Want your marketing strategy to be credible? SWOT analysis is the fundamental element that will make the concept you come up with succeed. Find out how to prepare it step by step!
Never heard of SWOT analysis? Don't worry, it's not as difficult as it might seem. And although the name sounds like a long, complicated process created for qualified specialists, in practice it isn't at all. The only skill you need is common-sense objectivity.
1. What is SWOT analysis?
What is SWOT analysis?
SWOT is an acronym for four English words:
Strengths - Strengths
Weaknesses - Weaknesses
Opportunities - Opportunities
Threats - Threats
2. How to do a SWOT analysis step by step
- Take a piece of paper and something to write with.
- Divide the page into four equal parts.
- Title each column with one of the four terms that make up the SWOT acronym (i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
- Think about your company's position and fill in the table.
3. What should you pay attention to?
Strengths
Think about what assets your company may have. Maybe it offers something that isn't on the market yet, or its price is particularly attractive? This is one of the more important parts of the analysis, because after all, to leave the competition behind, your business plan must stand out with something unique. Create a list of positives and rank them by their importance for brand development.
Weaknesses
The next step works on similar principles to the example above. This time, however, try to gather a substantial list of flaws that will be successively eliminated in the further process. One problem may be, for example, a lack of business experience or low brand recognition. Focus, and then rank them by degree of severity.
Opportunities
After all, there is no situation without a way out. There are always several solutions a company can use to remove the obstacles standing in the way of success. In this case, it's worth thinking not only about the present but also about the future. Emerging market trends, and even crisis situations that you can turn to your advantage, are your opportunities. Keep your eyes open, observe everything around you, seize opportunities, and control…
Threats
There are as many examples of complications in business as there are industries. Nevertheless, regardless of the type of business, every unresolved problem brings a company closer to failure. The most common threats are those resulting from competitors' activities, as well as from changing legal regulations. Human behavior and habits also have a significant impact, such as changing mentality, susceptibility to trends, and consequently abandoning certain technological solutions. These are just a few of the vast list of examples of business threats. Analyze the market related to your business and list potential problems. Ranked by hierarchy, threats are the last element of the set needed to conduct a thorough analysis.
4. Cross the factors
Cross the factors
To obtain reliable results from a SWOT analysis, you need to cross the factors identified above. Why? Because together they form a complete whole. Their interaction provides specific answers to questions, precise solutions needed for the proper development of every marketing activity. Confront with each other:
1) Strengths / opportunities
2) Weaknesses / opportunities
3) Strengths / threats
4) Weaknesses / threats
5. The strategy you must adopt
The strategy you must adopt
You already know your strengths and weaknesses, you know what opportunities you have, and you are aware of what threatens your company. But so what? It's time to sum up these four very important elements and go on the attack. Specifically, we mean developing an accurate strategy for further action.
1) If, while creating the list of your business's pros and cons, you managed to find many strengths and many opportunities to exploit, that's a sign that you can confidently be an aggressive player; focus on dynamic development and market expansion.
2) A different position, resulting from a huge number of threats and weaknesses of the brand, is a sign that the time has come to immediately implement a defensive strategy.
3) Confronting strengths with threats requires a conservative strategy, consisting of eliminating problems by using the company's numerous assets.
4) Combining weaknesses with opportunities results in the use of a competitive strategy. As the name suggests, the brand should eliminate the weakness that prevents it from benefiting from a given opportunity.
Concepts from the article
SWOT — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. An analysis that organizes the situation of a brand or project into four fields: what we have that is strong, what limits us, what favors us externally, and what threatens us. The first two fields concern us; the next two concern the market.
Why it matters: It forces you to separate what you can influence from what you cannot. Without this division, a plan mixes wishes with conditions.
When it is used: When entering a new market, before a tender, when repositioning a brand, and in annual budget planning.
What omitting it risks: Without SWOT, a strategy is built from strengths alone — and then threats resurface during the campaign, when it is already too expensive to avoid them.
Summary
SWOT analysis organizes a company's situation into four fields: strengths and weaknesses concern us, while opportunities and threats concern the environment. The key step is crossing these factors: combining strengths with opportunities allows for aggressive development, while combining weaknesses with threats requires a defensive strategy, and the remaining combinations lead to a conservative or competitive strategy. Without this division, a marketing plan mixes wishes with market conditions.
Importantly, SWOT works not only when entering a new market, but also before a tender or in annual budget planning. Omitting the analysis means the strategy is based solely on assets — and then threats emerge during the campaign, when avoiding them is already costly.
