SWOT Analysis: How To Do One [With Template & Examples]

Caroline Forsey

Published: October 05, 2023

As your business grows, you need a roadmap to help navigate the obstacles, challenges, opportunities, and projects that come your way. Enter: the SWOT analysis.

man conducting swot analysis for his business

This framework can help you develop a plan to determine your priorities, maximize opportunities, and minimize roadblocks as you scale your organization. Below, let’s go over exactly what a SWOT analysis is, a few SWOT analysis examples, and how to conduct one for your business.

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When you’re done reading, you’ll have all the inspiration and tactical advice you need to tackle a SWOT analysis for your business.

What is a SWOT analysis? Importance of a SWOT Analysis How to Write a Good SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis Examples How to Act on a SWOT Analysis

What is a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that puts your business in perspective using the following lenses: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Using a SWOT analysis helps you identify ways your business can improve and maximize opportunities, while simultaneously determining negative factors that might hinder your chances of success.

While it may seem simple on the surface, a SWOT analysis allows you to make unbiased evaluations on:

  • Your business or brand.
  • Market positioning.
  • A new project or initiative.
  • A specific campaign or channel.

Practically anything that requires strategic planning, internal or external, can have the SWOT framework applied to it, helping you avoid unnecessary errors down the road from lack of insight.

swot business plan template

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Importance of a SWOT Analysis

You’ve noticed by now that SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The framework seems simple enough that you’d be tempted to forgo using it at all, relying instead on your intuition to take these things into account.

But you shouldn’t. Doing a SWOT analysis is important. Here’s why.

SWOT gives you the chance to worry and to dream.

A SWOT analysis is an important step in your strategic process because it gives you the opportunity to explore both the potential risks and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead.  You’re giving yourself the space to dream, evaluate, and worry before taking action. Your insights then turn into assets as you create the roadmap for your initiative.

For instance, when you consider the weaknesses and threats that your business may face, you can address any concerns or challenges and strategize on how to mitigate those risks. At the same time, you can identify strengths and opportunities, which can inspire innovative ideas and help you dream big. Both are equally important. 

SWOT forces you to define your variables.

Instead of diving head first into planning and execution, you’re taking inventory of all your assets and roadblocks. This process will help you  develop strategies that leverage your strengths and opportunities while addressing and mitigating the impact of weaknesses and threats.

As a result, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of your current situation and create a more specific and effective roadmap. Plus, a SWOT analysis is inherently proactive. That means you'll be better equipped to make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and set realistic goals. 

SWOT allows you to account for mitigating factors.

As you identify weaknesses and threats, you’re better able to account for them in your roadmap, improving your chances of success.

Moreover, accounting for mitigating factors allows you to allocate your resources wisely and make informed decisions that lead to sustainable growth. With a SWOT analysis as a guide, you can confidently face challenges and seize opportunities.

SWOT helps you keep a written record.

As your organization grows and changes, you’ll be able to strike things off your old SWOTs and make additions. You can look back at where you came from and look ahead at what’s to come.

In other words, SWOT analyses serve as a tangible history of your progress and provide a reference point for future decision-making. With each update, your SWOT analysis becomes a living document that guides your strategic thinking and helps you stay agile and adaptable in an ever-changing business landscape.

By maintaining this written record, you foster a culture of continuous improvement and empower your team to make data-driven decisions and stay aligned with your long-term vision.

Parts of a SWOT Analysis

Conducting a SWOT analysis will help you strategize effectively, unlock valuable insights, and make informed decisions. But what exactly does a SWOT analysis include?

Let’s explore each component: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

swot analysis chart: strengths

Your strengths are the unique advantages and internal capabilities that give your company a competitive edge in the market. A strong brand reputation, innovative products or services, or exceptional customer service are just a few examples. By identifying and capitalizing on your strengths, you can foster customer loyalty and build a solid foundation for growth.

swot analysis chart: weaknesses

No business is flawless. Weaknesses are areas where you may face challenges or fall short of your potential. It could be outdated processes, skill gaps within the team, or inadequate resources. By acknowledging these weaknesses, you can establish targeted initiatives for improvement, upskill your team, adopt new technologies, and enhance your overall operational efficiency.

swot analysis chart: opportunities

Opportunities are external factors that can contribute to your company's progress. These may include emerging markets, technological advancements, changes in consumer behavior, or gaps in the market that your company can fill. By seizing these opportunities, you can expand your market reach, diversify your product offerings, forge strategic partnerships, or even venture into untapped territories.

swot analysis chart: threats

Threats are external factors that are beyond your control and pose challenges to your business. Increased competition, economic volatility, evolving regulatory landscapes, or even changing market trends are examples of threats. By proactively assessing and addressing them, you can develop contingency plans, adjust your strategies, and minimize their impact on your operations.

In a SWOT analysis, you’ll have to take both internal and external factors into account. We’ll cover those next.

swot business plan template

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SWOT Analysis Internal and External Factors

A SWOT analysis typically has internal (i.e., within your organization) and external (i.e., outside your organization) factors at play. Here's a breakdown of each.

Internal Factors

Internal factors refer to the characteristics and resources within your organization that directly influence its operations and performance. These factors are completely within your organization's control, so they can be modified, improved, or capitalized upon.

In a SWOT analysis, strengths and weaknesses are categorized as internal factors. Let’s look at a few examples.

  • Brand reputation
  • Unique expertise
  • Loyal customer base
  • Talented workforce
  • Efficient processes
  • Proprietary technology
  • Outdated technology
  • Inadequate resources
  • Poor financial health
  • Inefficient processes
  • Skill gaps within the team

External Factors

External factors are elements outside the organization's control that have an impact on its operations, market position, and success. These factors arise from the industry climate and the broader business environment. You typically have no control over external factors, but you can respond to them.

In a SWOT analysis, opportunities and threats are categorized as external factors. Let’s look at a few examples.

  • Emerging markets
  • Changing consumer trends
  • Technological advancements
  • Positive shifts in regulations
  • New gaps in the market you could fill
  • Intense competition
  • Economic downturns
  • Disruptive technologies
  • Changing regulations
  • Negative shifts in consumer behavior

Remember, a well-rounded SWOT analysis empowers you to capitalize on strengths, address weaknesses, seize opportunities, and navigate threats — all while making informed decisions for the future.

Now, let’s take a look at how you can write a good SWOT analysis for yourself or for stakeholders.

How do you write a good SWOT analysis?

There are several steps you’ll want to take when evaluating your business and conducting a strategic SWOT analysis.

1. Download HubSpot's SWOT Analysis Template.

There’s no need to start from scratch for your analysis. Instead, start by downloading a free, editable template from HubSpot. Feel free to use the model yourself, or create your own as it suits your needs.

HubSpot’s free SWOT analysis template explains how to do a SWOT analysis.

3. Identify your objective.

Before you start writing things down, you’ll need to figure out what you’re evaluating with your SWOT analysis.

Be specific about what you want to analyze. Otherwise, your SWOT analysis may end up being too broad, and you’ll get analysis paralysis as you are making your evaluations.

If you’re creating a new social media program, you’ll want to conduct an analysis to inform your content creation strategy. If you’re launching a new product, you’ll want to understand its potential positioning in the space. If you’re considering a brand redesign, you’ll want to consider existing and future brand conceptions.

All of these are examples of good reasons to conduct a SWOT analysis. By identifying your objective, you’ll be able to tailor your evaluation to get more actionable insights.

4. Identify your strengths.

“Strengths” refers to what you are currently doing well. Think about the factors that are going in your favor as well as the things you offer that your competitors just can’t beat.

For example, let’s say you want to use a SWOT analysis to evaluate your new social media strategy.

If you’re looking at a new social media program, perhaps you want to evaluate how your brand is perceived by the public. Is it easily recognizable and well-known? Even if it’s not popular with a widespread group, is it well-received by a specific audience?

Next, think about your process: Is it effective or innovative? Is there good communication between marketing and sales?

Finally, evaluate your social media message, and in particular, how it differs from the rest of the industry. I’m willing to bet you can make a lengthy list of some major strengths of your social media strategy over your competitors, so try to dive into your strengths from there.

5. Identify your weaknesses.

In contrast to your strengths, what are the roadblocks hindering you from reaching your goals? What do your competitors offer that continues to be a thorn in your side?

This section isn’t about dwelling on negative aspects. Rather, it’s critical to foresee any potential obstacles that could mitigate your success.

When identifying weaknesses, consider what areas of your business are the least profitable, where you lack certain resources, or what costs you the most time and money. Take input from employees in different departments, as they’ll likely see weaknesses you hadn’t considered.

If you’re examining a new social media strategy, you might start by asking yourself these questions: First, if I were a consumer, what would prevent me from buying this product, or engaging with this business? What would make me click away from the screen?

Second, what do I foresee as the biggest hindrance to my employees’ productivity, or their ability to get the job done efficiently? What derails their social media efforts?

6. Consider your opportunities.

This is your chance to dream big. What are some opportunities for your social media strategy you hope, but don’t necessarily expect, to reach?

For instance, maybe you’re hoping your Facebook ads will attract a new, larger demographic. Maybe you’re hoping your YouTube video gets 10,000 views and increases sales by 10%.

Whatever the case, it’s important to include potential opportunities in your SWOT analysis. Ask yourself these questions:

  • What technologies do I want my business to use to make it more effective?
  • What new target audience do I want to reach?
  • How can the business stand out more in the current industry?
  • Is there something our customers complain about that we could fix?

The opportunities category goes hand-in-hand with the weaknesses category. Once you’ve made a list of weaknesses, it should be easy to create a list of potential opportunities that could arise if you eliminate your weaknesses.

7. Contemplate your threats.

It’s likely, especially if you’re prone to worry, you already have a good list of threats in your head.

If not, gather your employees and brainstorm. Start with these questions:

  • What obstacles might prevent us from reaching our goals?
  • What’s going on in the industry, or with our competitors, that might mitigate our success?
  • Is there new technology out there that could conflict with our product?

Writing down your threats helps you evaluate them objectively.

For instance, maybe you list your threats in terms of least and most likely to occur and divide and conquer each. If one of your biggest threats is your competitor’s popular Instagram account, you could work with your marketing department to create content that showcases your product’s unique features.

SWOT Analysis Chart

swot analysis chart: hubspot swot analysis template

Download a free SWOT analysis chart included in HubSpot’s free market research kit .

A SWOT analysis doesn’t have to be fancy. Our SWOT analysis chart provides a clear and structured framework for capturing and organizing your internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It's the perfect visual aid to make sense of the wealth of information gathered during your analysis.

(Plus, you can always customize and paste it into a document you plan to share with stakeholders.)

But remember: Filling out the SWOT chart is just one step in the process. Combine it with our entire market research kit , and you'll have all the tools necessary to help your organization navigate new opportunities and threats.

SWOT Analysis Examples

The template above helps get you started on your own SWOT analysis.

But, if you’re anything like me, it’s not enough to see a template. To fully understand a concept, you need to see how it plays out in the real world.

These SWOT examples are not exhaustive. However, they are a great starting point to inspire you as you do your own SWOT analysis.

Apple’s SWOT analysis

Here’s how we’d conduct a SWOT analysis on Apple.

An example SWOT analysis of Apple.

First off, strengths. While Apple has many strengths, let’s identify the top three:

  • Brand recognition.
  • Innovative products.
  • Ease of use.

Apple’s brand is undeniably strong, and its business is considered the most valuable in the world . Since it’s easily recognized, Apple can produce new products and almost ensure a certain degree of success by virtue of the brand name itself.

Apple’s highly innovative products are often at the forefront of the industry. One thing that sets Apple apart from the competition is its product inter-connectivity.

For instance, an Apple user can easily sync their iPhone and iPad together. They can access all of their photos, contacts, apps, and more no matter which device they are using.

Lastly, customers enjoy how easy it is to use Apple’s products. With a sleek and simple design, each product is developed so that most people can quickly learn how to use them.

Next, let’s look at three of Apple’s weaknesses.

  • High prices
  • Closed ecosystem
  • Lack of experimentation

While the high prices don’t deter Apple’s middle- and upper-class customer base, they do hinder Apple’s ability to reach a lower-class demographic.

Apple also suffers from its own exclusivity. Apple controls all its services and products in-house, and while many customers become loyal brand advocates for this reason, it means all burdens fall on Apple employees.

Ultimately, Apple’s tight control over who distributes its products limits its market reach.

Lastly, Apple is held to a high standard when it comes to creating and distributing products. Apple’s brand carries a high level of prestige. That level of recognition inhibits Apple from taking risks and experimenting freely with new products that could fail.

