When you’re creating a brand strategy one of the top questions to ask is “Where are we?” which helps you to have an overview of your brand thinking about internal and external factors.
I bet you’ve done a SWOT analysis before. Or maybe you’ve thought about it and decided it’s too dull? Honestly it’s not. It’s VERY useful to see where your strengths lie, to see what opportunities are available and to identify your weaknesses and threats and then see if you can turn those weaknesses and threats into strengths and opportunities!
A SWOT analysis gives you a great overview of where your business is right now. It’s especially useful to do one when you’re going through some sort of change, maybe something external like the pandemic, or something internal such as a decision to rebrand or tackle a new market. The results of this process can show you which strengths you need to emphasise and also which path to follow because you have more information to make an informed decision. It can help you find new customers, identify areas to improve and areas to invest in. It doesn’t even take very long and you’ll end up with a realistic assessment which is time well spent.
Here’s some points to consider when you’re working through your own SWOT analysis:
Strengths
- assets
- programmes
- tech
- your USP
- performance
- benfits
- processes
- your point of difference
Weaknesses
- unhelpful trends
- shopping habits
- your customer base
- competitor pressure
- funding
- gaps
- production
- processes
Opportunities
- new areas
- new products
- gaps
- areas of focus
- changes
- events
- PR
- collaboration
- innovation
- diversification
Threats
You have no control over these threats.
- competitors
- world events
- national events
- local events
- economy
- barriers
- strikes
- rumours
- change
- trends/ behaviour
- supply
- laws/ regulations
When you’re done, you may find that you can turn some of those weaknesses or threats into opportunities. It’s OK to have the same thing in more than one box, and to move things around.