The SWOT analysis provides key information that is helpful in matching the firm’s resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. The following diagram shows how a SWOT analysis fits into an environmental scan.

Strengths

A firm’s strengths are the resources and capabilities that are used for developing a competitive advantage. Examples of such strengths include:

•   Patents
•   Strong brand names
•   Customized product offering
•   High value product
•   Good reputation among customers
•   cost advantages from proprietary know-how
•   Exclusive access to high grade natural resources
•   Favorable access to distribution networks
•   Good quality staff
•   High knowledge or experience level
•   Partnerships
•   First mover advantage

To determine your strengths ask yourself the following questions.

1.  What are the advantages of being the type of business you are?
2.  What does your organization do well?
3.  What do other people see as your strengths?

Weaknesses

The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example, each of the following may be considered weaknesses:

•   Weak brand name
•   Lack of product differentiation
•   High cost structure
•   Poor operational structure
•   Lack of experience

In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of a strength. Another way to determine weaknesses is to ask yourself the following questions.

1. What could your business improve?
2. What do you wish you could do better?
3. What problems keep recurring?

Opportunities

The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Some examples of such opportunities include:

•   Unfulfilled customer need or want
•   High level of demand in niche areas
•   Arrival of new technologies
•   Emerging markets

Questions that can help determine opportunities are;

1. Where are the new opportunities facing you?
2. What opportunities will drive success?
3. What process could you add or delete?

Threats

Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm.

•   Shifts in consumer tastes
•   Emergence of substitute products
•   New regulations
•   Increased trade barriers

Some of the best questions to really know where your threats lie may be;

1. What obstacles do you face?
2. Could a weakness threaten your organization?
3. What are your competitors doing better than you?
4. What laws and legislation impede your process?

If you have any suggestions for content, would like to be a featured business, or have any other comments, please talk to us: www.biznessbits.com/help

Your Business Website

If you don’t have a website, now is the time to create one. Your potential customers are searching for you online and they want to see your operating hours, address, catalog or menu before they visit you. If they can’t find you, they’re likely to move onto the next business that readily provides the information they’re looking for.

Your website needn’t be complicated, but should include the following:

• Hours of operation
•   Catalog / Menus and Pricing, where possible
• Any specials you are currently offering
•  Contact information including address, phone number and email address
• An interactive map to help users navigate to your place of business (Use Google Maps)
•  ”About Us” information about your company
• Customer / Client satisfaction and testimonials information
•  Website privacy policy and other legal documentation

Search Engine Traffic

There is plenty of potential for local traffic from search engines. Whether your customer is searching for your business name or searching for the type of service you offer in your local area, this is highly targeted traffic.

Free Search Engine Traffic: Most of the business listings you see in a search engine are free and businesses do not pay to be listed there. Search engines use a complex algorithm to determine which pages are relevant for each search its users make. For example, if a user searches for “kids clothing boutique Raleigh, North Carolina” and you happen to own a kid’s clothing boutique in that city, you’re more likely to be found, provided that your website is descriptive and includes those keyword phrases.

Main Search Listings: Always be descriptive when creating your website pages. Include your complete address on each page and describe your products and services. Make sure you or your web designer also includes descriptive keywords in your title, description and headline tags. If you are building your site yourself, find out how you can modify your title, description and headline tags as the method varies depending on the type of design tool you are using.

Google Places: On Google, you may have noticed that there are Places results that often appear before the other listings. These listings are based on sites that have been added to the Google Places database and they are ranked according to a number of factors including how often your business is mentioned on other websites, reviews and how frequently your Places page is updated.

If you have any suggestions for content, would like to be a featured business, or have any other comments, please talk to us: www.biznessbits.com/help

You do not do business in a vacuum.  You have clients and customers – your life blood of your business. You also have employees, co-workers, maybe a boss, business partners, shareholders, joint venture partners, business associates, referral sources, suppliers, vendors.  The list goes on and on.

So the true ‘Art of Business’ is the ‘Art of Relationships’. It is one reason why there are more and more successful women in business (not knocking the men here).  Women just have a knack for developing strong relationships. Men are driven to get the job done, while women build networks of friends and associates that can get it done for them.

So if business is all about relationships – then why – if you open 99% of business books today, do they not talk about relationships; how to build them and nurture them.  Instead they discuss organizational behaviour, time management, sales strategy, financial tracking, system analysis, etc.

If you really want to succeed in business – then find a book about relationships.  Learn how to work with people, get people to trust you, how to create real friendships.

That will drive your success!

I have heard it said that 90% of a person’s success in business relates directly to how happy they are in their personal relationships.  I believe this is true to some extent.  But the reason behind it (this the real secret) is that these people have are skilled at the art of creating powerful relationships.

If you are happy in your personal relationship – then you have mastered – at least on your personal level -  the art of building and nurturing relationships.  You can transfer these skills directly over to your business life.  This will then corresponds to your level of success in business.

Let me be clear – it is not about contacts.  Just having someone’s business card, friend on Facebook, or connection on LinkedIn does not mean you have built a relationship.  You have to take it a step further.

You must make a connection – that is the start.  And in today’s busy world that can by tough.  It can start with an email, comment or message on social media.  Then it should progress to a phone call or in person meeting.  In today’s busy world the phone is still one of the best business tools you have..

Learn to make short, but positive impact phone calls.  Know what your message is before you dial.  Have a question; invite them to a networking or other business event; have an irresistible offer for them.  Give them VALUE! Stick to the facts; be courteous, opening the door to building a relationship.