Now, let’s take a look at opportunities for Apple.

It’s easy to recognize opportunities for improvement, once you consider Apple’s weaknesses. Here’s a list of three we came up with:

  • Expand distribution options.
  • Create new product lines.
  • Technological advancement.

One of Apple’s biggest weaknesses is its distribution network, which, in the name of exclusivity, remains relatively small. If Apple expanded its network and enabled third-party businesses to sell its products, it could reach more people globally, while alleviating some of the stress currently put on in-house employees.

There are also plenty of opportunities for Apple to create new products. Apple could consider creating more affordable products to reach a larger demographic, or spreading out into new industries — Apple self-driving cars, perhaps?

Finally, Apple could continue advancing its products’ technology. Apple can take existing products and refine them, ensuring each product offers as many unique features as possible.

Finally, let’s look at threats to Apple.

Believe it or not, they do exist.

Here are three of Apple’s biggest threats:

  • Tough competition.
  • International issues.

Apple isn’t the only innovative tech company out there, and it continues to face tough competition from Samsung, Google, and other major forces. In fact, Samsung sold more smartphones than Apple did in Q1 of 2022 , shipping 17 million more units than Apple and holding 24% of the market share.

Many of Apple’s weaknesses hinder Apple’s ability to compete with the tech corporations that have more freedom to experiment, or that don’t operate in a closed ecosystem.

A second threat to Apple is lawsuits. Apple has faced plenty of lawsuits, particularly between Apple and Samsung . These lawsuits interfere with Apple’s reputable image and could steer some customers to purchase elsewhere.

Finally, Apple needs to improve its reach internationally. The company isn’t number one in China and doesn’t have a very positive relationship with the Chinese government. In India, which has one of the largest consumer markets in the world, Apple’s market share is low , and the company has trouble bringing stores to India’s market.

If Apple can’t compete globally the way Samsung or Google can, it risks falling behind in the industry.

Starbucks SWOT Analysis

Now that we’ve explored the nuances involved with a SWOT analysis, let’s fill out a SWOT template using Starbucks as an example.

Here’s how we’d fill out a SWOT template if we were Starbucks:

An example SWOT analysis for Starbucks.

Download this Template for Free

Restaurant Small Business SWOT Analysis

Some small business marketers may have difficulty relating to the SWOTs of big brands like Apple and Starbucks. Here’s an example of how a dine-in Thai restaurant might visualize each element.

A SWOT analysis example for a restaurant small business.

Small restaurants can lean into their culinary expertise and service skills to find opportunities for growth and brand awareness. A SWOT analysis can also help identify weaknesses that can be improved, such as menu variation and pricing.

While a restaurant might not be as worried about high-level lawsuits, a small business might be more concerned about competitors or disruptors that might enter the playing field.

Local Boutique SWOT Analysis

In another small business example, let’s take a look at a SWOT analysis for a local boutique.

A SWOT analysis example for a local boutique.

This shop might be well known in its neighborhood, but it also might take time to build an online presence or get its products in an online store.

Because of this, some of its strengths and opportunities might relate to physical factors while weaknesses and threats might relate to online situations.

How to Act on a SWOT Analysis

After conducting a SWOT analysis, you may be asking yourself: What’s next?

Putting together a SWOT analysis is only one step. Executing the findings identified by the analysis is just as important — if not more.

Put your insights into action using the following steps.

Take advantage of your strengths.

Use your strengths to pursue opportunities from your analysis.

For example, if we look at the local boutique example above, the strength of having affordable prices can be a value proposition. You can emphasize your affordable prices on social media or launch an online store.

Address your weaknesses.

Back to the boutique example, one of its weaknesses is having a poor social media presence. To mitigate this, the boutique could hire a social media consultant to improve its strategy. They may even tap into the expertise of a social-savvy employee.

Make note of the threats.

Threats are often external factors that can’t be controlled, so it’s best to monitor the threats outlined in your SWOT analysis to be aware of their impacts on your business.

When to Use a SWOT Analysis

While the examples above focus on business strategy in general, you can also use a SWOT analysis to evaluate and predict how a singular product will play out in the market.

Ultimately, a SWOT analysis can measure and tackle both big and small challenges, from deciding whether or not to launch a new product to refining your social media strategy.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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20+ Free SWOT Analysis Templates

By Midori Nediger , Oct 12, 2023

Free SWOT Analysis Templates Header

You know what you need if you’re contemplating producing a new product line, jumping into a new industry, or even just working on a company analysis for a school assignment?

A SWOT analysis chart.

SWOT analysis is a great way to effectively evaluate a person, campaign, strategy or product — and if you want to create a SWOT table that impresses (your stakeholders or your college professor), you need a SWOT analysis template.

Read on to see different types of SWOT analysis templates you can create with Venngage, plus top tips and plenty of SWOT analysis examples.

Click to skip ahead:

SWOT analysis templates for strategic decision making

How to do a swot analysis, swot analysis best practices & design tips (+examples).

Ready to dive into your SWOT analysis? I’ve got some cool templates lined up that you can use as a starting point:

SWOT analysis templates for Word

Swot analysis templates for powerpoint, personal swot analysis templates, company swot analysis templates, marketing swot analysis templates, nonprofit swot analysis templates, exec swot analysis templates, consultant swot analysis templates.

You can actually edit any of our SWOT analysis templates above and add them to your Word document as an image file. We offer PNG or PNG HD download options.

Here’s another example of a SWOT analysis template you can create for your Word or Google Docs file:

swot analysis template for word

Note: download capability is only available in a paid Venngage plan .

To create a SWOT analysis for PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation, you can edit one of Venngage’s professionally designed SWOT analysis templates and download them as a PNG. A Venngage Business user can also download the template as a PPTX file and upload it directly to your presentation as a slide.

Besides simple SWOT analysis templates, we also offer presentation templates containing SWOT charts:

business proposal swot analysis

To use a Personal SWOT analysis template, first, identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Prioritize and make action plans for personal and professional growth based on the analysis.

Comparing strengths and weaknesses directly can help give you clarity over areas that you can improve, like in this personal SWOT analysis example.

Personal swot analysis template

Rather than thinking about competitors or change in the market, think more about things that may hold you back personally – i.e. a lack of business finances , or an upcoming relocation, as you can see in this SWOT analysis example.

business employee swot analysis template

When composing a SWOT analysis for a company, start by taking stock of the company’s internal capabilities. This includes what the company excels at, such as a strong brand or skilled workforce. Be honest about areas where there’s room for improvement.

Next, consider external factors that can impact the company. This could involve exciting possibilities like new markets or technological advancements. Be mindful of potential challenges like increased competition or economic instability.

It aids in understanding the competitive landscape, customer preferences and market trends, allowing companies to make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies and market expansion.

swot business plan template

Simultaneously, honestly identify internal weaknesses such as inadequate resources, operational inefficiencies or gaps in skills.

To thoroughly assess the external environment, remain attentive to emerging market trends and potential growth areas as opportunities, while also considering potential threats such as evolving consumer preferences, regulatory changes or intensified market competition.

swot business plan template

It is crucial to maintain objectivity, involve key stakeholders and consider the analysis in the context of both short-term and long-term business objectives. That way, you can ensure the strategic insights gleaned from the SWOT analysis are effectively translated into actionable plans and initiatives.

Analyzing your marketing plan with a SWOT template is a strategic approach. Simply list your marketing strengths (brand recognition, creative content) and weaknesses (limited budget, outdated website).

Then, consider external factors like new social media trends or increased competition. By understanding these elements, you can craft a plan to leverage strengths for new opportunities, address weaknesses to not miss out, and adapt to external challenges.

Most importantly, don’t forget to regularly revisit this analysis to stay on top of the ever-changing marketing landscape.

swot business plan template

Equally, by looking at opportunities you can begin to understand potential new markets, as well as under-served areas that you already market within. Marketers, consultants and freelancers often include SWOT analyses in competitor analysis reports .

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Nonprofit organizations can use SWOT analyses to help inform their strategic planning.

A SWOT is a great way to understand how your nonprofit fits into the market, and how you can maximize your impact by running effective targeted campaigns and fundraising initiatives. This SWOT analysis example showcases areas where a nonprofit can improve.

Beige SWOT Analysis Template

Especially in nonprofits, you often don’t have the luxury of testing out multiple ideas or strategies due to time and budget constraints. Conducting a SWOT analysis early on in your strategy development can help you make the most informed decisions. This SWOT analysis example highlights the threats that a nonprofit should be looking to overcome soon.

swot business plan template

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Execs have to wear many different hats within their roles and organizations. Business development is a crucial part of company success, and being fully aware of your organizational strengths and weaknesses is invaluable. For example, there are numerous opportunities in this SWOT analysis example.

Gradient Column SWOT Analysis Template

When going through a period of rapid growth within your business, you should take some time to conduct a SWOT analysis. This will help to ensure that you are able to reach your growth goals. Doing a SWOT also helps you identify any possible weaknesses that may become issues for your growth further down the line.

The weaknesses in this free SWOT analysis template for Word should be addressed quickly before they become a threat to the company.

Company SWOT Analysis

A SWOT diagram can also be used to help evaluate employees’ work. You can assess your employees’ performances and provide detailed feedback, like in this SWOT analysis example.

Bold swot analysis template

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Consultants are in a unique position because they are looking to market themselves. Starting out as a consultant can be difficult, but conducting a SWOT analysis of yourself as a consultant can help you discover any unique selling points for your services.

You might also want to conduct a SWOT analysis when delivering work for clients. A SWOT can help inform any project or growth plans that you are recommending. The SWOT analysis example below makes a strong case for the business.

Orange Brewery SWOT Analysis Template

Take a look at page 4 of this consulting proposal template for an example of how to use SWOT analyses in a consulting proposal :

swot chart in a consulting proposal template

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A SWOT analysis helps you understand your business’s current position in the market and aids in developing strategies to leverage strengths, mitigate weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities and counter threats.

Follow these simple steps to create a comprehensive SWOT analysis:

  • Identify strengths: Recognize internal positive attributes that are within your control, such as unique selling points, skilled workforce or strong brand recognition.
  • Pinpoint weaknesses: Assess internal areas that need improvement, such as lack of resources, inefficient processes or poor brand reputation.
  • Recognize opportunities: Analyze external factors that could benefit your business, such as emerging markets, technological advancements or changes in consumer behavior.
  • Acknowledge threats: Consider external factors that could potentially harm your business, such as new competitors, changing regulations or economic downturns.

Whilst a SWOT diagram is a fairly straightforward evaluation model, there are a couple of SWOT best practice tips you should follow in order to maximize the effectiveness of your SWOT:

Use measurable and quantifiable statements in your SWOT

You should be able to evidence all of the points in your SWOT template, aka prove that you are good at the thing you said you are good at. Highlighting quick delivery is great, but specifying delivery times, like in the template below, is even better:

swot business plan template

Make sure all areas of your business are represented when developing the SWOT

Get feedback from different departments on both what their strengths/weaknesses are, but ask what they think your strengths/weaknesses are. This SWOT analysis example has gathered feedback from multiple teams.

B2C Client Consulting Presentation Template

Try and keep the lists an even number

If you have 5 strengths, find 5 weaknesses. For every opportunity, try and write down a threat. This makes it easier to compare the categories in your SWOT template.

swot business plan template

Have a goal in mind when doing your SWOT analysis

Whether this is developing a new project plan or business, or scaling your revenue – a SWOT diagram is particularly useful when there’s a definitive outcome you’re trying to achieve.

When doing your SWOT analysis, explicitly tie each strength, weakness, opportunity and threat back to how it impacts achieving your goal with this template:

swot business plan template

Don’t aim for the perfect SWOT list straight away

When you’re customizing your SWOT analysis template, start with much longer lists gathered in a brainstorming session and whittle the lists down.

Talk about each factor in a category and figure out which ones matter the most to have your SWOT analysis focusing on the most important stuff. Methods like voting or group agreement typically work in this type of setting.

Using online templates or ready-made structures can help organize your thoughts and brainstorming sessions. Here’s one to help you capture your ideas easily.

swot business plan template

Make sure your SWOT is thorough

Make sure you’ve thought about every possible strength, weakness, threat, and opportunity. A SWOT is only as valuable as the information you include, so make sure you do your due diligence during the analysis. Take inspiration from this SWOT analysis example.

Business Growth Client Consulting Proposal Template

Format your SWOT in a way that makes sense for multiple uses

If you plan to present your SWOT analysis to an executive at your company, make sure it is clear to understand, and presented in a way that makes it easy to take in all of the information at once – such as a 2×2 grid template. If it’s for a company presentation, use a horizontal SWOT analysis template for PowerPoint.

