Conducting a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis of your business should be a dynamic venture. It can no longer be siloed as a static, once a year (if even) exercise in preparation for your annual sales and marketing meeting.
SWOT analysis does not take much time, and doing it emboldens you to think about your company in a new frame - helping your team to improve your CONTINUOUS business strategy by making sure you’ve considered all of your business’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats.
A SWOT document is as important as a mission statement or your brand book.
Let’s work on the 13 steps to build an effective SWOT analysis.
- Involve employees from all the vital departments within your company in the SWOT analysis. They will know nuances you may miss. (SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
- Consider involving important clients, suppliers and other trusted partners who know your niche and can provide an objective view.
- Ask contributors to collect and review information on internal resources and external factors affecting the company and industry.
- Assemble a SWOT team brainstorming conference to pinpoint your organization's strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats.
- Select a moderator for the brainstorming session. Decide whether you have the in-house skillset and objectivity to moderate the session, or if you should use a third-party moderator.
- Fashion an open and honest atmosphere, totally void of judgment towards others’ suggestions; especially be forthright about weaknesses and threats.
- Examine internal operations such as finances, marketing, management and personnel, production to categorize strengths and weaknesses.
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About Bradley:
"Bradley Smith is an incredibly creative and strategic marketer with strong content, data and tactical skills, and his marcomm programs are successful across the mosaic of marketing metrics: generating awareness, engaging community, acquiring leads and delivering sales.Using a mix of channels – content, social, email, events, video and more – Bradley built PR Newswire’s Vintage brand into a top three leader in the SEC filings and regulatory compliance industry, alongside RR Donnelley and Merrill.
Bradley and I were senior members of the pioneering PR Newswire team that won the 2016 Marketo Revvie award for Enterprise Marketing Team of the Year. We were recognized for an automated demand generation program that achieved a 166% lift in qualified leads and a 361% increase in marketing-influenced revenue year-over-year.
Two last points: he’s always thinking on new paths to differentiate our products and, as a bonus, he’s a joy to work with."
Eva Rohrmann
Director, Product Marketing ~ Cision/PR Newswire
https://www.linkedin.com/in/evarohrmann
