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Call in the SWOT Team: Produce More Opportunities to Expand Your Business

Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? No, it's not some dangerous militarymaneuver. It's actually a fun and incredibly helpful business development exercise that will give your company focused direction and great marketing ideas -- whether your business is brand new or has been around for years. This SWOT exercise will show you where your business is flourishing and where it needs to grow to gain clients and produce more sales. I recommend getting someone else (such as a friend, family member, or

Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? No, it's not some dangerous militarymaneuver. It's actually a fun and incredibly helpful

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business development exercise that will give your company focused direction and great

In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.

The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.
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marketing ideas -- whether your business is

Marketing, as suggested by the American Marketing Association, is "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders".[1]

Another definition, perhaps simpler and more universal, is this: "Marketing is the ongoing process of moving people closer to making a decision to purchase, use, follow...or conform to someone else's products, services or values. Simply, if it doesn't facilitate a "sale" then it's not marketing.
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brand new or has been around for years. This SWOT exercise will show you where your business is flourishing and where it needs to grow to gain clients and produce more sales. I recommend getting someone else (such as a friend, family member, or trusted business advisor) to brainstorm with you. You'll be determining your strengths and weaknesses, which are

internal

influences on your company. These factors are under your control. Opportunities and threats are

external

influences, things you cannot control, but you can respond to. After you read a short description of each of the four categories, take time to list as many of yours as possible.

Strengths: Toot your own horn and list all the strengths that make your businesssoar. They might include experience, business abilities, personality, support system,

A brand is a collection of feelings toward an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the concrete symbols for the brand, such as a name and design scheme. Feelings are created by the accumulation of experiences with the brand, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer. A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, s
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communication skills, or

Communication is the process of sending information to oneself or another entity, usually via a language. Specialized fields focus on various aspects of communication, and include Mass Communication, Communication Studies, Organizational Communication, Sociolinguistics, Conversation Analysis, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguistics, Pragmatics, Semiotics, and Discourse Analysis.
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education just to name just a few. Go crazy! This is not thetime to be modest -- each strength can become a money-maker for you.

Weaknesses: What are your weak areas? Think outside the box. Limited hoursavailable for work? Computer literacy not up to par? Current marketing strategieslacking? Perfectionism? Procrastination? Write down as many as you can so you'reaware of what might hold you back from reaching your full potential.

Opportunities: Are there untapped client bases out there? Other services that youcould provide? What kinds of problems do your clients experience that you couldhelp with? Are there any areas of service that your competition has overlooked?Could you exploit the weakness of a competitor (service offered, location covered,hours available to work, genre served)? Could you develop your brand better? Couldyou take classes to increase your expertise or credibility? Could you utilize yourfamily and friends for

Education formally is a social science that encompasses teaching and learning specific knowledge, beliefs, and skills. Good teachers in a given field use a variety of methods and materials in order to impart a knowledge of a curriculum to the students. Informally, teaching is the process of learning how things work including numbers, reading and language that are taught by parents and other members of the student's culture. There has been a plethora of journals, magazines, books, and digests in the field of education that addresses these areas. Such literature addresses the teaching practices,
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networking opportunities? Write down everything that popsinto your brain, even if it's a long shot. And try to be as specific with your ideas aspossible.

Threats: It may take you a while to come up with these if you're not currently awareof them. Threats might come from competition, financial risk, a declining economy,or a unique profession. List some of your threats, no matter how big or small theyseem.

Now, take some time to really analyze these four categories. Look at what you can

directly

control -- your strengths and weaknesses. Review your list of strengthsand try to turn them into "opportunities." In addition to being a great ego booster, itwill give you dozens of ideas for new ways to increase sales. For example, if you list"great support system" as a strength, perhaps you could make a goal (anopportunity) to send a mailing to everyone in your wide network of friends andfamily to solicit new clients or get the word out about what you do. If yourpresentation skills are top-notch, consider offering workshops or seminars. If youhave years of experience, make that a selling point in your marketing materials.

Next, how can you turn your weaknesses around? For example, if you're not a goodwritten communicator or lack

Computer networking is the scientific and engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems. Such networks involves at least two computers, which can be separated by a few centimeters (e.g. via Bluetooth) or thousands of kilometers (e.g. via the Internet). Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of telecommunications.
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computer or mathematical skills, consider taking aclass at a local

A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions known as a program.

Computers are extremely versatile. In fact, they are universal information-processing machines. According to the Church–Turing thesis, a computer with a certain minimum threshold capability is in principle capable of performing the tasks of any other computer, from those of a personal digital assistant to a supercomputer, as long as time and memory capacity are not considerations. Therefore, the same computer designs may be adapted for tasks ranging from processing company payrolls...
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college to boost your skills. Or consider finding someone tooutsource your undesirable work. If you don't have enough effective marketingstrategies, turn that weakness around by creating a marketing timeline or plan.

Now, on to what you can

respond

to -- your opportunities and threats. Reviewyour list of opportunities. (This list should be long!) Pick your top five or ten totackle in the upcoming year. Do you want to teach a class or write a book? Howabout improving your marketing strategies by sending some direct mail? If you wantto network more, investigate professional

The term college (Latin collegium) is most often used today to denote an educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues (see for example electoral college, College of Arms). Originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, "together" + leg-, "law"); indeed, some colleges call their members "fellows". The precise usage of the term varies among English-speaking countries.
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networking groups in your community.

Your threat list, on the other hand, may not be very long, but it's important to beaware of what can hold you back and keep you from reaching your full potential. Forexample, you cannot control your competition, but you can be aware of what they'redoing. You can't control the economy, but you can market your services as a great"value" or find ways to offer deals or incentives.

OK, now it's your turn -- put your SWOT analysis into action, and see what happens.I'd

love hear how SWOT worked for you!

Sara Pedersen, author of the FREE e-zine "The Marketing Fairy's Guide to Simple SelfPromotion," is a professional organizer and marketing specialist. She helps smallbusiness owners make their marketing dreams come true. Sign up today at.net">http://www.time2organize.net to receive your FREE monthly subscription.

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Call in the SWOT Team: Produce More Opportunities to Expand Your Business

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