Business Strategy Mindmap Template

Think short, mid and long term impacts

Your product might be great now, but what could be happening in the next 6 months that might affect that? What about within the next year? Sure that competitor could be small fish now, but what about if they have an aggressive growth plan in place? You need to be prepared for that to stay ahead of the game, and that’s where a SWOT analysis template comes in.

For example, in this SWOT analysis, both short and long term opportunities were taken into consideration:

swot business plan template

Use clever design tricks

Use color in your SWOT matrix to help grab attention. Differentiate different areas of your SWOT, as this SWOT analysis template does.

Vibrant B2C Consulting Proposal Template

Are you ready to create your SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis is an invaluable tool for evaluation and is particularly useful for small businesses or businesses in times of change. Make sure you follow these SWOT analysis best practice tips to maximize your evaluation opportunities and further your evaluation by conducting a thorough Competitor Analysis .

All of the SWOT analysis examples featured in this blog post are fully customizable SWOT analysis templates available for use on Venngage.  You can also use our Smart Templates to create documents easily.

Once you’ve created your business or personal SWOT analysis, make sure to keep a copy safe for the next time you conduct an evaluation. With Venngage you can keep your work online or download a SWOT analysis PDF if you’re a Business user.

14 Free SWOT Analysis Templates

By Joe Weller | July 25, 2016

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In this article, we’ve compiled the most comprehensive list of downloadable SWOT analysis templates offered in Excel, Word, and Powerpoint formats. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a basic SWOT matrix Excel template , SWOT competitor analysis template , SWOT analysis strategy template , and more for any given business, project, or personal objective.

We've researched the top SWOT analysis templates and provided them here for you in Excel, Powerpoint, and Word formats. Additionally, we’ve included SWOT analysis templates in Smartsheet, a collaborative, real-time work execution platform that empowers you to better plan, manage, and report on project details.

SWOT Analysis Templates for Excel

Basic swot matrix excel template.

Basic SWOT Matrix Template

Download Basic SWOT Matrix Template

Excel | Smartsheet

This SWOT matrix template provides the basic 2x2 layout for an easy-to-read view of your analysis. It also includes a column for measuring the significance of each item in your SWOT categories. This is important for understanding how the different elements in your analysis measure up to each other and which areas require the most attention. Take advantage of the fact that this is an Excel template by using additional worksheets for supporting data or other analyses. You get the simplicity of a SWOT matrix with the functionality of Excel.

SWOT Competitor Analysis Template

SWOT Competitor Analysis Template

‌ Download SWOT Competitor Analysis Template

This template applies the SWOT process to a competitor analysis, allowing you to compare your business with other companies. Rather than the matrix layout, this template utilizes a simple spreadsheet format with columns for each competitor. This allows you to create a detailed analysis of the competition with the structure of the SWOT framework. See how the strengths and weaknesses of your business measure up, identify which competitors represent threats, see what opportunities others might be missing, and much more.

SWOT Analysis Arrows Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download SWOT Analysis Arrows Template

If you want to use Excel but also want to create an eye-catching SWOT analysis for a presentation, this template offers a bold layout with arrows for each SWOT category. Just add text to each arrow and you’ll have a colorful, graphical display. The template is preformatted for you, so it’s easy to use, and the colors can be adjusted as desired.

SWOT Analysis Strategy Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download SWOT Analysis Strategy Template

This SWOT analysis template offers a slightly different layout from the traditional 2x2 matrix, with sections included for strategizing. This lets you view the relationships between internal and external factors along with strategies for addressing different elements. If you want to emphasize action items alongside the results of your SWOT analysis and within a spreadsheet format, this template offers a solution.

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Templates

Simple swot matrix ppt template.

Simple SWOT Matrix Template

Download Simple SWOT Matrix Template

PowerPoint | Smartsheet

This SWOT PowerPoint template has a straightforward matrix design with bright colors for readability and visual interest. The simple matrix format makes it easy to see the correlations between the internal and external factors so you can identify the risks quickly. This template works well for PPT presentations, because it’s attention grabbing but also looks professional.

3D SWOT Analysis Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download 3D SWOT Analysis Template

With this template you get the 2x2 matrix layout in 3D perspective, creating a PPT slide that is creative without being distracting. Adjust the colors for a different look, or use the template as is. Simply add your text for each SWOT category and you’re ready to go.

Colorful Leaves SWOT Analysis Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download Colorful Leaves SWOT Analysis Template

Take your PowerPoint presentation to the next level with this SWOT analysis template. Colorful leaf shapes represent the four SWOT categories and point to your text, which can be added in each corner. The strong visual aspect of this template helps keep viewers engaged, and also makes your job a little more fun.

SWOT Puzzle Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download SWOT Puzzle Template

Doing a SWOT analysis can be a little like piecing together a puzzle. How do strengths and opportunities fit together? How do strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out? This PPT template offers a puzzle design with plenty of room for text.  Whether you’re doing a marketing SWOT analysis, evaluating operations, or planning a new project, use this template to create a distinctive PowerPoint slide.

Diamond SWOT Analysis Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download Diamond SWOT Analysis Template

For a variation on the 2x2 matrix, this SWOT analysis template puts the categories into a diamond shape divided into four sections. The different colors help each section to stand out, creating a vibrant PPT template. You get a unique layout while still maintaining internal and external factors displayed side-by-side.

Career Change SWOT Analysis Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download Career Change SWOT Analysis Template

Use this template to create a personal SWOT analysis in PowerPoint format focusing on career change. Examine your professional strengths as well as any weaknesses that may need to be addressed before switching careers. Take into account external factors such as networking opportunities, new market trends, quality of life issues, and your competitors. Weighing key factors can help clarify what steps you need to take in order to successfully transition to a new career.

SWOT Analysis Templates for Word

Simple swot matrix template.

Simple SWOT Matrix Template

Word | Smartsheet

This template offers a colorful SWOT matrix in Word format. While most SWOT templates for Word are black and white, the added color here provides an interesting design element while keeping the layout simple. The template can also be easily modified to suit your needs.

Business Planning SWOT Template

Business Planning SWOT Template

‌ Download Business Planning SWOT Template - Word

With sections for a clearly defined objective, internal and external factors, and evaluation, moving from goal to strategy is the focus of this SWOT analysis template. Word templates offer easy printing and sharing for brainstorming sessions or a group process. Use this template to analyze and plan for your next product launch or business objective.

SWOT Analysis Template With Summary

SWOT Analysis with Summary Template

‌ Download SWOT Analysis Template with Summary - Word

This SWOT template includes a section for providing a written summary of the analysis. Use this section to present strategies based on the findings of your analysis, or for brainstorming, outlining an action plan, or proposing a revised objective. The template offers a straightforward layout that is easy to read and use.

Personal SWOT Analysis Template

swot business plan template

‌ Download Personal SWOT Analysis Template

A personal SWOT analysis can be useful for reaching a personal goal, improving performance at work, applying for a new job, or other situations requiring an honest and detailed look at what factors may be supporting you or holding you back. Your strengths may lead you to opportunities, while your weaknesses could make you vulnerable to certain threats. Use this personal SWOT template to identify your internal and external resources as well as weak spots and areas for improvement. Save the analysis as a Word doc or PDF and print for reference.

Understanding SWOT Analysis

Why use swot analysis.

A SWOT analysis can be used as part of business planning, market analysis, project management, organizational change, individual development (such as a career change or evaluation), or any situation requiring strategic planning to reach an objective. It is sometimes done in combination with a PEST analysis, which looks at the broader political, economic, social and technological factors, and provides a macro-environmental view. This broader external analysis may be relevant depending on the size of the business and type or scope of project under consideration, but a simple SWOT analysis can be helpful for any size of business. And since the analysis considers both internal and external factors, it’s an opportunity for businesses to take an honest look at what they can handle and which strategies or operations need to change.

While you can create a SWOT analysis using a list format to document strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, it is common for these categories to be represented in a 2x2 matrix. The matrix is essentially a table with four columns, showing internal factors on top and external below. This format puts the categories side-by-side, making it easier to see correlations among them. The SWOT templates provided below include the matrix format as well as other options. You’ll find templates for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All of the templates are free to download and can be customized to fit your project’s needs. A SWOT template in Word offers simplicity, while Excel allows you to include additional data sheets in your analysis, and PowerPoint templates provide a visual display to enhance presentations. We’ve also included a Smartsheet SWOT template, which provides the benefits of a spreadsheet format with enhanced collaboration and additional features.

Internal and External Factors in SWOT Analysis

No matter which template you choose, your analysis will include the four SWOT categories. Let’s take a closer look at what constitutes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

  • Strengths and Weaknesses - These are internal factors, which in a business context may include financial resources, human resources, facilities, equipment, processes and systems. They may include elements such as business culture, certifications, reputation, and leadership. It’s important to remember that what constitutes a strength or weakness will depend on the objective you are assessing. An element of your business could be a strength in one instance and a weakness in another context depending on how it affects your objectives. In general, you are looking for what characteristics give your business an advantage or disadvantage over others in achieving the objective.
  • Opportunities and Threats - The external elements influencing your business may include market trends, outside funding, customer demographics, suppliers, the economic climate, political and environmental issues, and other factors. The analysis can help identify new business opportunities and areas for growth as well as issues that could hinder a project or business endeavor. External factors are typically outside of your control - even weather and seasonal changes can influence business goals. Anticipating these factors early can help your team plan ahead and stay flexible when they occur. Part of the analysis is to examine how external opportunities and threats relate to internal strengths and weaknesses in order to determine whether an objective is even attainable and create a strategy for moving forward.

The SWOT framework is effective for analyzing and creating a simplified picture of a complex situation. But it’s possible for it to be an oversimplification, which is one of the limitations of SWOT analysis. Another is that it is primarily a summary tool and doesn’t provide a clear plan of action. Taking SWOT issues and translating them into actions is a critical part of the process, but it relies on the ability of whoever is conducting the analysis to identify key factors and use them to develop an effective strategy.  This is a subjective process with inherent limitations, but there is no question that SWOT analysis can provide valuable insight for any business, project or individual.

Take Action on Your SWOT Analysis with Effective Project Management in Smartsheet

Determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to your project or organization is a key first step in managing and implementing a successful plan of action. Once you’ve completed your SWOT analysis, it’s essential that you have the right tools in place to plan, manage, automate, and report on your project plan.

Smartsheet is a work execution platform that enables enterprises and teams to get from idea to impact - fast. Top project management leaders rely on Smartsheet to help align the right people, resources, and schedules to get work done.

Use Smartsheet to create consistent project elements, increase speed, and improve collaboration with scalable options that fit individual work preferences. Hold yourself and your team accountable, improve visibility into team priorities, and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

Try Smartsheet to discover why project managers around the world use it to deliver projects on time and on budget.

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SWOT Analysis

Understanding Your Business, Informing Your Strategy

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Key Takeaways:

SWOT stands for S trengths, W eaknesses, O pportunities, and T hreats.

A "SWOT analysis" involves carefully assessing these four factors in order to make clear and effective plans.

A SWOT analysis can help you to challenge risky assumptions, uncover dangerous blindspots, and reveal important new insights.

The SWOT analysis process is most effective when done collaboratively.

What Is a SWOT Analysis?

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing these four aspects of your business.

SWOT Analysis is a tool that can help you to analyze what your company does best now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future. SWOT can also uncover areas of the business that are holding you back, or that your competitors could exploit if you don't protect yourself.

A SWOT analysis examines both internal and external factors – that is, what's going on inside and outside your organization. So some of these factors will be within your control and some will not. In either case, the wisest action you can take in response will become clearer once you've discovered, recorded and analyzed as many factors as you can.

In this article, video and infographic, we explore how to carry out a SWOT analysis, and how to put your findings into action. We also include a worked example and a template to help you get started on a SWOT analysis in your own workplace.

Why Is SWOT Analysis Important?

SWOT analysis can help you to challenge risky assumptions and to uncover dangerous blindspots about your organization's performance. If you use it carefully and collaboratively, it can deliver new insights on where your business currently is, and help you to develop exactly the right strategy for any situation.

For example, you may be well aware of some of your organization's strengths, but until you record them alongside weaknesses and threats you might not realize how unreliable those strengths actually are.

Equally, you likely have reasonable concerns about some of your business weaknesses but, by going through the analysis systematically, you could find an opportunity, previously overlooked, that could more than compensate.

How to Write a SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis involves making lists – but so much more, too! When you begin to write one list (say, Strengths), the thought process and research that you'll go through will prompt ideas for the other lists (Weaknesses, Opportunities or Threats). And if you compare these lists side by side, you will likely notice connections and contradictions, which you'll want to highlight and explore.

