What’s a SWOT & why your brand needs it

A SWOT (Strengths + Opportunities + Threats + Weaknesses) brainstorm can help you paint a full picture of your brand and make moves to protect + grow it. It’s an incredibly valuable tool, especially now when so many businesses and brands are looking to pivot and adapt to a new external environment.

So let’s start with what this exercise is.

Very simply put, it is a way for you to gauge the viability of your brand both in the current environment, in the future, and with possible threats and opportunities in mind. This classic model has been used to evaluate and plan businesses since the 1960s. The key is to take action on the insights you uncover.

Grab a piece of paper and create a four square grid like this template. Then brainstorm for each section.

Strengths: What are positive brand attributes that are within your control? Maybe it’s your strong name ID or high market saturation.

Weaknesses: What is the other side of this picture? What are the areas of your brand, within your control, that can be improved?

Opportunities: Imagine and list some possibilities you haven’t defined or pursued yet. Maybe some of them you simply haven’t approached because of something like lack of time or resources.

Threats: Think about what some risks to your brand could be? How has COVID affected your brand’s reputation? Is there something that happened in the market place, like a new competitor or regulations? Are there internal operations inefficiencies that pose a brand risk.

Now, prioritize items that you can take immediate action on. Zoning in on these will help you create actionable plans to mitigate threats and weaknesses and leverage your strengths to seize new opportunities.

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