{"id":74296,"date":"2021-05-25T13:48:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T13:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=74296"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:22:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T12:22:19","slug":"industry-swot-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/research\/market-research\/industry-swot-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry SWOT Analysis: The Right Metrics to Fuel Your Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

No man is an island. That classic saying also applies to analysis. Just as humans struggle on their own, data analysis and company growth are virtually impossible to achieve with your data alone.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re analyzing your internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a SWOT analysis<\/a>, having access to the industry data keeps you connected to the bigger picture and provides key information about external opportunities to optimize your business plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SWOT<\/p>\n

In an industry SWOT analysis, you focus on your larger industry with company and market research. The metrics important to your industry are going to be different from others. In this article, we\u2019ll break down SWOT analysis using a few key industries as examples \u2013 marketing, media and publishers, retail, and gaming. We\u2019ll show how you can use industry traffic and web metrics<\/a> effectively to accelerate your strategy.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also provide hands-on examples based on accurate benchmarks to inform your strategic planning process.<\/p>\n

Questions to ask in a digital marketing industry SWOT analysis<\/h2>\n

Gaining a competitive advantage over your rivals and industry starts with asking the right questions and metrics.<\/p>\n

This lets you manage your growth with more confidence and less guesswork. With the right metrics and data, you can be more proactive and less reactive. Instead of simply following market trends, you can create and influence them in accordance with your company’s needs.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the questions to kickstart a digital marketing industry SWOT analysis:<\/p>\n

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  1. How <\/i>is my company performing relative to my competitors?<\/li>\n
  2. What<\/i> can I learn from my competitor\u2019s strategy?<\/li>\n
  3. What<\/i> is the industry standard, and am I above, below, or average?<\/li>\n
  4. How <\/i>can I use data to identify new growth opportunities or product lines?<\/li>\n
  5. Which<\/i> trends can I use to my team members’ advantage?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the following paragraphs, we\u2019ll present you with some industry examples, including actual benchmark data, so you\u2019ll see how the industry SWOT analysis works.<\/p>\n

    A SWOT analysis template can help you keep track of your company’s strengths and external environment over time. Download our free, easy-to-use template now.<\/p>\n

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    Metrics for the media and publishers industry SWOT analysis<\/h2>\n

    Online media sites thrive on traffic volume. Publishers want visitors to spend enough time-consuming content on multiple pages. The metrics you\u2019ll monitor for this industry are therefore different from others, which might focus more on conversion.<\/p>\n

    For effective strategic management, you\u2019ll want to know where your traffic is coming from and which devices people use to access your site. Characterizing your audience according to website demographics<\/a> and behavior<\/a> is equally useful.<\/p>\n

    \"Industry<\/p>\n

    To get an idea of where these numbers position you in the market, let\u2019s look at some significant industry benchmarks.<\/p>\n

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    1. Most get their news on mobile devices <\/b>\u2013 A little more than 60% access news sites on mobile devices and less than 40% on desktop. When comparing year-over-year, we see this is an ongoing trend, and the gap keeps widening.<\/li>\n
    2. Direct traffic dominates. <\/b>Direct traffic<\/a> makes up 65% of all news traffic. Next in line is organic traffic with 23%. The direct traffic market share<\/a> is growing at the expense of organic traffic and paid search<\/a> remains relatively insignificant. Social media also became a strong traffic driver in 2020.<\/li>\n
    3. News websites traffic<\/a> is highly related to specific languages and regions.<\/b> You need to access relevant numbers for your country from a platform like Similarweb where you can see data breakdown by audience geography<\/a>. For example, in the U.S., people spend on average 5:33 minutes per visit on a news site and view four pages on average. In Russia, on the other hand, the average visit duration is half of that. To run an effective SWOT analysis, you need to hone in on the right metrics.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      To see how this translates into a typical business model in the practice of strategic decision-making, let\u2019s look at an example. We\u2019ll imagine you run a major metropolitan news site in California, such as the Los Angeles Times, and publish both local and international news.<\/p>\n