You'll find yourself moving back and forth between your lists frequently. So, make the task easier and more effective by arranging your four lists together in one view.

A SWOT matrix is a 2x2 grid, with one square for each of the four aspects of SWOT. (Figure 1 shows what it should look like.) Each section is headed by some questions to get your thinking started.

Figure 1. A SWOT Analysis Matrix.

Swot analysis template.

When conducting your SWOT analysis, you can either draw your own matrix, or use our free downloadable template .

How to Do a SWOT Analysis

Avoid relying on your own, partial understanding of your organization. Your assumptions could be wrong. Instead, gather a team of people from a range of functions and levels to build a broad and insightful list of observations.

Then, every time you identify a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, or Threat, write it down in the relevant part of the SWOT analysis grid for all to see.

Let's look at each area in more detail and consider what fits where, and what questions you could ask as part of your data gathering.

Strengths are things that your organization does particularly well, or in a way that distinguishes you from your competitors. Think about the advantages your organization has over other organizations. These might be the motivation of your staff, access to certain materials, or a strong set of manufacturing processes.

Your strengths are an integral part of your organization, so think about what makes it "tick." What do you do better than anyone else? What values drive your business? What unique or lowest-cost resources can you draw upon that others can't? Identify and analyze your organization's Unique Selling Proposition (USP), and add this to the Strengths section.

Then turn your perspective around and ask yourself what your competitors might see as your strengths. What factors mean that you get the sale ahead of them?

Remember, any aspect of your organization is only a strength if it brings you a clear advantage. For example, if all of your competitors provide high-quality products, then a high-quality production process is not a strength in your market: it's a necessity.

Weaknesses, like strengths, are inherent features of your organization, so focus on your people, resources, systems, and procedures. Think about what you could improve, and the sorts of practices you should avoid.

Once again, imagine (or find out) how other people in your market see you. Do they notice weaknesses that you tend to be blind to? Take time to examine how and why your competitors are doing better than you. What are you lacking?

Be honest! A SWOT analysis will only be valuable if you gather all the information you need. So, it's best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.

Opportunities

Opportunities are openings or chances for something positive to happen, but you'll need to claim them for yourself!

They usually arise from situations outside your organization, and require an eye to what might happen in the future. They might arise as developments in the market you serve, or in the technology you use. Being able to spot and exploit opportunities can make a huge difference to your organization's ability to compete and take the lead in your market.

Think about good opportunities that you can exploit immediately. These don't need to be game-changers: even small advantages can increase your organization's competitiveness. What interesting market trends are you aware of, large or small, which could have an impact?

You should also watch out for changes in government policy related to your field. And changes in social patterns, population profiles, and lifestyles can all throw up interesting opportunities.

Threats include anything that can negatively affect your business from the outside, such as supply-chain problems, shifts in market requirements, or a shortage of recruits. It's vital to anticipate threats and to take action against them before you become a victim of them and your growth stalls.

Think about the obstacles you face in getting your product to market and selling. You may notice that quality standards or specifications for your products are changing, and that you'll need to change those products if you're to stay in the lead. Evolving technology is an ever-present threat, as well as an opportunity!

Always consider what your competitors are doing, and whether you should be changing your organization's emphasis to meet the challenge. But remember that what they're doing might not be the right thing for you to do. So, avoid copying them without knowing how it will improve your position.

Be sure to explore whether your organization is especially exposed to external challenges. Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems, for example, that could make you vulnerable to even small changes in your market? This is the kind of threat that can seriously damage your business, so be alert.

Use PEST Analysis to ensure that you don't overlook threatening external factors. And PMESII-PT is an especially helpful check in very unfamiliar or uncertain environments.

A SWOT Analysis Example

Imagine this scenario: a small start-up consultancy wants a clear picture of its current situation, to decide on a future strategy for growth. The team gathers, and draws up the SWOT Analysis shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. A Completed SWOT Analysis.

As a result of the team's analysis, it's clear that the consultancy's main strengths lie in its agility, technical expertise, and low overheads. These allow it to offer excellent customer service to a relatively small client base.

The company's weaknesses are also to do with its size. It will need to invest in training, to improve the skills base of the small staff. It'll also need to focus on retention, so it doesn't lose key team members.

There are opportunities in offering rapid-response, good-value services to local businesses and to local government organizations. The company can likely be first to market with new products and services, given that its competitors are slow adopters.

The threats require the consultancy to keep up-to-date with changes in technology. It also needs to keep a close eye on its largest competitors, given its vulnerability to large-scale changes in its market. To counteract this, the business needs to focus its marketing on selected industry websites, to get the greatest possible market presence on a small advertising budget.

Frequently Asked Questions About SWOT Analysis

1. who invented swot analysis.

Many people attribute SWOT Analysis to Albert S. Humphrey. However, there has been some debate on the originator of the tool, as discussed in the International Journal of Business Research .

2. What Does SWOT Analysis Stand For?

SWOT Analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

3. What Can a SWOT Analysis Be Used For?

SWOT analysis is a useful tool to help you determine your organization's position in the market. You can then use this information to create an informed strategy suited to your needs and capabilities.

4. How Do I Write a SWOT Analysis?

To conduct a SWOT analysis, you first need to create a 2x2 matrix grid. Each square is then assigned to one of the four aspects of SWOT. You can either draw this grid yourself or use our downloadable template to get started.

5. How Do SWOT Analysis and the TOWS Matrix compare?

While SWOT analysis puts the emphasis on the internal environment (your strengths and weaknesses), TOWS forces you to look at your external environment first (your threats and opportunities). In most cases, you'll do a SWOT Analysis first, and follow up with a TOWS Matrix to offer a broader context.

6. What Are the Biggest SWOT Analysis Mistakes?

  • Making your lists too long. Ask yourself if your ideas are feasible as you go along.
  • Being vague. Be specific to provide more focus for later discussions.
  • Not seeing weaknesses. Be sure to ask customers and colleagues what they experience in real life.
  • Not thinking ahead. It's easy to come up with nice ideas without taking them through to their logical conclusion. Always consider their practical impact.
  • Being unrealistic. Don't plan in detail for opportunities that don't exist yet. For example, that export market you've been eyeing may be available at some point, but the trade negotiations to open it up could take years.
  • Relying on SWOT Analysis alone. SWOT Analysis is valuable. But when you use it alongside other planning tools (SOAR, TOWS or PEST), the results will be more vigorous.

How to Use a SWOT Analysis

Use a SWOT Analysis to assess your organization's current position before you decide on any new strategy. Find out what's working well, and what's not so good. Ask yourself where you want to go, how you might get there – and what might get in your way.

Once you've examined all four aspects of SWOT, you'll want to build on your strengths, boost your weaker areas, head off any threats, and exploit every opportunity. In fact, you'll likely be faced with a long list of potential actions.

But before you go ahead, be sure to develop your ideas further. Look for potential connections between the quadrants of your matrix. For example, could you use some of your strengths to open up further opportunities? And, would even more opportunities become available by eliminating some of your weaknesses?

Finally, it's time to ruthlessly prune and prioritize your ideas, so that you can focus time and money on the most significant and impactful ones. Refine each point to make your comparisons clearer. For example, only accept precise, verifiable statements such as, "Cost advantage of $30/ton in sourcing raw material x," rather than, "Better value for money."

Remember to apply your learnings at the right level in your organization. For example, at a product or product-line level, rather than at the much vaguer whole-company level. And use your SWOT analysis alongside other strategy tools (for example, Core Competencies Analysis ), so that you get a comprehensive picture of the situation you're dealing with.

SWOT Analysis Tips

Here are four tips for getting more out of a SWOT analysis:

  • Be specific. The more focused and accurate you are about the points you write down, the more useful your SWOT analysis will be.
  • Work backwards. Experiment with filling in the four sections of your SWOT analysis in a different order, to stimulate new ways of thinking. Working backwards, in particular, from threats to strengths, may cast new light on the situation.
  • Get together. Highlight the most useful people to contribute to your SWOT analysis, then gather information and ideas from them all.
  • SWOT your competition ! To stay ahead of your competitors, carry out a regular SWOT analysis on them . Use everything you know about them to evaluate their situation, and use SWOT analysis to plan your competitive strategies accordingly.

It's also possible to carry out a Personal SWOT Analysis . This can be useful for developing your career in ways that take best advantage of your talents, abilities and opportunities.

SWOT Analysis Infographic

See SWOT Analysis represented in our infographic :

SWOT Analysis helps you to identify your organization's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

It guides you to build on what you do well, address what you're lacking, seize new openings, and minimize risks.

Apply a SWOT Analysis to assess your organization's position before you decide on any new strategy.

Use a SWOT matrix to prompt your research and to record your ideas. Avoid making huge lists of suggestions. Be as specific as you can, and be honest about your weaknesses.

Be realistic and rigorous. Prune and prioritize your ideas, to focus time and money on the most significant and impactful actions and solutions. Complement your use of SWOT with other tools.

Collaborate with a team of people from across the business. This will help to uncover a more accurate and honest picture.

Find out what's working well, and what's not so good. Ask yourself where you want to go, how you might get there – and what might get in your way.

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Comments (2)

SWOT is useless. When you try it and you find Weaknesses box bulging, but Strengths & Opportunities completely empty, what can that possibly achieve?

Leslie Bartnicki

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11 Free SWOT Analysis Templates and Examples

Senior Content Marketing Manager

February 13, 2024

Running a successful business comes with challenges that make it hard to stand out in any niche. Today, more than ever, your business competitors can easily access the same information and content as you do from the internet.

Therefore, you need a strategy to help you grow your business amidst the stiff competition. The best and most straightforward way to start the growth process is by conducting a SWOT analysis for your company.

This analysis allows you to simplify the project’s intended objectives and highlight the external and internal factors that define how those objectives are achieved. As a result, you can connect the existing actions to plans.

In this guide, we explore the best SWOT analysis templates and how to position them for powerful business insights!

1. ClickUp Whiteboard SWOT Template

2. clickup soar analysis template, 3. excel competitive swot analysis template, 4. microsoft word home business market swot analysis template, 5. excel business plan swot analysis template, 6. powerpoint diamond swot template, 7. powerpoint business swot analysis template, 8. google docs swot analysis template, 9. google docs manager swot analysis template, 10. microsoft word marketing swot analysis template, 11. word and google docs healthcare swot analysis template, who benefits from using a swot analysis.

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What is SWOT Analysis?

SWOT analysis is an organization’s structured framework to assess its strategic business planning and competitive position. The analysis breaks down the external and internal factors of the current and future business potential.

It is structured for a fact-based, realistic, and data-driven view of the strengths and weaknesses of an individual, business, or organization. SWOT is an acronym standing for strengths , weaknesses , opportunities , and threats . The first two factors are internal factors, while the latter are external factors.

  • Strengths : Your location, intellectual properties, human resources, financials, etc., contributing to your business success
  • Weaknesses : Factors that put the business off guard concerning competitors. These are business lags or mishaps embedded in your industry
  • Opportunities : Market growth and trends that you can take advantage of to drive profits, become innovative, and adhere to compliance (Check out these gap analysis templates !)
  • Threats : Potential risks such as natural issues, innovation challenges, and an atmosphere that could inconvenience your business

Typically, businesses use SWOT analysis to:

  • Realize unique strengths compared to competitors
  • Analyze performance areas where competitors excel
  • Discover opportunities for business growth
  • Identify potential business-disrupting issues and challenges

Why is SWOT analysis important for agile businesses?

Companies that don’t know their business market positioning lack a competitive advantage in their industry. This makes SWOT analysis a critical part of any successful business.

The structured framework helps businesses identify, analyze and understand core issues that impact the organization and how to find fitting solutions.

Conducting a personal SWOT analysis lets you realize where your strengths as a company lie, your weaknesses, the various opportunities you can leverage, and the dangers that could adversely impact your business.

Here are 11 downloadable SWOT analysis templates you can leverage for the best business outcomes!

Customize the Retrospective Whiteboard Template in ClickUp for an actionable SWOT analysis

Avid list makers will enjoy the time-saving tools in ClickUp Whiteboards ! Whiteboards are zoomable canvases to help visually work through complex concepts for effective SWOT analysis.

