Understanding SWOT when marketing your cosmetics

SWOT stands for Strengths (S) Weaknesses (W) Opportunities (O) and Threats (T).
Strengths and weaknesses exist within your workplace, while opportunities and threats exist in the marketplace. Companies use SWOT information to know what they are doing well (strengths), identify what they can do better (weaknesses), look for ways to grow (opportunities), and protect themselves from external influences – including competitors, growing pains, or national and international economic impacts (threats). This blog will take a look at two key questions: what is a SWOT? And, why do cosmetic brands need a SWOT to be successful?

What is a SWOT?
A SWOT makes it simple for companies to highlight the positive and negative factors in any context.

SWOT stands for:
• Strengths: this one is usually the easiest for a company to identify, but also needs to be considered in light of your competitors and target market. On its simplest level, it’s a question of: what does your company do well? But, it becomes more effective if you also focus on what your company does well, particularly compared to your competitors, and to suit your target markets needs. Examples can be within your company, such as personal service, or it could be product specific, such as fair-trade sourcing. Ask yourself:
o what does your company do particularly well, especially compared to your competitors?
o what does your company do particularly well, that specifically appeals to your target market?

• Weaknesses: this one is what your company does not do so well, and again, is more effective when you consider your competitors and your target market. It may be that you don’t have enough staff at this point, or the skills of your current staff are lacking in one area. While looking at weaknesses can be a hard moment of truth for many small brands, it is also really helpful to identify them, because sometimes they can be resolved relatively easily, for example, outsourcing certain tasks. They can also help you identify what is limiting your potential – so you can decide how and when you can overcome that issue to take the next big step forward. These can be product or service oriented. Take a deep breath and then ask yourself:
o what does your company not do very well, especially compared to your competitors?
o what does your company not address very well, that your target market currently asks for?

• Opportunities: this can be an exciting one to brainstorm with others, and help you plan for future service or product development. It could be service oriented, for example, can you take your business more online? It could be more product specific, and see you focus on including a trending ingredient or concept in new developments or redevelopments. For example, can your packaging be more recyclable, the ingredients more sustainable, or do you need to enhance the clinical evidence to boost marketing claims? Not all opportunities will align with your business and philosophies, so you do need to filter out all available opportunities to find the ones that will take you in the right direction. Ask yourself:
o what trends are happening that fit my company philosophy and I can adapt to/incorporate quickly? (nationally and internationally)
o what trends are happening that we currently don’t use, but align with my target market?
o what is my consumer telling me is important to them?

• Threats: these are sometimes the hardest for companies to identify, but are incredibly important, for the horrible ‘what if’ moments. Sometimes when people first run a SWOT analysis, they get weaknesses and threats confused. Just remember, a weakness is what you don’t do so well; while a threat is: what could impact your business in a negative way? One example is if you use a particular and possibly unique type of herbal extract or plant oil – what if supply is suddenly impacted? Another example is if a competitor suddenly arises with similar marketing claims as your brand but with a lower price point. Threats is another difficult category to face, and can be a more than a little scary at times. Have a cup of tea or coffee handy, then ask yourself:
o what could go wrong, that would have a drastic impact on my sales?
o what supply chains or delivery constraints may pose an issue to my business?
o how well priced are my product offerings, compared to my marketing strategies, claims and product results? (value perception is important at any price point – both budget and luxury – more on that in a future blog…)

Why do cosmetic brands need a SWOT to be successful?
A SWOT helps you:
• promote what you do particularly well
• fix what you don’t do so well
• plan for future developments and marketing campaigns
• protect your brand from potential issues with forethought

If you are a small brand and struggling to achieve strong sales, a SWOT will very quickly identify what your products and brand do particularly well, so you can promote it more strongly; and what you do not do so well, so you can fix as many as possible, or put strategies in place to minimize their impact on your current business. Strengths and weaknesses are undoubtedly the easiest for business to identify, and potentially fix, for some rapid improvements to sales and the organization itself.

The weaknesses, especially compared to your competitors and requests of your target market, may also help identify future opportunities – so its best to start with the S and the W.

Next, focus on the opportunities – again, some of these may be easily recognizable from your weaknesses, but some may also be based on ideas for growth, or that next product range. In any case, opportunities are all about the future, and you need to plan for this if you want to succeed.
Finally, its time to look at the threats, to ‘future-protect’ your business and brand. That fair-trade, community sourced butter may sound great in marketing, but if quality or supply is an issue, it could become a nightmare – or may need improved sourcing methods. This is just one example, but hopefully you can see how much identifying threats can help you make good business decisions.

When performing your SWOT analysis, always keep your target market in mind, and compare it against your competitor. The more you master your SWOT, the better you will be able to shape the future of your product and brand, for even greater success.