Know Thy Business

The Ancient Greek aphorism, “know thyself” is still valuable today.
Especially when you take that daunting first step toward planning a great marketing strategy for your business.

Start by being your own analyst.
Ask the hard questions about your business. Keep yourself honest. Ask a friend or co-worker to help. Better yet, find a trusted customer to participate in your self-discovery. The more diverse team you put together to go through the analysis the better.

A tried-and-true model used is the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis (SWOT). This is a “must-do” for any business. It was developed in the 1950’s and businesses are still using it today.

As a marketer, use the answers from this analysis to begin putting together a marketing strategy for your company. Bonus! The answers from this exercise will also yield key marketing messages that you will want to share with customers. Learn more about How To Write A Brand Message That Attracts Customers.

Working through a SWOT analysis will take some time and thought but it is well worth the effort.
A terrific article to read is How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business. (the Balance Small Business) The article will walk you through the SWOT analysis process for your business. While you are there check out some of their other marketing resources too.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis

Or another way to begin defining a strategy is to ask yourself the following questions from Jay Conrad Levinson’s groundbreaking small business marketers book, Guerrilla Marketing, page 36.

Answer these basic questions: