How to Do a SWOT Analysis (With Examples)

Conducting a SWOT analysis is a powerful way to evaluate your company or project,

whether you’re two people or 500 people. In this article, you’ll learn: what a SWOT analysis is, see
some SWOT analysis examples, and learn tips and strategies for conducting a comprehensive
SWOT analysis of your own. You’ll also see how you can use the data a SWOT exercise yields to
improve your internal processes and workflows, and get a free, editable SWOT analysis template.
What is a SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis is a technique used to determine and define your Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats – SWOT.
SWOT analysis can be applied to an entire company or organization, or individual
projects within a single department. Most commonly, SWOT analyses are used at the
organizational level to determine how closely a business is aligned with its growth
trajectories and success benchmarks, but they can also be used to ascertain how well a
particular project – such as an online advertising campaign – is performing according to
initial projections.
Whatever you choose to call them, SWOT analyses are often presented as a grid-like matrix
with four distinct quadrants – one representing each individual element.
Breaking down the SWOT analysis definition
We know that SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats – but
what does each of these elements mean? Let’s take a look at each element individually.

Strengths
 The first element of a SWOT analysis is Strengths.
 Things your company does well
 Qualities that separate you from your competitor’s internal resources such as skilled,
knowledgeable staff
 Tangible assets such as intellectual property, capital, proprietary technologies, etc.
As you’ve probably guessed, this element addresses things that your company or project
does especially well. This could be something intangible, such as your company’s brand
attributes, or something more easily defined such as the unique selling proposition of a
particular product line. It could also be your people, your literal human resources: strong
leadership, or a great engineering team.
Weaknesses
 Once you’ve figured out your strengths, it’s time to turn that critical self-awareness on
your weaknesses.
 Things your company lacks
 Things your competitors do better than you Resource limitations
 Unclear unique selling proposition
What’s holding your business or project back?
This element can include organizational challenges like a shortage of skilled people
and financial or budgetary limitations.
This element of a SWOT analysis may also include weaknesses in relation to other
companies in your industry, such as the lack of a clearly defined USP in a crowded market.
Opportunities
 Next up is Opportunities.
 Underserved markets for specific products few competitors in your area
 Emerging needs for your products or services Press/media coverage of your company
Can’t keep up with the volume of leads being generated by your marketing team? That’s an
opportunity. Is your company developing an innovative new idea that will open up new
markets or demographics? That’s another opportunity.
In short, this element of a SWOT analysis covers everything you could do to improve sales,
grow as a company, or advance your organization’s mission.
Threats
 The final element of a SWOT analysis is Threats – everything that poses a risk to
either your company itself or its likelihood of success or growth.
 Emerging competitors
 Changing regulatory environment
 Changing customer attitudes toward your company
This could include things like emerging competitors, changes in regulatory law, financial
risks, and virtually everything else that could potentially jeopardize the future of your
company or project.
SWOT analysis internal and external factors
The four elements above are common to all SWOT analyses. However, many companies
further compartmentalize these elements into two distinct subgroups: Internal and External.
Internal factors
Typically, Strengths and Weaknesses are considered internal factors, in that they are the
result of organizational decisions under the control of your company or team. A high churn
rate, for example, would be categorized as a weakness, but improving a high churn rate is still
within your control, making it an internal factor.
External factors
Similarly, emerging competitors would be categorized as a threat in a SWOT analysis, but
since there’s very little you can do about this, this makes it an external factor. This is why
you may have seen SWOT analyses referred to as Internal-External Analyses or IE matrices.
How to do a SWOT analysis
You can get the full experience in our video below, and this entire post is dedicated to
answering that question, but for simplicity’s sake, here’s how to do a SWOT analysis:
1. Gather your team together—ideally bring candy.
2. Set up your quadrants—on a whiteboard or projector (perhaps using our template).
3. Start with strengths—ask the below list of questions.
4. Follow suit with weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
5. Organize the information collected into a neat and tidy document.
6. Send out to the team with notes.
7. Organize a second meeting to come up with action items and owners.

SWOT analysis questions

We need to start by asking a series of questions. Here is a breakdown of the questions you
should seek to answer when performing your SWOT analysis.
Strengths questions
Let’s take our first element, Strengths, for example. To determine what your strengths are as
an organization, you could begin by asking some of the following questions:
1. What do your customers love about your company or product(s)?
2. What does your company do better than other companies in your industry?
3. What are your most positive brand attributes?
4. What’s your unique selling proposition?
5. What resources do you have at your disposal that your competitors do not?