The reality is, managing huge amounts of data is a challenging process to put together. The beginner-friendly Introduction to Whiteboards Template by ClickUp solves this problem by creating a single space to deposit every idea, source, and image to paint the full analysis story . Here are a few ways you can maximize the value of your SWOT Analysis Whiteboard:

  • Collaborate with project managers at the next business strategy meeting or asynchronously
  • Add mind maps to break down large-scale concepts into manageable chunks
  • Create separate sections for OKRs, KPIs, and other internal data for reference
  • Insert placeholder markers for missing information or feedback requests
  • Convert Whiteboard objects into tasks and draw relationships
  • Build checklists to remember spur-of-the-moment thoughts

ClickUp maintains your ideas and solutions so you’re focusing on the right activities but also keeping important information within reach to revisit for a later time. The more you track your learnings and resources in one platform, you’ll position the SWOT analysis as the go-to strategic planning tool.

Pro tip : After you download the template, we recommend selecting the Retrospective template from your options list. Label your boxes then customize them to your preferred way to work!

Check out our Beginner’s Guide to ClickUp Whiteboards for quick tips to get started!

ClickUp's SOAR Analysis Template SOAR analysis is used to identify an organization's Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results

Similarly to a SWOT analysis, SOAR analysis is used to identify an organization’s Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results. This method of analysis provides valuable insight into the current state of the organization as well as potential areas for improvement. By understanding the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, it can be easier to identify opportunities for development and growth. 

ClickUp’s SOAR Analysis Template assists organizations in objectively assessing their performance by taking into account both internal and external elements that contribute to success. It allows for the identification of tangible and intangible areas that need improvement, which can then be further investigated and acted on through a strategic planning procedure.

Excel Competitive Analysis SWOT templates

This competitive Excel SWOT analysis template allows you to evaluate your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats against your competition. Instead of the SWOT matrix layout, it’s a simple spreadsheet featuring different columns to compare against three competitors.

The template enables you to develop a detailed analysis of your competition with the SWOT structure to identify findings like what opportunities your competitors might be missing. It helps you build an established competitive landscape and allows your team makes strategic planning decisions.

Microsoft Business Market SWOT Analysis Template example

Understand the industry, market size, and growth opportunities by creating a comprehensive market analysis for your home-based businesses. This business planning SWOT template by Microsoft Word will help define your business plan, assess your competitors, identify potential customers, determine your business value in the market, and more.

It allows you to spell out internal and external factors affecting your business so you can consider how to add value to your business to fit the market expectations.

Microsoft Business Plan Checklist and SWOT Analysis template example

Use the template to assign responsible individuals and deadlines to the critical tasks to be completed when preparing a business plan. You can also analyze and plan for your upcoming business objective or product launch.

This SWOT template gives you a place to analyze your business plan and identify its strengths and weaknesses. For example, your strength may be that as a leader, you have solid accounting skills meaning you can handle your bookkeeping and manage business expenses without interfering. However, your business weakness could be that you struggle with juggling too many activities at a time, causing you to perform lesser-quality tasks. And your threats could be that your supplier is often late.

PowerPoint Diamond SWOT Analysis Template example

The 5-slide deck Diamond SWOT analysis template is a simple and easy-to-use PowerPoint with a flat design. The diamond divides the categories into four sections with different colors to help each section stand out. It offers a unique layout for users while still maintaining external and internal factors displayed side-by-side.

This SWOT template allows you to prepare a presentation in just a few minutes by simply replacing placeholder content. The icons and shapes of this template are editable with a wide range of customizable features.

The slides are also reusable and easily adapt to another presentation’s style and theme. Plus, you can change the color and add desired effects to the image.

PowerPoint Business SWOT analysis template example

The Business SWOT Analysis template is an introductory, editable presentation for business planning and marketing approaches. It helps teams discuss business ideas and solutions. It is a PowerPoint presentation with five slides demonstrating a brief overview design as well as four layouts for details.

The slide layout of this template presents a flower in the center while four segments develop a petal-shaped design. Each segment petal contains content placeholders to show textual content concerning SWOT analysis parameters.

You can easily make design changes or insert extra features for personalized views. It’s an excellent option to elaborate on business challenges and decision-making processes .

PeopleGoal Google Docs SWOT Analysis Template example

Google Docs lets you create analysis templates for your company from scratch. For instance, you can create a SWOT analysis template for your employees to evaluate their value in the company or a department, helping them analyze their competencies and skills in relation to the returns that the company or department gets.

This simple Google Docs analysis template is an easy guide that enables small businesses, individuals, and large enterprises to determine their value in a particular ecosystem. It helps you identify internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and view everything on a single page so that you can think through how to increase value without exhaustively turning through multiple pages.

Template.net Manager SWOT Analysis example

The Google Docs Manager SWOT analysis template is used to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an individual when given a managerial role. It also helps managers self-check their tasks and implement an action plan to assist others in growth by realizing that the key foundation for business success is a team’s effort.

With this template, you can help yourself and others improve several aspects of their professional lives. You can push potential managers to stay strong so that they lead effectively from a position of strength by recording personal inventory of their business interactions and the impact of their position.

Microsoft Word Marketing SWOT Analysis Template example

When you understand your business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, developing marketing strategies that fit your specific needs becomes much easier. It guides your marketing team on the best methods to position the brand and products for business success.

This template has a section categorizing services or products based on critical themes such as functionality, capability, and quality, all of which help you to communicate with customers and adequately position the brand.

The marketing SWOT analysis template already has suggested content, so you no longer have to begin from scratch!

Template.net Healthcare SWOT Analysis Template example

Managing a healthcare facility presents various challenges. With the healthcare SWOT analysis template as a basis for creating your own company’s assessment, you can have a necessary document to enable you to evaluate your institution’s strengths and weaknesses. It shows you the hospital’s big picture, helping you assess, assemble and evaluate the significant influences that oppose or support your strategic goals.

Identify your weaknesses and build on your strengths. Understand opportunities differentiating them from threats, and devise an action plan to make the most out of each situation.

Check out these healthcare project management tools !

Bonus Templates: BSC Templates

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique helps identify a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a given situation. Here are some examples of teams that can greatly benefit from using a SWOT analysis:

Management Teams: For managers, conducting a SWOT analysis can provide valuable insights into the current state of their team or project. It can also help identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to capitalize on opportunities.

  • Managers SWOT Analysis
  • Brand Managers SWOT Analysis
  • Talent Management SWOT Analysis
  • Campaign Managers SWOT Analysis

Sales Teams: For sales teams, a SWOT analysis can help identify areas where they excel and areas that need improvement. It can also provide insights into market trends and potential threats to the business.

  • Sales Teams SWOT Analysis
  • Sales Rep SWOT Analysis
  • Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives SWOT Analysis
  • Sellers SWOT Analysis Templates

Prioritize Your SWOT Analysis in ClickUp

Knowing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with your company or project is a critical first step to implementing and managing a successful action plan. Once your SWOT analysis is complete, it’s crucial that you have effective tools to plan, automate, manage and report on your business or project plan.

Leverage ClickUp to develop consistent project aspects, boost collaboration, and enhance speed with scalable options that match individual work preferences. Improve visibility into varying priorities, hold your team and yourself accountable and ensure there are no cracks.

Try ClickUp for free today! 

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How to Write a SWOT Analysis for a Business Plan

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  • March 21, 2024
  • Business Plan , How to Write

SWOT analysis

Navigating the complexities of business requires a clear understanding of your strategic position, and a SWOT analysis is an essential tool to help you achieve this clarity. It’s a straightforward method that breaks down into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, providing a snapshot of where your business stands and guiding your future strategic moves.

With this guide, you’ll learn how to leverage your advantages, address challenges, seize new opportunities, and guard against potential threats. Let’s dive into the process together and set a strong foundation for your business’s strategic planning. Let’s dive in!

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to identify and understand the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to business competition or project planning. This method helps organizations in assessing both internal and external factors that could impact their objectives.

  • Strengths : Positive attributes internal to the organization and within its control. Strengths are resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage.
  • Weaknesses : Factors that are within an organization’s control but detract from its ability to attain the desired goal. These are areas the business needs to improve to remain competitive.
  • Opportunities : External chances to improve performance in the environment. Opportunities reflect the potential you can leverage to grow your business or project.
  • Threats : External challenges to the business’s performance or project’s success. Threats might stem from various sources, such as economic downturns, increased competition, or changes in regulatory landscapes.

Why Use a SWOT Analysis?

We use a SWOT analysis for several important reasons in business and strategic planning:

  • Strategic Overview : It provides a concise and comprehensive overview of the current strategic position of the business or project. By examining internal and external factors, stakeholders can get a clear picture of their situation.
  • Decision Making : SWOT analysis aids in decision-making by highlighting the strengths to leverage, weaknesses to address, opportunities to pursue, and threats to mitigate. It helps in prioritizing actions based on the analysis.
  • Opportunity Identification : SWOT analysis is instrumental in identifying new opportunities for growth and expansion. Opportunities might come from market trends , economic shifts, or changes in technology.
  • Risk Management : By identifying threats, organizations can develop strategies to address or mitigate these risks before they become significant issues. It’s a proactive approach to managing potential external challenges.
  • Resource Allocation : Understanding the organization’s strengths and weaknesses helps in the effective allocation of resources. Resources can be directed to areas where they are needed most or where they will have the highest impact.
  • Competitive Advantage : It helps businesses identify unique features and capabilities that give them a competitive edge in the market. Recognizing these strengths can guide marketing strategies and business development.

How to Write a SWOT Analysis

Writing a strength in a SWOT analysis involves identifying and articulating the internal attributes and resources of a business or project that contribute to its success and competitive advantage. Here’s how to effectively write a strength in a SWOT analysis:

  • Identify Internal Positive Attributes : Focus on internal factors that are within the control of the business. These can include resources, skills, or other advantages relative to competitors. Consider areas like strong brand reputation, proprietary technology, skilled workforce, financial resources, strategic location, and efficient processes.
  • Be Specific and Relevant : General statements like “we have a good team” are less helpful than specific ones like “our team includes industry-recognized experts in X field.” The more precise you are, the more actionable your analysis will be. Ensure that the strengths are directly relevant to achieving the business’s goals and objectives.
  • Use Quantifiable Data When Possible : Whenever you can, back up your strengths with quantifiable data. For example, “a customer satisfaction rate of 95%” or “a 20% lower production cost than industry average” provides concrete evidence of your strengths.
  • Compare to Competitors : Strengths are often relative to the competition. Identify areas where your business outperforms competitors or fills a gap in the market. This might involve superior product quality, a unique service model, or a more extensive distribution network.
Example: Instead of simply stating “Experienced management team” as a strength, you could write: “Our management team has over 50 years of combined experience in the tech industry, including a track record of successful product launches and market expansions. This depth of experience provides us with strategic insights and operational expertise that have consistently resulted in market share growth and above-industry-average profitability.”

Writing a weakness in a SWOT analysis involves acknowledging and detailing the internal factors that limit or challenge your business or project’s ability to achieve its goals. Here’s a structured approach to effectively articulate weaknesses in a SWOT analysis:

  • Identify Internal Limitations : Focus on internal attributes that are within the control of the organization but currently act as disadvantages. Weaknesses might include insufficient resources, lack of expertise, outdated technology, poor location, limited product range, or inefficiencies in processes.
  • Be Specific and Honest : It’s important to be honest and specific about your organization’s weaknesses. Vague statements won’t help in addressing these issues. For instance, rather than saying “we need to improve our marketing,” specify “our current marketing strategy does not effectively reach our target demographic of 18-25-year-olds on digital platforms.”
  • Use Internal Comparisons and Feedback : Compare your performance, processes, and resources against your own past performance or industry benchmarks. Utilize customer feedback, employee insights, and performance data to identify areas of weakness.
  • Keep it Constructive : While it’s crucial to be honest about weaknesses, frame them in a way that focuses on potential for improvement. Consider each weakness as an area for development and growth.
Example: Instead of a broad statement like “Inadequate online presence,” a more effective description would be: “Our business currently lacks a robust online presence, reflected in our outdated website and minimal engagement on key social media platforms. This limits our ability to attract younger demographics who predominantly discover and interact with brands online. Improving our online visibility and engagement could enhance brand awareness and customer acquisition.”