Email can be a great follow up to a phone call.  But don’t make it your only contact.  It is too impersonal, and too easy to ignore.

Don’t forget those relationships right in your own business, your coworkers, employees, vendors, etc.  The ones you see day to day.  You must continually work on them, building the relationship.  You cannot tune them out, assuming they will always be there, and nothing changes in your life.  Keep ‘getting in touch’ with these people – really making a connection on a regular basis.

Email marketing builds relationships as it allows you to touch your client or prospect multiple times in an economical way.

To effectively use email marketing you need an autoresponder service.

An autoresponder is essentially the automatic series of emails that get sent out to people that subscribe to your mailing list. This is a massively important part of marketing online, an autoresponder allows you to create a trusting connection with your list. Building this trust means they are more likely to respect your suggestions, and therefore means if you suggest a product they will be more likely to buy it.

To make your email marketing more effective your need to create powerful messages.

This is a very important part of email marketing, the key is to invoke an emotional response in your readers. You want them to feel connected to you and that they trust you, doing this will increase the chance they buy from you because they will see you as genuine, this is human nature.

Researchers have found that only about one in three emails are actually opened. It is important that your potential customers find your message useful so they will be sure to be looking for your next email. Also make sure that you send out your autoresponses about twice a week. Again researchers have found that sending out an email twice a week will result in more openings. Any more and your potential customer will feel like they are being bombarded and less than that they will loose interest.

The most successful messages are those that your customer’s will appreciate because it will allow them to feel like they are learning something by reading the message. Therefore, these messages need to be created to teach the reader about the benefits of your product. After the customer has been taught then they will be more likely to buy from you as you have become a trusted friend.

If you don’t yet have a list of email subscribers it’s easily one of the biggest and easiest improvements you can make to your business because when someone comes to your website they can sign up for updates whether they are a free visitor or a paid buyer and get notified about new content and new offers you have for them. You need an autoresponder service.

Your first stop for business information and resources in Alberta

Thinking
Do you have a great business idea, but don’t know where to begin?

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Are you ready to take the first steps to start your own business?

Growing
Do you want to expand your business or make your operation more competitive?

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Are you thinking of selling or closing your business?

No matter what stage of business you’re at, or where you live in the province…The Business Link is your first stop for business information and services in Alberta.

When entrepreneurs’ initially consider marketing their business, product, or service, they typically only think of advertising as a feasible means of promotion. The reality is that there are a variety of other promotional strategies that can be utilized including: sales promotions, direct marketing, personal selling, public relations, social media, e-commerce, among many others. In order to determine which approach is best for your business you need to first research and understand your target market. This assessment will aid in delivering maximum results. For additional ideas, please visit Ways to Promote Your Product or Service

No matter what stage of business you’re at, or where you live in the province…The Business Link is your first stop for business information and services in Alberta.

Innovation Minute:

If you are developing an innovative product or service, The Connector is a Government of Alberta service that can assist you with accessing the research and innovation community. Whether you are an entrepreneur, inventor, researcher, small business owner, or investor, the service can connect you with relevant contacts and resources. You can access the service by calling 1-877-828-0

No matter what stage of business you’re at, or where you live in the province…The Business Link is your first stop for business information and services in Alberta.

Business Marketing Ideas

Your business has its own unique set of marketing opportunities and challenges. While the foundations of marketing (unique benefits that the right customer cares about) are the same for every business, certain marketing ideas work better for one type of business over another.

Small Business Owners: You have the unique advantage of knowing your customers on a personal level. You will have an easier time turning your customers into fans. Give them more than they expect and watch as your customers begin to do the marketing for you.

In order to get what you want out of life and succeed in life it is essential that you know not only who you are but also where you want to go in life. If you wish to be a success in business then you can adapt your identity and personality to allow you to get there. If you want to become a better person in life then you have to change your outlook and develop strategies to alter the person you are and change into the person you wish to become.  More importantly you have to be happy in life about the person you are, if you are not happy with how you see yourself then others around you are going to react to your negativity and not see you as the person you are.

In order to fine tune your identity you first have to take a good long hard look at the person you are right now and the person you wish to become and the start making plans to make changes.

First sit down and determine what it is you wish to achieve out of life and how far different your life is right now to what you have in your vision of how you wish it to be. A good idea to get you started is by writing down every single aspect of what you want from your life in the future, you should include all aspects here, be they to do with work, pleasure, how you see and think of yourself or anything else that worries or bothers you.

Next write down all the things that bother or worry you about yourself, for example if you think that you are too quite or sensitive then write this down. What you are trying to do is get everything out that bothers you right now.

Next you have to decide what you can do to start making changes to yourself. For example what steps can you take to develop more confidence in yourself, if this is an issue that bothers you? You could say that you are going to take classes to develop more self-confidence or search the Internet to find ways that you can assert yourself. The main thing you are doing here is to take steps towards changing what it is you don’t like.

Once you have determined which way to go is the best for your particular needs then you have to plan on sticking to your new plan and following it through. Of course at first this won’t be easy and many times you will falter and go back to your own ways, the important thing to do at this stage is pick yourself up and get back into your plan of action.

1. Create a marketing plan.
2. Build your own referral network of business professionals that you send clients to and receive clients from.
3. Put up posters or business cards in public libraries, meeting places and local businesses.
   
4. Offer informational brochures to teach your customers about your industry and products.
5. Write articles for a local magazines, publications or business journals.
6. Give away something for free.
7. Have a marketing plan, but also have a follow-up plan to keep customers once you get them.