August 6, 2018

1.2 : SWOT Analysis

1.2 : SWOT Analysis

Dr. Tahir Rashid, Senior Lecturer, Salford Business School, UK

As part of the strategic planning, we need to understand what do our customers think, what to our competitors think, what do our stakeholders externally think, and also perhaps what do investors externally think of the business.

A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in your organization

At the same time, we also need to consider within the organization, so that becomes the internal analysis.

The three elements of strategy are:

  • Analysis – where are we now?
  • Development – where do we want to be?
  • Implementation – how are we going to get there?

So strategic planning is about trying to understand the external environment and also the internal environment.

External analysis:

Anticipate and identify opportunities and threats to your organization

The external environment will present the organization with opportunities that they can seek advantage of and, at the same time, fight off threats that they may be facing.

Internal analysis:

Strengths within the organization as well as weaknesses

The internal environment will present the organization with the strengths within the area of digital marketing. And also, at the same time, highlight what the weaknesses that the company may have. Together, this will provide a SWOT Analysis of the business in terms of digital marketing.

The SWOT Analysis is a very usual tool in understanding where the company sits in terms of its current position competition within the digital marketing environment and how can it improve itself relative to its competitors by understanding what their SWOT Analysis is.

Colin Telford, Managing Partner, The Candidate Ltd, UK

We use a SWOT Analysis so that we can identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to allow us to build our strategy for the business moving forward. We can really play on our strengths to identify what we’ve done really well over the last 12 months, see what we have for the following 12 months, and build on those strengths so that we can continue to be successful in those areas.

S – Strengths

Identify where the business is performing really well and amplify these successes

Obviously, weaknesses need to be addressed, and we need to try and turn those weaknesses into becoming strengths themselves.

W – Weaknesses

Where are the current shortcomings and how could these be managed, improved upon?

And where there are weaknesses, and where there are threats that are identified, we can hopefully turn those into opportunities.

Constantly review a business and seek opportunities to convert weaknessess to strengths, and threats to opportunities

Like many of you who undoubtedly are entrepreneurial, it’s looking at these different focuses and functions of the SWOT Analysis so you can build a business that reacts quickly and effectively to any changes within your marketplace.

Alex Charalambidis, Digital Marketing strategist, MONKS, Greece

We actually were using SWOT not only for the planning but for pitching as well. For going to a client, the first thing you have to do is SWOT for the situation analysis, where is the industry right now, where are the competitors. And you have to be honest with the client because in every meeting we hear that “we have the best product” or “we have the best service” but in this phase you have to be honest.

SWOT is not only useful for strategic planning within a business but also when planning campaigns and reviewing new business opportunities

We are using SWOT usually in a presentation. We can create something like research, something small not something fancy. With potential customers or existing customers, without knowing the client, so we are doing the research, and usually we are presenting this before we finalize the strategy.

SWOT is useful when pitching for new business opportunities and offering your services to a new client

Additional material

Have you used a SWOT analysis before?

A SWOT analysis is usually used for strategic analysis.

Read this Harvard Business Review article on Three Quick Ways to Improve Your Strategy-Making https://hbr.org/2014/05/three-quick-ways-to-improve-your-strategy-making-2/

See how the SWOT analysis fits with producing a vision or mission statement as suggested in the above article.

References

Strategic Management Insight (2013) SWOT Analysis – Do It Properly!

 http://www.strategicmanagementinsi…

Businessballs, SWOT analysis method and examples, with free SWOT template

 http://www.businessballs.com/swota…

SWOT Analysis Discover New Opportunities, Manage and Eliminate Threats

 https://www.mindtools.com/pages/ar…

Please follow these chapter 1 related links:

Why is Digital and Social Media Marketing important today and in the future?
1.1. Introduction to strategic planning
1.3. Developing SMART objectives for strategy and campaigns
1.4. Digital Business Maturity Model
1.5. The consumer journey to online purchase
1.6. Introduction to core concepts and technologies of digital and social media marketing
1.7. Introduction to online branding