Opportunities

Writing opportunities in a SWOT analysis involves identifying and articulating external factors that your business or project could exploit to its advantage. Opportunities are elements in the environment that, if leveraged effectively, could provide a pathway for growth, improvement, or competitive advantage. Here’s how to systematically approach writing opportunities in your SWOT analysis:

  • Spot External Trends : Focus on the trends and changes outside your organization that could be beneficial. These might include technological advancements, shifts in consumer behavior, market gaps, regulatory changes, or economic trends.
  • Be Relevant and Actionable : Ensure that the opportunities you identify are relevant to your business and actionable. They should align with your business’s strengths and capabilities, allowing you to take practical steps toward capitalizing on them.
  • Use Market Research : Base your identification of opportunities on solid market research. Understand your target market , industry trends, and the competitive landscape to pinpoint where the real opportunities lie.
  • Detail Potential Benefits : Clearly articulate how each opportunity could benefit your business. Whether it’s entering a new market, launching a new product line, or adopting new technology, explain the potential impact on your business growth and success.
Example: Rather than vaguely stating “New market segments,” a more strategic description of an opportunity could be: “With increasing consumer interest in sustainable living, there’s a growing market segment for eco-friendly products. Our business’s strong commitment to sustainability and existing lineup of environmentally friendly products positions us well to capture this emerging market. Expanding our product range to include more items that cater to eco-conscious consumers can tap into this trend, potentially opening up new revenue streams and enhancing our brand’s reputation as a leader in sustainability.”

Writing threats in a SWOT analysis involves identifying external challenges that could pose risks to your business or project’s success. These are factors outside your control that have the potential to harm your operations, financial performance, or strategic positioning. Addressing threats effectively in a SWOT analysis requires a focused approach:

  • Identify External Challenges : Start by pinpointing the external factors that could negatively impact your business. This can include new competitors entering the market, changes in consumer preferences, technological advancements that render your product less desirable, regulatory changes, or economic downturns.
  • Be Precise and Realistic : Clearly define each threat in specific terms, avoiding vague descriptions. Being realistic about the level of risk each threat poses is crucial; not every external challenge is a dire threat, but understanding the potential impact is key for strategic planning.
  • Assess the Impact : For each threat identified, evaluate how it could impact your business. Consider the worst-case scenario and more likely outcomes to gauge the potential severity of the threat. This helps in prioritizing which threats need immediate attention and strategic response.
  • Use Reliable Sources : Base your identification of threats on solid, reliable information. This might include industry reports, economic forecasts, and news sources that provide insights into market dynamics and external conditions.
  • Consider Your Weaknesses : Link potential threats to your identified weaknesses. Understanding how external threats could exploit your vulnerabilities offers valuable insights for fortifying your business against these challenges.
Example: Instead of broadly stating “Economic uncertainty,” a more actionable description of a threat would be: “The looming economic downturn poses a significant threat to discretionary consumer spending. Given our business’s reliance on non-essential luxury products, a reduction in consumer spending could directly impact sales. This economic uncertainty requires us to diversify our product offerings and identify more value-oriented options to maintain customer engagement and spending during tighter economic conditions.”

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10. Pastel personal SWOT analysis template

Pastel droplets and a clear, readable font make this design stand out as a personal SWOT template in PowerPoint. You can also read our guide on the best fonts to use in your presentations . Download 4:3 | Download 16:9

To give yourself an array of options, download all of the Superside designers’ slides above .

AI-powered SWOT Analysis Templates

AI is the not-so-new kid on the block that everyone is talking about, and it can also be a powerful ally in creating free SWOT analyses with just a few clicks.

Here at Superside, we've experienced this firsthand.

By integrating AI enhancements into our subscription model, we've slashed design times by up to 60%, all while keeping costs lower. The result? Exceptional campaigns that speak volumes.

swot business plan template

More Like this

Swot analysis template & examples, refresher on swot analysis.

A SWOT analysis examines your organization’s core Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in your competitive environment to help develop focus areas in strategic planning. Conducting a SWOT analysis creates a synthesized view of your organization’s current state. Read the full introduction on SWOT analysis here !

How to Perform a SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis Template Grid

Use the template below as the structure for your SWOT grid. You can arrange it as you like, but we recommend the format below because it’s easier to see which are internal forces (strengths and weaknesses), and which are external forces (opportunities and threats).

If you need help developing your SWOT analysis, read the 5 steps to completing a SWOT analysis here and download the free SWOT guide and canvas !

Pro-tip: Remember that strengths and weaknesses come from internal data sources and insights. Opportunities and threats come from external forces and data.

Get the Free Guide and Canvas to Create a SWOT Analysis

Swot analysis template statement.

After you’ve structured your SWOT grid, reviewed the questions you need to answer, and gathered your internal and external data, you can begin identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

As you identify each, we recommend your team spend a few minutes writing each statement to include the following elements.

We recommend starting with a simple label on each SWOT statement so you can easily skim through your SWOT to see the themes or areas you need to focus on in a single glance. It is helpful as you start to identify what from your SWOT will become core pieces of your strategic plan.

EG – Shipping: – Marketing: – Financial: – etc.

The Attribute

Articulate what the strength, weakness, opportunity, or threat is.

EG – High shipping error rate, A strong social presence, or New product fit opportunity.

State the impact on your business. How does each attribute impact your finances, people, customers, product, or market?

EG – Creates a poor customer experience.

SWOT Statement Template

SWOT Analysis Template Download

Need help building your SWOT analysis? Download our free PDF guide and template to build your SWOT with ease!

Free SWOT Template

SWOT Analysis Examples

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10 free swot analysis templates (in nifty, docs & excel).

Updated on January 24, 2024 by Skyler Calibey

Published on January 24, 2024 by Skyler Calibey

SWOT Analysis Templates

Companies use various business planning tools and frameworks, but none are as simple and evergreen as a simple SWOT analysis one.

It’s a quick and effective way to analyze a company, process, individual, or strategy by looking at important internal and external factors at play.

Given the frequency of use and the number of use cases, it’s smart to have a ready-to-use SWOT analysis template for your business.

Depending on which in-house tools you use, you may need templates for Excel, Word, Nifty, or other such platforms.

In this article, you will find 10 SWOT analysis templates for various platforms. But first, let’s take a deeper look at what SWOT analysis is and how to do it right.

Let’s get started.

What is SWOT Analysis?

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis helps you assess a person, company, or idea on these parameters.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal and external factors affecting you that are inherent to the thing or persona being analyzed. Opportunities and threats are external forces that can have positive or negative impacts, respectively.

Let’s understand this with a swot analysis example of a company.

  • Strengths : A loyal customer base, profitable business locations, strong balance sheet, or any other strength that gives a business advantage.
  • Weaknesses : Weak brand identity, too much debt, and unreliable supply chain partners can be some examples of weaknesses.
  • Opportunities : Favorable external factors like business-friendly government regulations or low tax rates are opportunities that can help a business grow.
  • Threats : Unforeseen negative factors like a change in regulation, natural disasters, and a sudden increase in raw material costs fall under this category.

The image below explains how you can do a SWOT analysis for your company and the questions you need to ask to fill in the various factors.

What is SWOT Analysis

What is a SWOT Analysis Template?

In simplest terms, a SWOT analysis template is a ready-to-use framework you can use to conduct an analysis.

An editable SWOT analysis template can help you save time and will avoid the need to create a structure from scratch every time you need to do such an analysis.

As different companies use different tools, from Excel to Google Docs , a single SWOT analysis template won’t suffice for varying needs. That’s why we have compiled a list of the best SWOT analysis templates to cater to different business needs.

10 Free SWOT Analysis Templates

In this section, you will find SWOT analysis templates for Nifty, Google Docs, Excel, and Word. Irrespective of which tool you prefer, you will find a SWOT analysis template that’s perfect for your needs.

Here you go.

1. Nifty SWOT Analysis Template

Nifty is a great project management tool that companies use to streamline their processes. If you want to use it to conduct a SWOT analysis, then this free SWOT analysis template will help.

Nifty SWOT Analysis Template

It’s very simple to replicate and makes use of bulleted lists to fill out the points under each heading. You can modify the “Name of employee” field and make it “company” or anything else that you’re analyzing.

To add more points, you simply need to press enter, and the bulleted list will expand. Simply copy-paste this SWOT template onto a Nifty doc on your dashboard and customize it to conduct a detailed SWOT analysis.

2. Nifty SOAR Analysis Template

SOAR (strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results) is another variant of SWOT analysis that is used for business and strategic planning purposes.

It analyzes a company or individual’s strengths, aspirations, growth opportunities, and ways to measure results or performance .

Here are the questions you need to ask when conducting a SOAR analysis:

  • Strengths : What are my core strengths that give me a unique advantage?
  • Opportunities : What are some areas of improvement where I can grow?
  • Aspirations : What are the future outcomes that I want to achieve?
  • Results : How will I measure my performance on my goals?

Here’s a simple Nifty SOAR analysis template that you can use to conduct this analysis.

Nifty SOAR analysis template

You can do this for an individual as well as for a company. Simply tweak the editable template and customize it to your needs.

3. Excel SWOT Analysis Template

If you want to conduct a SWOT analysis in Excel, you can replicate the SWOT matrix and use cells to fill out the details.

This SWOT analysis template for Excel, for example, is designed to analyze a business process.

Excel SWOT Analysis Template

However, you can use this template to analyze a strategy, company, or person, depending on your requirements.

4. Business Planning Excel SWOT Template

Unlike a generic SWOT template, a business planning template solves a specific purpose. It helps you create a task list of activities to be performed when making a business plan within the SWOT framework.

The following business planning SWOT template for Excel provides a perfect example of how you can use the framework to make a business plan .

Business Planning Excel SWOT Template

5. Google Docs SWOT Analysis Template

If you use Google Docs and need a ready-to-use SWOT analysis template for that, the one below will work for you.

Google Docs SWOT Analysis Template

This is a simple matrix-style template that can be easily customized as per your requirements.

6. Personal SWOT Analysis Template for Google Docs

A personal SWOT analysis involves assessing a person’s strengths and weaknesses instead of a company’s. The threats and opportunities for an individual would also be entirely different.

If you’re wondering what things you would analyze to conduct a personal SWOT analysis, then the template below can help you.

Personal SWOT Analysis Template for Google Docs

7. Microsoft Word SWOT Analysis Template

MS Word is another popular platform that companies use for their day-to-day work. If you’re looking for a simple SWOT analysis template for Word, then the template below is perfect for you.

Microsoft Word SWOT Analysis Template

You can simply edit and customize this template or create a similar one in a Word doc with your branding and colors.

8. Microsoft Word Marketing SWOT Analysis Template

If you’re looking for a marketing-specific template for MS Word, check out the one below.

Microsoft Word Marketing SWOT Analysis Template

This template not only covers the strengths and weaknesses but goes a step ahead and helps you prepare a marketing action plan based on these. This is a great way to go more in-depth with your own SWOT analysis and use it to make strategic business decisions.

9. Competitor SWOT Analysis Template

A competitor SWOT analysis is a variation of the traditional matric framework, which includes a side-by-side analysis of 2 or more companies.

In this case, you list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of several companies and do a comparative analysis.

Here’s a great competitor SWOT analysis template that you can use.

Competitor SWOT Analysis Template

It’s designed for Microsoft Excel, but you can recreate a similar template for practically any platform you use.

This is a great template for analyzing your competitors’s strengths and weaknesses and comparing them with your own. This can help you identify the top competitors you need to watch out for.

10. Healthcare SWOT Analysis Template

Looking for a SWOT analysis template specific to the Healthcare industry? The template below can help. You also get a guide on specific items you can add under each category.

Healthcare SWOT Analysis Template

Benefits of Using a SWOT Analysis Template

In the previous section, we covered 10 great SWOT analysis templates for various platforms and use cases. 

But why should you use one or conduct a SWOT analysis?

Well, here are some reasons for you.

It Helps You Understand Your Current Position

By assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your company, you can determine where your business stands.

This is a good starting point to create a business plan and determine what you want to achieve based on market trends and your current positioning.

You Can Use It to Prioritize Projects

By conducting a SWOT analysis for all planned business projects, you can identify the ones that have the most potential. This can help you prioritize the most valuable ones and focus more time and resources on those.

It’s important to prioritize projects that have strong internal strengths and weaknesses to ensure business growth and minimize risks.

It Leads to Considerable Time Savings

A SWOT analysis is a quick and simple way of assessing how a company or idea is positioned and how much potential it has to achieve success or growth.

As such, using a SWOT analysis template can help you conduct this analysis as many times as you need without starting from scratch. This can save you a lot of time and effort.

It Can Help You Identify Key Competitors

A competitor SWOT analysis can help you assess your competitive position compared with your competitors. You can also use it to identify which companies are your biggest competitors and pose the biggest risk for your business.

Companies that have unique strengths and opportunities are the ones to watch out for. They can position themselves in a way that gives them a competitive advantage.

You Can Use it to Control Risks

One key aspect of a SWOT analysis is identifying weaknesses and external threats. This allows you to be better prepared to deal with challenges and navigate through difficult situations.

By being aware of and prepared for potential risks , you can control and minimize them.

