultural shift
Step 8: Risk Estimation
Threats are considered the risks and loss of revenue that one predicts in the foreseeable future. You cannot know for sure how flexible the market dynamics can be, so here are some common threats pinpointed with a SWOT analysis.
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Legal or copyright issues
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Intellectual theft or plagiarism
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Loss of demand
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Increase in competition
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New companies
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Increase in production cost
The Bottom Line
When it comes to product SWOT analysis, you need to use the right analytical tools. One of these is sorting all aspects of the report, analyzing them and predicting how they will fare in the market. The SWOT process presents a holistic look at the field dynamics with minimal use of knowledge of specifics. Moreover, you must understand that competitive analysis doesn't always produce tangible results.
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