How to use SWOT analysis to leverage your photography business in your niche

business

Are you familiar with SWOT analysis? It’s a widely used method to assess the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of any market, industry, and competitor (or even yourself) to see how you can leverage the information and succeed.

Let’s talk about how you can use SWOT to do a competitor analysis to help you leverage your photography business in your niche!

Who are your competitors?

Once you have your niche and client avatar, it is time to start analyzing your competitors.

Look at other photographers that are already working in your niche, because this is going to give you invaluable information. This is going to save you time and money in making guesses about what your client wants, how they buy, and where they hang out, so you can see what's working already.

What are your competitors already doing?

By paying attention to your competitors, trying to see where they are active, how they're advertising, and how they're promoting, you’re going to get so much insight on your clients! It’s also going to allow you to spot gaps in the market.

For example, if you research your area and realize that all the commercial photographers are also wedding photographers because they don't think they can get enough commercial work, maybe that means you need to position yourself as the only exclusive commercial photographer in your small town.

Your competitors’ weaknesses are your opportunities

By analyzing your competitor, you can identify their weaknesses and use them to your advantage. Once you can identify the gaps they leave and can see where they’re failing, you can bring something in that nobody else is bringing in.

You can also see how you compare to your competitor, and become aware of your own strengths that's going to help you double down on them and stand out in your niche.

If you start doing competitor research and realize that nobody's offering a comprehensive package that includes everything, maybe that's something you want to start offering. You might also realize that nobody in your area speaks a language you speak, and that could become a new focus in how you sell.

Analyzing your competitors gives insight into your own business

Basically, by doing a competitor analysis, you’re figuring out the things that make you even more special or even more different than everybody else, in addition to analyzing the existing issues in the market that could lead to failure.

If you’re looking to leverage your photography business and thrive in your niche, do a SWOT analysis exercise with five photographers that either work with your dream client or work within your niche in your area.

Once you figure out what their strengths are, figure out what the weaknesses are, then find their threats to find the opportunities to create something that your niche needs!

At the end of the day, there's always room for somebody who's doing things a little bit differently. Your super power is that you’re you, and nobody else can be you, right?