By answering these questions, you’ll be in great shape to start identifying and listing your
organization’s strengths.
Weakness questions
1. We can use the same principle to determine your company’s weaknesses:
2. What do your customers dislike about your company or product(s)?
3. What problems or complaints are often mentioned in your negative reviews?
4. Why do your customers cancel or churn? What could your company do better?
5. What are your most negative brand attributes?
6. What are the biggest obstacles/challenges in your current sales funnel?
7. What resources do your competitors have that you do not?
 You may find that determining the strengths and weaknesses of your organization or
project is considerably easier or takes less time than figuring out the opportunities and threats
facing your company. This is because, as we said earlier, these are internal factors. External
factors, on the other hand, may require more effort and rely upon more data, as these are
often beyond your immediate sphere of influence.
Opportunities questions
Identifying opportunities and threats may require you to conduct in-depth competitive
intelligence research about what your competitors are up to, or the examination of wider
economic or business trends that could have an impact on your company.
You may discover opportunities and threats based solely on the strengths and weaknesses of
your company. Some possible questions you could ask to identify potential opportunities
might include:
1. How can we improve our sales/customer on boarding/customer support processes?
2. What kind of messaging resonates with our customers?
3. How can we further engage our most vocal brand advocates? Are we allocating
departmental resources effectively?
4. Is there budget, tools, or other resources that we’re not leveraging to full capacity?
5. Which advertising channels exceeded our expectations – and why?

Threat questions
When it comes to threats, you could certainly begin by asking a series of questions like those
above. However, it’s often quite easy to come up with a list of potential threats facing your
business or project without posing questions beforehand. This could include
1. Branded threats such as emerging or established competitors,
2. Broader threats such as changing regulatory environments and market volatility, or
3. Even internal threats such as high staff turnover that could threaten or derail current
growth.
Benefits of SWOT analysis for small businesses
If you’re a marketer or small-business owner, you might be wondering if SWOT analyses are
practical or even feasible for smaller companies and organizations. Although there is
definitely a resource overhead involved in the creation of a SWOT analysis, there are many
benefits in doing so, even for the smallest of companies.
Get a bird’s eye view:
For one, conducting a comprehensive SWOT analysis provides a unique opportunity to gain
greater insight into how your business operates. It’s all too easy to get lost in the weeds of the
day-to-day workings of your company, and conducting a SWOT analysis allows you to take a
broader, bird’s eye view of your business and the position it occupies in your industry.
Improve specific campaigns and projects:
Another benefit of SWOT analyses is that this technique can be applied to a wide range of
scenarios, not just as an overview of your business.
You could use SWOT analyses to evaluate the potential strengths and weaknesses of a
forthcoming advertising campaign, a planned content project, or even whether your company
should be represented at a trade show or industry event.
Develop tangible roadmaps:
Obviously, it almost goes without saying that conducting a SWOT analysis allows you to
identify what your company does well, where it could improve and the opportunities and
threats facing your business. However, conducting a SWOT analysis provides you with the
opportunity to not only identify these factors, but also develop and implement tangible
roadmaps and timelines for potential solutions. This can be beneficial in the creation of
budgetary plans, identifying hiring needs and other mid- to long-term strategic planning.
Examples of SWOT Analysis for Textile Industry:

Strength: Weakness:

 Labor Market Flexibility.  Inadequate modern machinery

 Global Demand  Unsatisfactory forecasting
 Increasing Industry Involvement  Incapable of going with the flow
 Economic zones existent  Dependency on the potential buyers

Opportunity:
Threat:
 Buyer interest in the Asian market
 International buyers can use the  High production costs and a low profit
transparent costing facility margin.
 The government and NGOs offer  The cost of shipment on board
training programs.  Challenges posed by a political and
 Productivity initiatives by buyers environmental crisis
 New Innovations in Textile
Manufacturing: Air Drobe & Fibre Spray
Clothing
 The textile industry is undergoing fast change as the industry continues to grow.
Today's enterprises have multiple benefits due to technological progress, resulting in
everyday economic shifts. In order to effectively strategize, it is crucial for a textile
organization to appreciate the patterns of market movement. An effective strategy provides
organizations with a head start in planning and a competitive advantage. SWOT Analysis can
be a reliable method for getting market research that can give your organization a competitive
advantage.
Fact and Figure
For many years, the textile industry has significantly contributed to our economy. It is
a sector that accounts for 14% of the total production made in the industrial sector. The
textile industry fulfills one of the most fundamental and consistent requirements that people
have. It is able to sustain its expansion by enhancing the quality of life for the human
population. This industry is self-sufficient, especially when compared to others. Over the
course of many years, it has been demonstrated to be one of the most significant contributors
to a country's economy. In recent years, the textile industry has experienced phenomenal
expansion. This has attracted a considerable amount of attention from other countries around
the world.
Conclusion:
Technology is the driving force behind the rapid progress and transformation of our
world. It has become an inseparable part of our daily lives, revolutionizing the way we
communicate, work, learn, and entertain ourselves. From the convenience of smartphones to
the power of artificial intelligence and the wonders of the internet, technology has
empowered us in ways we could have never imagined. It has connected us globally, opened
doors to endless knowledge, and improved efficiency in various industries. However, as we
marvel at the advancements, it is important to remember that technology is a tool, and its
impact depends on how we use it. We must strive for a balance between embracing
innovation and maintaining our humanity, ensuring that technology serves as a force for good
and contributes to a better, more inclusive and sustainable future for all.