What is a SWOT analysis - and how can it help?

The marketing world loves an acronym! Yet, unbeknown to most, SMART isn’t the only goal-setting framework that helps you achieve better focus in business.

SWOT analysis is another useful tool that can unlock a long list of benefits. Read on to discover what SWOT means and how using SWOT analysis can help you to better understand your business, market and competition.

What does SWOT mean?

SWOT stands for Strengths (what your business does well), Weaknesses (what your business could do better), Opportunities (new tactics that could help you fill market gaps) and Threats (areas, trends, industry changes or competitors that could cause problems).

By analysing all these factors, you can design and develop a plan that can better serve your business in both the short and long term as well as advance individual projects with the laser focus you need to succeed.

When is SWOT analysis useful?

SWOT analysis is useful at every stage, especially when you are changing a big part of the way you do things. It can also provide the insights you need to launch a new venture, product or service, expand your offering or improve your overall performance as a business. SWOT analysis is beneficial if you have a new competitor who has entered the market too.

SWOT analysis is a great way to influence the decision-making process positively, providing the groundwork to improve success, whether you want to focus on customer care, ecommerce activity or marketing performance.

How can SWOT analysis help my business?

Running a business, of course, isn’t easy. With continuous SWOT analysis and the occasional in-depth review at crucial stages like those mentioned above, you can unlock several advantages that help you thrive in your target marketplace.

SWOT analysis is an excellent fact-finding mission, giving you all you need to find and correct faults that may be holding you back. Larger companies can also use SWOT analysis to finetune their operations as well as improve relationships between different teams or departments.

In addition to this, SWOT analysis is extremely efficient and cost effective, with very little time or money needed to understand the factors that impact your business now and into the future. In fact, it all starts with a discussion, with every member of the team able to come together to contribute positively to the bigger picture.