Welcome | Step One: Getting Started | Step Two: Operating a Business | Step Three: Business Plan

Step One: A Word About Marketing

After researching your industry, setting a business objective, choosing a location, and finding out who your customers and competitors are, you are ready to do some preliminary marketing analysis.

A first step in determining how to market your business is to prepare a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats." Based on your research, you should be able to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that apply to your business.

Armed with this list, you will be better equipped to position your product or service in the marketplace. "Positioning" your product or service means finding the right way to promote it, package it, price it, and place (where to sell and distribute) it. A SWOT analysis is similar to making a list of pros and cons before making a big decision.

The Small Business Interactive CD contains a sample SWOT analysis along with a SWOT Analysis form that you can use to get started.