New Year’s S.W.O.T.

The new year brings new hopes. No doubt you have set some business goals and created a game plan to accomplish them. One thing I recommend all organizations kick 2011 off with is a new year’s S.W.O.T.

I know what you are thinking. S.W.O.T analysis is old school. Are they still relevant to today’s new marketing rules? The answer is yes. Here is a simple outline to perform a S.W.O.T. analysis. It is divided into two elements and four components.

Internal

• Strengths: These are the the attributes of your brand or company that stand above the competition. Think of these as your competitive advantages.
• Weaknesses: These are the attributes of your brand or company that put you at a disadvantage to the competition.

External

• Opportunities: Chances to grow your business in the present market.
• Threats: Circumstances in the market that may put constraints on your business.

I think where you can tweak this type of analysis for planning is by focusing more on the internal elements. Your strengths are the characteristics that tell your story. They are the connectors between you and your customers. Identifying weaknesses helps you find and improve gaps in your product, service, or culture.

This is not to say that you neglect the external elements. Do your homework and study your niche. Where is the puck going? How can I get there? and What can potentially stop me? These are great questions to answer from your opportunities and threats.

Use the power of social platforms and the web to help you conduct your S.W.O.T. These tools have made listening and conversing with others about your organization, competitors, and market easier than ever. Use this goldmine to assist you in your planning and goal setting this year.

Things move faster now than they used to. We encourage you to go through this exercise a few times a year to keep a pulse on your business. You will be happy you did?

What say you?

photo credit: cdedbdme

Related posts:

1. Take inventory of the present

Tags | analysis, business, business goals, business intelligence, competitive advantage, context analysis, game plans, goal, hope, management, market research, marketing, organization, recommended, strategic management, swot, swot analysis