Some of the best marketing and business decision techniques follow the K.I.S.S. or “Keep It Simple Stupid” thinking philosophy. The SWOT analysis is a great example of this on a surface level. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. New startups and existing companies can benefit from running their marketing strategies, business decisions, and even brand direction through the lens of each SWOT category.

Though it sounds simple, this powerful tool has been used to make significant decisions for top companies like Amazon and Google. Below you’ll discover how easy it is to get started using the SWOT analysis technique in your own business and how Big Rig can help you create one.

SWOT Basics

The main use of a SWOT analysis is to help devise a successful strategy for the future, uncover what may hold you back from that desired outcome, and anticipate threats that may hinder you on that path. It explores both internal and external factors affecting success and growth.

The SWOT Worksheet

A simple SWOT worksheet is usually set up as a 2X2 grid, with each square in the grid representing one of the four categories. As you add things to each category, it will likely spawn the lists of other categories.

Example SWOT Worksheet

Explaining The Four Parts of a SWOT Analysis

Strengths

The main purpose of the strengths category is to determine where you are right now and what resources are inherent to your company that makes you better than the competition. It’s important that as many people as possible from your company are involved in this process. It is beneficial to get a third-party opinion as well. Outside opinions can come from customer surveys or professional consultants who can objectively look at your company and tell you what they see.

Weaknesses

Like strengths, weaknesses are inherent features of your company. They could be resources you don’t have or things that your company just isn’t doing as well as you think it should. For example, Company A’s competitors have a very active social media presence resulting in excellent brand loyalty, while Company A’s social media posts never seem to get views.

The weakness in the example is simply a lack of social media presence. However, that can be expanded when filling out the weakness category by answering what Company A lacks in resources that are holding them back. For example, maybe their competition has hired a digital marketing company to help them get views and build their audience. In contrast, company A doesn’t have anyone knowledgeable enough to manage their social media accounts.

Like strengths, it’s super important to be as objective and truthful as possible to reap the most benefits from a SWOT analysis. Getting a 3rd party opinion from a person or company you trust or even your customers is also vital for discovering weaknesses that you may not even know exist.

Opportunities

Rather than internal factors, the opportunities part of a SWOT analysis should be where you think about external factors that may benefit your company.

1. Is your market growing, and are there trends that will encourage more people to look for businesses like yours?
2. Are there upcoming events that your company can take advantage of?
3. Are you consistently getting excellent reviews from customers?
4. Is there any legislation related to your market coming up that will benefit your company?
5. Did you just partner with Big Rig Xpress to handle your business website needs and now have access to all of their marketing packages, consultations services, and even SWOT analysis to help you grow your business?

Threats

Threats can be anything with the potential to impact your business. Supply chain issues, labor shortages, evolving tech leaving you behind, and of course, your competition are all examples of threats. It’s important to anticipate threats so you can preemptively troubleshoot your company around them or change your organization’s emphasis to stay up to date with what your industry as a whole is doing.

We Do SWOT Analysis Too

You may already know that we don’t just make killer managed websites with all the features you need in a site that will grow as your business does, and as a Big Rig Xpress client, you get access to all of the marketing services offered in our shop. But unlike many marketing platforms, we also offer our years of marketing and business expertise in the form of consulting.

You have already told us all about your business during the website creation process, and chances are we have a lot of experience working with tons of companies in your field. That makes Big Rig one of the most knowledgeable 3rd party sources to help you tease out every possible strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat affecting your current business.

If you’re ready to get the tools and information you need to take your business and revenue to the next level, schedule a call with Big Rig. We can talk about SWOT analysis and many of the other no B.S. consulting services we use to get you there.

Get Started Today