SWOT analysis is a tool to analyse the performance of your business and plan for future strategies. The analysis is a planning tool. SWOT stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. It helps you to identify the internal as well as external factors that are favourable or unfavourable to achieve the objectives.
SWOT analysis is effective and it is used with almost any type of business, organisation and company. Internal factors can be strengths as well as weakness depending on their effect on the goal while external factors are opportunities and threats. It is better to first access the external factors and then the internals.
Examples of external factors are market conditions, govt laws, technology and economics.
For small brands and single owner business, internal factors are just limited to you and include your team if you have any.
Gather information
To begin with, you should get all the information you need at one place. A successful swot analysis is based on maximum information that you can incorporate in your analysis.
Identifying strengths and weakness
Internal factors include the resources and experience you have. Some internal factors can be location, facilities, equipment, employees, volunteers, employees, target audience, etc. For larger brands it can be funding and investment too.
Identifying opportunities and threats
Opportunities and threats come from external factors which are not under your control. So these are the ones which you should watch out for.
Examples of these are market trends, govt regulations, economic trends, consumer demand, market conditions, environmental factors, seasonal factor and geographical factors.
Create a SWOT Matrix
The next step is to create a SWOT framework and fill it up with various components as discussed above. This step is also the main phase of the whole analysis. You need to take time to sit and then list out each factor. SWOT framework is objective and point form. So the whole framework and diagram should fit on one page.
The final step
Once the framework is complete there are just three final steps to be done as shown below.
- Strategic planning – Basically to do with what are you going to do next to achieve your objectives and goals.
- Setting of objectives – with the timelines and target dates.
- Implement and Monitor – with the plan in place, the final step is to set yourself on the path.
Here is a simple video to explain SWOT analysis.
I am an MBA graduate with dual qualification in Finance and HR. I have done a Google Certified course in Digital Marketing. With many such qualifications under my belt, I am now focused on women entrepreneurship. With brands like SukaOne and Narisakti, I help women to make their idea to reality and navigate their way through the maze of digital work.