Are There Alternatives to the SWOT Analysis?

There are many marketing analysis and business planning models and frameworks that can act as alternatives to the typical SWOT analysis.

Here are a few that you can try:

  • SCORE Analysis : This is a framework that analyzes a business’s strengths, challenges, opportunities, relationships, and efforts.
  • PESTLE Analysis : It helps assess external factors that may affect a business, specifically Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors.
  • SOAR Analysis : This is similar to SWOT but replaces weaknesses and threats with aspirations and results. It is considered a more positive approach to conducting a SWOT analysis.
  • NOISE Analysis : This is also similar to SWOT but analyzes needs, opportunities, improvements, strengths, and exceptions to find growth opportunities.

These are just some examples, but there are many SWOT alternatives that you can use, depending on your goals.

Prioritize Your SWOT Analysis using Nifty

There you have it—some of the best templates to conduct a SWOT analysis. You can choose a SWOT analysis template based on the tool you use and your specific business needs.

If you have not tried Nifty, we recommend that you give it a go. It’s a smart project management tool that has a built-in “docs” feature that you can use to create your SWOT framework.

Its simple, easy-to-navigate interface is feature-rich and perfect for conducting a SWOT analysis in a no-fuss, hassle-free manner. 

Try Nifty for SWOT analysis. Get Started free .

Is There a SWOT Template in Google Docs?

Yes, we have provided a SWOT analysis template for Google Docs, along with those for other similar tools. You can use one of the templates listed in this post or create one of your own to meet your specific business requirements.

What Are the 3 Cs in SWOT Analysis?

Corporation, customer, and competitor are the three C’s that are important in a SWOT analysis. These factors contribute significantly to business success and are considered a critical part of any effective SWOT analysis.

How Do You Conduct a SWOT Analysis?

Here’s a step-by-step process:

  • Set a goal for your analysis
  • List the strengths of the company, person, or idea you’re analyzing
  • List their weaknesses and areas of improvement
  • Identify and list the opportunities for growth
  • Identify the potential threats that may arise from external factors
  • Analyze whether the overall outlook is positive or negative, depending on which factors are stronger—positive or negative

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What Is SWOT Analysis?

Understanding swot analysis, how to do a swot analysis, the bottom line.

  • Fundamental Analysis

SWOT Analysis: How To With Table and Example

These frameworks are essential to fundamentally analyzing companies

swot business plan template

Ariel Courage is an experienced editor, researcher, and former fact-checker. She has performed editing and fact-checking work for several leading finance publications, including The Motley Fool and Passport to Wall Street.

swot business plan template

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a framework used to evaluate a company's competitive position and to develop strategic planning. SWOT analysis assesses internal and external factors, as well as current and future potential.

A SWOT analysis is designed to facilitate a realistic, fact-based, data-driven look at the strengths and weaknesses of an organization, initiatives, or within its industry. The organization needs to keep the analysis accurate by avoiding pre-conceived beliefs or gray areas and instead focusing on real-life contexts. Companies should use it as a guide and not necessarily as a prescription.

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Key Takeaways

  • SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that provides assessment tools.
  • Identifying core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats leads to fact-based analysis, fresh perspectives, and new ideas.
  • A SWOT analysis pulls information internal sources (strengths of weaknesses of the specific company) as well as external forces that may have uncontrollable impacts to decisions (opportunities and threats).
  • SWOT analysis works best when diverse groups or voices within an organization are free to provide realistic data points rather than prescribed messaging.
  • Findings of a SWOT analysis are often synthesized to support a single objective or decision that a company is facing.

Investopedia / Xiaojie Liu

SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing the performance, competition, risk, and potential of a business, as well as part of a business such as a product line or division, an industry, or other entity.

Using internal and external data , the technique can guide businesses toward strategies more likely to be successful, and away from those in which they have been, or are likely to be, less successful. Independent SWOT analysts, investors, or competitors can also guide them on whether a company, product line, or industry might be strong or weak and why.

SWOT analysis was first used to analyze businesses. Now, it's often used by governments, nonprofits, and individuals, including investors and entrepreneurs. There is seemingly limitless applications to the SWOT analysis.

Components of SWOT Analysis

Every SWOT analysis will include the following four categories. Though the elements and discoveries within these categories will vary from company to company, a SWOT analysis is not complete without each of these elements:

Strengths describe what an organization excels at and what separates it from the competition : a strong brand, loyal customer base, a strong balance sheet, unique technology, and so on. For example, a hedge fund may have developed a proprietary trading strategy that returns market-beating results. It must then decide how to use those results to attract new investors.

Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. They are areas where the business needs to improve to remain competitive: a weak brand, higher-than-average turnover, high levels of debt, an inadequate supply chain, or lack of capital.

Opportunities

Opportunities refer to favorable external factors that could give an organization a competitive advantage. For example, if a country cuts tariffs, a car manufacturer can export its cars into a new market, increasing sales and market share .

Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization. For example, a drought is a threat to a wheat-producing company, as it may destroy or reduce the crop yield. Other common threats include things like rising costs for materials, increasing competition, tight labor supply. and so on.

Analysts present a SWOT analysis as a square segmented into four quadrants, each dedicated to an element of SWOT. This visual arrangement provides a quick overview of the company’s position. Although all the points under a particular heading may not be of equal importance, they all should represent key insights into the balance of opportunities and threats, advantages and disadvantages, and so forth.

The SWOT table is often laid out with the internal factors on the top row and the external factors on the bottom row. In addition, the items on the left side of the table are more positive/favorable aspects, while the items on the right are more concerning/negative elements.

A SWOT analysis can be broken into several steps with actionable items before and after analyzing the four components. In general, a SWOT analysis will involve the following steps.

Step 1: Determine Your Objective

A SWOT analysis can be broad, though more value will likely be generated if the analysis is pointed directly at an objective. For example, the objective of a SWOT analysis may focused only on whether or not to perform a new product rollout . With an objective in mind, a company will have guidance on what they hope to achieve at the end of the process. In this example, the SWOT analysis should help determine whether or not the product should be introduced.

Step 2: Gather Resources

Every SWOT analysis will vary, and a company may need different data sets to support pulling together different SWOT analysis tables. A company should begin by understanding what information it has access to, what data limitations it faces, and how reliable its external data sources are.

In addition to data, a company should understand the right combination of personnel to have involved in the analysis. Some staff may be more connected with external forces, while various staff within the manufacturing or sales departments may have a better grasp of what is going on internally. Having a broad set of perspectives is also more likely to yield diverse, value-adding contributions.

Step 3: Compile Ideas

For each of the four components of the SWOT analysis, the group of people assigned to performing the analysis should begin listing ideas within each category. Examples of questions to ask or consider for each group are in the table below.

Internal Factors

What occurs within the company serves as a great source of information for the strengths and weaknesses categories of the SWOT analysis. Examples of internal factors include financial and human resources , tangible and intangible (brand name) assets, and operational efficiencies.

Potential questions to list internal factors are:

  • (Strength) What are we doing well?
  • (Strength) What is our strongest asset?
  • (Weakness) What are our detractors?
  • (Weakness) What are our lowest-performing product lines?

External Factors

What happens outside of the company is equally as important to the success of a company as internal factors. External influences, such as monetary policies , market changes, and access to suppliers, are categories to pull from to create a list of opportunities and weaknesses.

Potential questions to list external factors are:

  • (Opportunity) What trends are evident in the marketplace?
  • (Opportunity) What demographics are we not targeting?
  • (Threat) How many competitors exist, and what is their market share?
  • (Threat) Are there new regulations that potentially could harm our operations or products?

Companies may consider performing this step as a "white-boarding" or "sticky note" session. The idea is there is no right or wrong answer; all participants should be encouraged to share whatever thoughts they have. These ideas can later be discarded; in the meantime, the goal should be to come up with as many items as possible to invoke creativity and inspiration in others.

Step 4: Refine Findings

With the list of ideas within each category, it is now time to clean-up the ideas. By refining the thoughts that everyone had, a company can focus on only the best ideas or largest risks to the company. This stage may require substantial debate among analysis participants, including bringing in upper management to help rank priorities.

Step 5: Develop the Strategy

Armed with the ranked list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it is time to convert the SWOT analysis into a strategic plan. Members of the analysis team take the bulleted list of items within each category and create a synthesized plan that provides guidance on the original objective.

For example, the company debating whether to release a new product may have identified that it is the market leader for its existing product and there is the opportunity to expand to new markets. However, increased material costs, strained distribution lines, the need for additional staff, and unpredictable product demand may outweigh the strengths and opportunities. The analysis team develops the strategy to revisit the decision in six months in hopes of costs declining and market demand becoming more transparent.

Use a SWOT analysis to identify challenges affecting your business and opportunities that can enhance it. However, note that it is one of many techniques, not a prescription.

Benefits of SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis won't solve every major question a company has. However, there's a number of benefits to a SWOT analysis that make strategic decision-making easier.

  • A SWOT analysis makes complex problems more manageable. There may be an overwhelming amount of data to analyze and relevant points to consider when making a complex decision. In general, a SWOT analysis that has been prepared by paring down all ideas and ranking bullets by importance will aggregate a large, potentially overwhelming problem into a more digestible report.
  • A SWOT analysis requires external consider. Too often, a company may be tempted to only consider internal factors when making decisions. However, there are often items out of the company's control that may influence the outcome of a business decision. A SWOT analysis covers both the internal factors a company can manage and the external factors that may be more difficult to control.
  • A SWOT analysis can be applied to almost every business question. The analysis can relate to an organization, team, or individual. It can also analyze a full product line , changes to brand, geographical expansion, or an acquisition. The SWOT analysis is a versatile tool that has many applications.
  • A SWOT analysis leverages different data sources. A company will likely use internal information for strengths and weaknesses. The company will also need to gather external information relating to broad markets, competitors, or macroeconomic forces for opportunities and threats. Instead of relying on a single, potentially biased source, a good SWOT analysis compiles various angles.
  • A SWOT analysis may not be overly costly to prepare. Some SWOT reports do not need to be overly technical; therefore, many different staff members can contribute to its preparation without training or external consulting.

SWOT Analysis Example

In 2015, a Value Line SWOT analysis of The Coca-Cola Company noted strengths such as its globally famous brand name, vast distribution network, and opportunities in emerging markets. However, it also noted weaknesses and threats such as foreign currency fluctuations, growing public interest in "healthy" beverages, and competition from healthy beverage providers.

Its SWOT analysis prompted Value Line to pose some tough questions about Coca-Cola's strategy, but also to note that the company "will probably remain a top-tier beverage provider" that offered conservative investors "a reliable source of income and a bit of capital gains exposure."

Five years later, the Value Line SWOT analysis proved effective as Coca-Cola remains the 6th strongest brand in the world (as it was then). Coca-Cola's shares (traded under ticker symbol KO) have increased in value by over 60% during the five years after the analysis was completed.

To get a better picture of a SWOT analysis, consider the example of a fictitious organic smoothie company. To better understand how it competes within the smoothie market and what it can do better, it conducted a SWOT analysis. Through this analysis, it identified that its strengths were good sourcing of ingredients, personalized customer service, and a strong relationship with suppliers. Peering within its operations, it identified a few areas of weakness: little product diversification, high turnover rates, and outdated equipment.

Examining how the external environment affects its business, it identified opportunities in emerging technology, untapped demographics, and a culture shift towards healthy living. It also found threats, such as a winter freeze damaging crops, a global pandemic, and kinks in the supply chain. In conjunction with other planning techniques, the company used the SWOT analysis to leverage its strengths and external opportunities to eliminate threats and strengthen areas where it is weak.

What Is an Example of SWOT Analysis?

Home Depot conducted a SWOT analysis, creating a balanced list of its internal advantages and disadvantages and external factors threatening its market position and growth strategy. High-quality customer service, strong brand recognition, and positive relationships with suppliers were some of its notable strengths; whereas, a constricted supply chain, interdependence on the U.S. market, and a replicable business model were listed as its weaknesses.

Closely related to its weaknesses, Home Depot's threats were the presence of close rivals, available substitutes, and the condition of the U.S. market. It found from this study and other analysis that expanding its supply chain and global footprint would be key to its growth.

What Are the 4 Steps of SWOT Analysis?

The four steps of SWOT analysis comprise the acronym SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These four aspects can be broken into two analytical steps. First, a company assesses its internal capabilities and determines its strengths and weaknesses. Then, a company looks outward and evaluates external factors that impact its business. These external factors may create opportunities or threaten existing operations.

How Do You Write a Good SWOT Analysis?

