What is a SWOT Analysis and How to Do It

A SWOT Analysis is a brainstorming technique. It gives you the structure and data needed to achieve your marketing goals and should be integral to your marketing strategy. It can be applied to an entire company, however big or small, or to individual projects, and is an incredibly simple tool which when done effectively can be very powerful.

So what exactly is a 'SWOT analysis'? It is a review of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of your company. Strengths and weaknesses are both internal- they are things that you have control over and can change, whereas opportunities and threats are external – they exist in the wider market and are not exclusive to your company.

As things are constantly changing you may want to conduct a SWOT analysis every 6 – 12 months. It requires a team effort with collective members of your company, including company leaders. As with any brainstorm, it works more effectively with some structure. A SWOT analysis can therefore be done by using a very simple SWOT analysis template.

Now, let's break it down:

Strengths

Pretty self-explanatory, these are things that your company does well. This of course varies based on the company but some example questions you can ask yourself are; Do we have qualities that separate us from competitors? Do we have advanced technology? Strong internal and external resources? Education and training? Brand attributes? Marketing results- social media, website, etc?

Weaknesses

This is part of the SWOT analysis template is a criticism of your business upon deep reflection. Examples could include lack of budget, resources, or communication.

Opportunities

This focuses on how you can improve; What content are competitors not publishing? What are current trends and how to capitalise on them? Are there upcoming events that can help grow the business? Are there any further educational / training opportunities you can utilise? 

Threats

These are risks to your company that impact success. Are there new competitors? Industry changes? Legal changes? What are the market conditions like? What are we doing that's not making us stand out from competitors? Are consumer behaviour patterns changing? A clear example of a threat is the impact of COVID-19 and its impact on industry, law, and market conditions.

So let's take an example of owning a restaurant in London. How could your SWOT analysis look?

Strengths:

• Location - city location with large footfall in the area from local workers
• Uniqueness - the only restaurant doing this food type in the area
• Great social media results
• Strong communication team

Weaknesses:

• Weekend trade slow as footfall reduces when workers aren't working
• Lack of budget for digital promotions
• Lack of internal marketing – floor staff not passionate about the brand and communicating it to customers  

Opportunities:  

• Area growth - new companies being built in the area
• Upcoming networking opportunities  
• New training available on digital marketing

Threats: 

• The competitive market in London  
• Change in trends – due to Covid19 peoples opinions on eating in restaurants may change and more people working from home which will reduce area footfall

Now what? Now you have conducted your SWOT analysis using our SWOT analysis template, it is time to create a strategy.

Come up with a plan of action, look at your strengths and see how you can combat your weaknesses. Look more in detail at your threats and try to understand your consumers, for example conducting a survey asking people's opinions or attitudes to eating out. And most importantly use the analysis to put goals in place and set achievable benchmarks.

Written by Riana Chandarana