Are you thinking of evaluating your business to know what its weaknesses are, opportunities and even threats? The SWOT analysis is here for you.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a process that is crafted in a bid to aid a business in making the right decision. How does it get it done? It is quite simple as it looks at every factor that should be involved in decision making, and they are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. They make up what is called SWOT.

This analysis is awesome for those businesses that want to understand the factors, and properly use them in making the right decisions.

Note that SWOT analysis can be classified as a blueprint, which allows you to collect the necessary details. It is then your job to evaluate the details gotten and use them how you wish.

It is your job to create a plan to tackle the threats or weaknesses that your business faces, and try to use the strengths to your advantage while embracing the opportunities.

When Should SWOT Analysis Be Used?

Why a lot of businesses make use of SWOT analysis is because it tends to be flexible. It can be used in any kind of planning, be it small or large, all you need do is to tweak it to meet your needs.

There is a great chance that you will make use of SWOT analysis in the following:

Tweaking existing plans,

Creating brand new initiatives,

Implementing those initiatives.

That’s not all, as SWOT analysis can be used in making a decision on the value proposition and lots more.

The time and how you make use of SWOT analysis is dependent on what your brand is about, the niche you find yourself in, goals, as well as upcoming initiatives.

Getting Started With Your SWOT Analysis

Usually, SWOT analysis is done by making a bullet list, but that’s merely a format. Before you think of jumping into your SWOT analysis, you have to do some work.

Start by asking yourself what your objectives are. Do you have any plan of increasing the services of your firm? Do you want to make changes to a prior email marketing strategy? The aim of your company should be known, and it is important that everyone you work with knows that. Everyone’s eyes should be on the goal.

While undergoing pre-SWOT planning, you can try the following:

Create a SWOT team:

You are probably wondering if you read that right. Yes, you did. It is of great importance that a team be set up because carrying out a SWOT analysis is not a job meant for a person.

To have access to a lot of information, you need a lot of brainstorming from different persons.

Ensure your team is made of creative persons that can churn out brilliant ideas. It is necessary that you don’t use a lot of persons to avoid confusion.

Ensure that you are honest

Forget about ego. Try and trash it. What are your weaknesses? Don’t be shy to say them, as it will give room for improvement. If you don’t, the analysis won’t work.

Try and be specific

Ensure that not only is your list easy to understand, it is also specific.

Look at the SWOT your competitors

One secret that smart businesses use to succeed is to spy on their competitors. If you can, try to run a SWOT of few competitors. Though you may not have access to detailed information, with the information gathered, running a SWOT is possible. This will allow you to know where you can improve on.

Rank in order of importance

Though everything listed can be said to be important, it is still great that you list them based on their order of importance.

Strengths: How to Identify Them

There is hardly any business that doesn’t have strengths. It is important that you find them out. By now, you should have some in mind already, and there are many more that you may be oblivious about.

Start by trying this review your goal. Which aspect of your brand are you running the SWOT analysis on?

If you have an intention of increasing the sales, you have to ask some questions like:

Why are your clients patronizing you? What do they benefit from you?

How great is your sales team? What aspect are they good in?

What processes do you have that make you stand apart from your competitors?

Weaknesses: How to Identify Them:

It is important that you think far and wide. Throw away the ego and source for your weakness.

What aspects of your brand are you lagging behind at?

What do you consider as your weakest aspect when you are compared with competitors?

What aspects are making you lose sales?

Why are clients choosing your rivals instead of you?

Note that the above are broad questions. The next line of action is to ask specific questions.

Let’s use the sales angle. If you intend to make more sales, you can ask questions like:

A sale was lost, what happened?

What do your clients see as your weaknesses?

The truth remains that every business has its weaknesses, find them and work on them.

Opportunities: How To Identify Them

The opportunities here have a great deal to do with what niche your brand finds itself in. You have to ask yourself questions like before. Businesses have opportunities, but when you are blind to them, then there is a big problem.

What ways can you make use of to improve your onboarding process or sales?

Have you noticed any new trends in your industry?

Can those trends benefit your brand?

How possible is it to allocate your resources to get better results?

What type of branding and messaging can convert your audience more?

Threats: How to Identify Them

One way to find your threats is to look at your rivals. These are basically your threats.

Have you noticed new rivals in your industry?

Do they have a large following that makes you seem like a dwarf?

Are they household names?

Never forget to spy at your competitors, as it is one way to stay afloat.

How are they doing better than you?

Why do they prefer your competitors?

How are they well ahead of you?

While doing all these, do not overlook your weaknesses, as they can become your threats if not properly handled.

Do your weaknesses affect your brand so negatively? Are they turning to threats?

Things like increased competition, market trends, poor sales and others are all potential threats that could wreck your business if not handled properly. Whatever threats that are rearing their heads should be taken care of. Sometimes, we consider rivals as threats, ignoring that we can be threats to ourselves.

Are you having poor sales? Try to nip them in the bud, by seeking ways to increase the sales. Whatever threats that are found should be taken seriously.