Can We Do A SWOT Analysis Ourselves?
One of the great things about SWOT Analysis is that it’s quick and easy to do. You can therefore do it yourself. However, you must understand the process, follow it carefully and focus on factual and measurable elements. The ideal is to do this as a group in order to be able to discuss the different factors, their weight and their importance.
When the stakes are high, it is also possible to have the assistance of a strategy consulting firm. The experience of the consultants and the quality of their intervention will help improve the Swot and bring credibility to the results it will produce.
How to Do a SWOT Analysis?
Like function-benefit matrics, there are several ways to perform a SWOT analysis. However, whatever approach you choose, the first step is asking yourself a series of questions. These questions will allow you to identify the attributes of your Four categories.
Remark :
Market studies are excellent working tools that allow you to:
Reveal a number of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats;
Provide indications of measures and prioritization between elements;
Highlight coherences, inconsistencies, links or oppositions between certain elements.
Doing market research prior to your SWOT analysis is often a guarantee of relevance and efficiency.
Do not hesitate to read our article Market Research to learn more about market research.
Analysis of the Strengths of your SWOT Matrix
Take our first element, the S (strength), for example. To determine what your strengths are, you can start by asking yourself:
1- What appeals to your customers? What characteristics or functionalities do your customers appreciate in your business or your products?
2- What sets you apart from your competition? What specific and differentiating added value of your business that other market players lack?
3- The quality of your positioning. How do market players position your brand? What are your most positive brand attributes?
4- The relevance of your commercial offer. What is your value proposition? How does it represent a unique value proposition for your target customer segments?
5- Your resources. What unique resources do you have (that your competitors do not)?
The in-depth, precise, concrete and detailed answers to these questions will allow you to begin to identify and list the attributes that make up the strengths of your creative project, your business or your organization. You will then need to group, sort, and synthesize them to have a clear and relevant set of “Strengths” attributes.
Here is an example of a study that highlights a number of attributes that customers have associated with a brand:
Examples of associated positive brand attributes as identified by customers
It is clear that the market research carried out makes it possible to identify and measure a certain number of attributes. It will also be noted that certain attributes were not mentioned by customers, who did not perceive them as a characteristic of the brand.
Analysis of the Weaknesses of your SWOT Matrix
We can use the same principle to determine the weaknesses of your entrepreneurial project or your business:
1- What displeases your customers? What your clients don’t perceive or like about your project’s commercial offering.
2- Lack of differentiation from your competition. What are the characteristics and/or functionalities that they do not validate?
3- The mismatch between your offer and customer expectations. What analysis can be made of customer returns (after-sales service, product returns, etc.)? What problems or complaints came up from your market research?
4- The low rate of transformation. Why are some prospects not ordering or some customers canceling or changing their minds?
5- Areas of progress. What could your business do better?
6- The difficulty of your positioning. What are your most negative brand attributes?
7- The lack of relevance of your commercial offer. What are the main obstacles/challenges of your conversion funnel?
8- Your limits or constraints. What resources do your competitors have that you don’t have?
Identifying and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your organization or project is usually easier and faster than determining the opportunities and threats it faces. This is because, as we touched on above, you know and control these are internal factors.
Studying external factors may require more effort and information research, as external factors often go beyond your immediate sphere of influence.
To identify opportunities and threats, you may need to study your competitors in detail and examine economic and/or business trends (innovation mode, societal trends, etc.) that could have an impact on your business.
Remark :
This is not to say that the opportunities and threats cannot be internal. Some of them are based solely on the strengths and weaknesses of your business.
Analysis of the Opportunities of your SWOT Matrix
Here are some questions to identify the attributes of the opportunities in your project:
1- Acquiring new customers and maintaining existing customers. How to improve the sales process/identification and transformation of prospects/loyalty of existing customers?
2- The marketing approach. What communication appeals to your prospects or your customers?
3- The network – word of mouth. How to mobilize more the most active followers of the brand?
4- Resource allocation. Are resources allocated efficiently?
5- Resource efficiency. Is there a tool for measuring budget efficiency and performance?
6- Promotional actions. Which advertising channels were relevant, why?
Threat Analysis of your SWOT Matrix
Regarding threats, it is possible to identify some of the attributes through the questions listed in the opportunities paragraph above. However, other threats can be easily identified such as:
1- The existence or birth of direct or indirect competition. Are there any “brand” threats like emerging or established competitors?
2- Environmental, regulatory and social developments, etc. and their influence on the market. Could future developments disrupt the market and/or target customer segments (market size, volatility, competition, access to resources, etc.)?
3- Internal elements can disrupt the project. Can certain decisions impact the functioning of the company (change of management, moves, etc.)?
Need Help or Advice in Content Management:
Would you like more advice? Do you have good practices to share? Express yourself in the comments.
Also, if you want help writing content to drive more traffic and boost conversions, please get in touch through Contact our team.
Do you want help writing quality content, driving traffic to your website, and boosting conversions? You can contact me through my Freelancer.com profile also. I always prefer to work through Freelancer.com for smooth functioning. Here you pay safely and securely.
Read More:
What are Effective Teamwork – Top 5 Attributes
