SWOT your business, and your competition
A SWOT analysis is a great way to assess what your business does well, and where you’ll need to improve. It can also help you identify ways you can exploit opportunities, and to identify and prepare for potential threats to your business success.
Strengths and weaknesses are typically inside your business — what are you good at, what are you not so good at — while opportunities and threats are external factors.
It can be as simple as drawing a large square, and dividing it into four quadrants – one for each element of the SWOT analysis.
Strength
Think about what you, your team, and your business are good at – all the attributes that’ll help you achieve your goals, eg. what you (and your team) do well, any unique skills or expert knowledge, what you/your business do better than your competitors, good processes and systems, and where your business is most profitable.
Weakness
Think about the things that could stop you from achieving your objectives, including what costs you time and/or money, the areas you or your company need to improve in, what resources you lack, which parts of the business aren’t profitable, poor brand awareness, disorganized processes, or a poor online presence. Think about what you can do to minimize your weaknesses.
Opportunity
Think about the external conditions that will help you achieve your goals. How can you can do more for your existing customers, or reach new markets? Are there related products and services that could provide opportunities for your business, and how could you use technology to enhance your business?
Threats
Consider the external conditions that could damage your business’s performance – things like what’s going on in your industry, and in the economy, the obstacles you face, the strengths of your biggest competitors, and things your competitors are doing that you’re not. Think about how you could try to minimize or manage the threats.
Repeat the exercise for your competition too – it’ll help you identify areas where you can beat them, fine-tune your niche market, and make sure you’re prepared to address the challenge they pose.