How to create a SWOT analysis + examples

How to create a SWOT analysis for my company, is first question students of marketing or owners firms. You can read a couple of examples and the basic characteristics below. First we will show what such a SWOT analysis must contain and then we will also give specific examples.

SWOT analysis is a simple but effective tool used to analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of an organization, project or individual.

A SWOT analysis is like your company going on a date with a psychologist.

First, you brag a bit (S – strengths), then you admit what you´re not great at (W – weaknesses), you ponder where you could shine (O – opportunities) and finally, you start getting paranoid about who or what might try to trip you up (T – threats). In the end, you realize you´re either doing pretty well… or you have some serious work to do.

SWOT Analysis is used for:

• Strategic planning – Helps set realistic and achievable goals based on the current situation. It’s like setting New Year’s resolutions, but for your business. They must be ambitious but sufficiently realistic.
• Decision making – Aids in selecting the best direction or solution for an organization or project.
• Competitor evolaution – Assesses competitive advantage and weaknesses compared to other market players. It’s like spying on your neighbors to see if their lawn is really greener, or if they’re just using fake turf.
• Process improvement – Identifies areas that need improvement or innovation

Clarity and transparency – Documenting a SWOT analysis ensures that all parties clearly understand the current situation. Every understand, that our company will be sell coffe,for example.

Consistency – It serves as a reference point during strategy implementation. It’s like having a cookbook when cooking – without it, you might end up with something that looks like an experiment from biology class instead of a nice dinner.

Improved communiction – Makes it easier to present and discuss strategic plans with colleagues, investors, or partners. When you have the documentation, you can talk about the strategic plan like an epic movie – with dramatic twists, an all-star cast and a thrilling ending.

Team motivation – Sharing strengths and opportunities can boost confidence and enthusiasm for the next steps. It’s like giving out motivation in the form of chocolate – it immediately gets people excited and the mood is immediately better.

Without a strategy, not even a horse in a chessboard will move.

First of all we have to identifying priority areas, that helps focus on the key aspects that have the greatest impact on success.

Thanks to SWOT, we will find out how to use our strengths (like the ability to make great coffee) and how to avoid weaknesses (like our inability to have a quiet conference).

Then we set realistic goals where a SWOT analysis will show us how far we can go – and quite possibly help us discover that „buying an island in the Caribbean“ may be more of a dream than a real goal.

And finally we allocate resources efficiently. Instead of throwing money away for a cool marketing gimmick (like the employee dance on TikTok), we can invest in real things that get results.

SWOT analysis we can use when we start with a new project. Because is very important to know,what can will be our problems or opportunities.

If we decide that our company wants to enter a new market. We have developed a new product and want to launch it on the market. Then a SWOT analysis is important.

When our manager wants to assess, if the organization is on the right track.

In crisis situations, when it is important to analyze the risks and find the right way to adapt.

SWOT analysis include 4 properties: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

The picture shows the questions you should focus on.

Strengths are internal factor that provide an advantage (know-how, positive reputation, resources..)

We have to focus on questions such as:

What are you doing well? What are your good qualities? Do we have som unique resources, skills or attributes? Can we do better something than our competitors?

Example: unique technology, high customer loyalty, exprecienced team…

Weaknesses are internal factors that limit or create problems for the organization.

We have to focus on questions such as:

Where do you need to improve? What are our main weaknesses in prosess, products or services? Do we have weaknesses in marketing, sales or communication? Where do we fall behind our competitors?

Example: lack of funding, weak brand, single supplier…

Opportunities are external factors that can be leveraged to achieve growth or improvement.

We have to focus on questions such as:

How can it be improved? Do we have opportunities to expand our products or service portfolio? Are there a new customer segments or markets we could target?

Example: weak competition, new market or growing demand for eco-friendly products…

Threats are external factors that could negatively affect the organization.

We have to focus on questions such as:

What are the blockers you´re facing? Are there any legislative, law or tax risks? Which competitors pose a threat to us, and how?

Example: economic recession, new regulations, laws, stronger competition…

Here we will show a couple of concrete examples of SWOT analysis. First try to think about how you would proceed when creating a SWOT analysis.

1. Imagine that you are the owner of a restaurant and you decide to open it in the city center.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Excellent food quality	Dependence on seasonal ingredients
Experienced culinary team	Small seating capacity
Prime location in the city center	Limited marketing budget
Opportunities	Threats
Growing interest in local cuisine	Rising ingredients costs
Collaboration with local farmers	Strong competition in the area
Possibility of food delivery	Inflation

2. The second example is: You are an owner Sportswear E-Shop.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Wide range of high-quality products	Weak presence on social media
Loyalty program for customers	Insufficient storage capacity
Fast delivery system	Dependence on a single courier
Opportunities	Threats
Growing online shopping market	Changes in delivery regulations
Popularity of active lifestyles	Fluctuating material costs
Expand to foreign markets	Increased competition

3. The third example is: You are an owner a Graphic studio.

Strengths	Weaknesses
A wide range of creations	Unknown brand
High financial reserves	Missing social networks
Online business – low operating costs, targeting a large number of customers	No website
Opportunities	Threats
Growing demand for virtual reality	Increasing costs due to the energy crisis
To address new trends in 3D	Departure of large industrial companies abroad
The use of increasingly popular networks such as TikTok for the promotion of animations	Unemployment

4. The fourth example is: You are an owner a pet studio.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Product quality and variety	Limitation in products
Sustainably responsible	Cost-sensitive customers
Skilled and multitalented team	Increase in operational cost due to physical and online stores
Opportunities	Threats
Partnerships	Geopolitical Instability of Economy in Europe
Demand in pet health services	Risks in pet food regulations and safety
Value of pets	Changes in customer preferences

It is important to be one step ahead, so don’t forget to analyze your competition.

Writing and regularly updating is essential for maintaining competitiveness and adapting to changing conditions.