Creating a SWOT analysis involves identifying and analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company. It is recommended to first create a list of questions to answer for each element. The questions serve as a guide for completing the SWOT analysis and creating a balanced list. The SWOT framework can be constructed in list format, as free text, or, most commonly, as a 4-cell table, with quadrants dedicated to each element. Strengths and weaknesses are listed first, followed by opportunities and threats.

Why Is SWOT Analysis Used?

A SWOT analysis is used to strategically identify areas of improvement or competitive advantages for a company. In addition to analyzing thing that a company does well, SWOT analysis takes a look at more detrimental, negative elements of a business. Using this information, a company can make smarter decisions to preserve what it does well, capitalize on its strengths, mitigate risk regarding weaknesses, and plan for events that may adversely affect the company in the future.

A SWOT analysis is a great way to guide business-strategy meetings. It's powerful to have everyone in the room discuss the company's core strengths and weaknesses, define the opportunities and threats, and brainstorm ideas. Oftentimes, the SWOT analysis you envision before the session changes throughout to reflect factors you were unaware of and would never have captured if not for the group’s input.

A company can use a SWOT for overall business strategy sessions or for a specific segment such as marketing, production, or sales. This way, you can see how the overall strategy developed from the SWOT analysis will filter down to the segments below before committing to it. You can also work in reverse with a segment-specific SWOT analysis that feeds into an overall SWOT analysis.

Although a useful planning tool, SWOT has limitations. It is one of several business planning techniques to consider and should not be used alone. Also, each point listed within the categories is not prioritized the same. SWOT does not account for the differences in weight. Therefore, a deeper analysis is needed, using another planning technique.

Business News Daily. " SWOT Analysis: What It Is and When to Use It ."

Seeking Alpha. " The Coca-Cola Company: A Short SWOT Analysis ."

Panmore. " Home Depot SWOT Analysis & Recommendations ."

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20+ Best SWOT Analysis Template PowerPoint for Strategic Planning

Conducting a comprehensive SWOT analysis is a critical step in the strategic planning process for any business. This methodological approach involves identifying and analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to your business, product, or marketing strategy. A well-orchestrated SWOT analysis could be the difference between a strategy that helps your business thrive and one that merely keeps it afloat.

This post is an adept compilation of more than 20 meticulously created SWOT analysis PowerPoint templates. Each template is designed with the utmost attention to detail to assist you in crafting impactful SWOT analyses. They feature intuitive and aesthetically appealing layouts, ensuring both the analyst and the audience can understand the analysis clearly.

These resources, both paid and free, are not just traditional templates, but sophisticated tools to help your decision-making processes. Streamline your strategic planning process by leveraging these artfully designed SWOT analysis PowerPoint templates. Harness their robust features to diagram your ideas effectively, making your business, marketing, or product decision-making process smoother and smarter.

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Swot business presentation.

SWOT Business Presentation

The SWOT Business Presentation is a dynamic, adaptable PowerPoint template ideal for both corporate and personal use. The sleek, minimalist design is easy to tailor, featuring over 20 colour themes that can transform the entire template with a single selection. It includes 111 unique, cleanly-designed slides packed with infographics, numeric and photo lists, and a price table. It’s versatility is further proven with multiple aspect ratio choices. This pack even provides a useful help guide for any potential queries.

SWOT Analysis Infographic

SWOT Analysis Infographic

The SWOT Analysis Infographic is a dynamic PowerPoint tool designed to enhance your business presentations. With a widescreen format and editable elements, it offers unique slide variations and uses a preset color scheme for consistency. Although images are not included, this user-friendly infographic pack is aimed at supporting all stages of business growth and development, enhancing recognition and goal-setting in a visually engaging way.

SWOT Business PowerPoint

SWOT Business PowerPoint

The SWOT Business PowerPoint template is an outstanding asset for any business. Its easy-to-use, 16:9 aspect ratio format is made high-res with 1920×1080 pixel quality, ensuring optimal display for pitch deck presentations, startup plans or corporate reports. Note, it’s customizable and editable with free fonts and device mockups, but the preview images and fonts are not part of the download.

SWOT PowerPoint Presentation

SWOT PowerPoint Presentation

The SWOT PowerPoint Presentation is a dynamic tool, featuring over 1000 icons and full HD quality animations. It comes with an easy-to-edit 16:9 layout and offers free updates and support. You can also download the Lato font for free in order to customize the presentation further. This creative asset allows you to present an engaging SWOT analysis with professionalism and style.

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint

The SWOT Analysis PowerPoint is a professional marketing tool offering 40 unique slides in 7 pre-made color themes. This versatile asset, provided by a third party, is retina ready, neat, and user-friendly, requiring no font installation. Its easy editing feature and 2-click customization for color, text, and form make it highly convenient. With aspect ratios to suit varying needs, it’s a remarkable package.

SWOT Infographic Keynote Presentation

SWOT Infographic Keynote Presentation

The SWOT Infographic Keynote Presentation is a sleek, contemporary tool, ideal for business presentations, lookbook slides, or project pitches. The widescreen format is eye-catching, and graphics are easily customizable. The package also includes a helpful guide file, making it user-friendly. Please note that image stocks are not included. Overall, this asset can significantly enhance your presentations.

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template

The SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template is a game-changer for professional presentations. It allows straight-forward customisation to align with your brand and content, highlighting your message in a polished and standout manner. The template features 90 unique slides, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and easy-to-edit elements. It even includes a mockup device—just drag and drop your placeholder screen! Note, image stocks aren’t included.

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Template

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Template

The SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Template boasts a professional, ultra-modern and unique design meticulously created for your business presentation needs. This versatile tool includes over 60 professionally designed slides, easy-to-modify shapes, texts and charts, and editable image placeholders for simplicity. Tailored with a focus on detail, usability, and typography, it gives you a strong foundation for preparing your speech or presentation. Please note that images in the demo are for preview only and not included in the main file.

SWOT Analysis Keynote Template

SWOT Analysis Keynote Template

The SWOT Analysis Keynote Template is a handy tool designed to streamline the presentation of project ideas in a clear and succinct way. The package includes 16 unique, professionally-designed slides which are fully editable. Additionally, provided is a pack with over 3000 icons, all resizable due to their vector quality, allowing you to customize their size and color without concern for resolution loss.

SWOT Infographic Gradient Keynote

SWOT Infographic Gradient Keynote

The SWOT Infographic Gradient Keynote is a versatile presentation template with a modern style that suits numerous needs, including business presentations and project pitches. With over 30 unique slides, options for both light and dark backgrounds, and resizable and editable graphics, it offers users a great deal of customization. The package includes Keynote files and a helpful guide but does not include image stocks.

Business SWOT PowerPoint Infographics

Business SWOT PowerPoint Infographics

Check out these modern infographic templates designed to enhance your business presentations in PowerPoint. The Business SWOT PowerPoint Infographics package includes over 20 unique, fully customizable slides that are compatible with all PowerPoint versions. Plus, they’re easy to edit. This third-party asset offers a straightforward way to elevate your presentation game.

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template

The SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template is a modern, professional template that offers a clean, minimalist, and flexible design suitable for both personal and corporate presentations. Its customizable features include instant color scheme changes from 90+ options, 10 unique slides, light and dark versions, and a widescreen aspect ratio. Handy XML files and handmade infographics make this template tailored to fit your needs. Note that images are not included. Provided by RRGraph Design.

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template

The SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Template is an ideal tool for marketing presentations. It blends a simple design with clean elements, making your proposal more compelling and easy to understand. Offering 30 unique slides, high-resolution formatting, free fonts, and help guides. This multipurpose template, though not including images, also features appealing animations and transitions.

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Presentation

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Presentation

The SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Presentation is a versatile, creative asset that’s perfect for both business and corporate presentations. It’s clean, simple, and unique, with fully editable and customizable elements. Offering 5 light & dark template versions, 10 pptx files, 300 total slides, and a 16:9 aspect ratio, it also includes vector icons, elements, and world maps. Note that fonts are free but require separate installation and preview images are not included.

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Presentation Template

SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Presentation Template

The Doodle SWOT Infographic PowerPoint Presentation Template enhances presentations by representing complex ideas through attractive graphics. Suitable for various settings including business and education, this resourceful template allows for the creation of impactful flowcharts. It comes packed with 32 unique slides, an easy drag-and-drop image placeholder, and full editability over shapes, giving your presentation a polished, professional feel. Remember, image stocks are not included. Provided by SohelStudio x Digitcase.

Flocue Business SWOT Keynote

Flocue Business SWOT Keynote

The Flocue Business SWOT Keynote is a multifunctional tool designed with a professional, ultra-modern aesthetic. Its diverse set of features, including 120+ slides, drag and drop image placeholders, and unique theme colours, provides flexibility for any presentation needs – be it business, portfolio, corporate, branding, or advertising. Combining a strong focus on typography and usability, this template ensures that your presentation will stand out. Please note, preview images are not included in the main file.

Target SWOT Data Analysis Keynote

Target SWOT Data Analysis Keynote

Target SWOT Data Analysis Keynote is a detailed presentation platform with an emphasis on data analysis. It offers 220 total slides, 22 of which designed with creativity, and comes with two versions, dark and light theme. The platform allows easy color customization with 10 color variations, resizable and editable graphics, image placeholders, and drag-and-drop image facility. It’s highly user-friendly and also includes fast, free support.

Report SWOT Agenda Infographic Analysis

Report SWOT Agenda Infographic Analysis

Report SWOT Agenda Infographic Analysis is an easy-to-edit creative asset that brings dynamic data visualization to your reports. With a landscape aspect ratio of 16:9, and impressive resolution, it boasts more than 20 drag-and-drop pages for user convenience. All graphics are adjustable and a helpful guidance file is included. Please note, associated images in previews are not part of the actual download.

SWOT Analysis Keynote Infographics Template

SWOT Analysis Keynote Infographics Template

Check out the SWOT Analysis Keynote Infographics Template – a visually engaging set of 50 fully customizable slides including diagrams and infographics. Ideal for making your data more digestible in presentations. It comes with over 6500 professional, color-adjustable icons. Flexible and clean, all objects are vector-based, making resizing a breeze.

SWOT Dashboards PowerPoint Presentation Template

SWOT Dashboards PowerPoint Presentation Template

The SWOT Dashboards PowerPoint Presentation Template is a dynamic tool featuring 30 unique slides designed to facilitate an in-depth analysis of your business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This dynamic template is easy to customize, includes 10 PPTX files, and has an adaptable 16:9 aspect ratio with five color schemes, featuring both dark and light versions. It’s animated for added engagement and has ready-to-use ‘Drag and Drop’ placeholders.

Stobe SWOT Business Analyst PowerPoint

Stobe SWOT Business Analyst PowerPoint

Stobe SWOT Business Analyst PowerPoint is a versatile template ideal for various types of presentations. Its features include 25 unique HD slides which you can fully customize in PowerPoint, drag and drop image placeholders, smooth slide transitions, and a variety of slides such as quote, product, team management, and company profile. It’s great for showcasing products or presenting creative portfolios.

SWOT Business Keynote

SWOT Business Keynote

The SWOT Business Keynote is an easy-to-use presentation template perfect for showcasing your business, startup or corporate report. With a 16:9 aspect ratio and high-resolution (1920×1080), you can effortlessly customize this asset to fit your brand. Though fonts and preview images aren’t included in the download, the template generously provides a free font and device mockup.

SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Template

The SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Template is an engaging tool designed to visually elevate your sales and marketing presentations. It comes with 16 professionally designed, fully editable slides, and over 3000 icons that you can size and color to your liking without losing resolution. Offering a vast color palette with 90 choices, and an easy one-click color and auto recoloring feature, it is perfect for making your work presentable and captivating to your audience.

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10+ business plan swot analysis template – pdf.

All sample plans start with an analysis of the situation. If that plan involves a business, the planning process usually begins with the said business taking a stock of their situation. One method of analysis for any business is the SWOT analysis. Whether it be for strategic plans, operational plans , or business plan, the SWOT analysis will surely come through.

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Printable Business Plan SWOT Analysis

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Business Plan SWOT Analysis

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Business Issues SWOT Analysis Sample

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PEST and SWOT Analysis Template

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Uses of SWOT Analysis

1. strategy building, 2. matching and converting, 3. corporate planning, swot analysis guide and sample.

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SWOT Analysis Template for Kid’s Environment

swot analysis template for kids environment

4. Strategy Building

5. matching and converting, 6. corporate planning.

  • Set objectives
  • Scan the environment
  • Analyze existing strategies
  • Define strategic issues
  • Develop new/revised strategies
  • Establish critical success factors
  • Prepare plans (strategy, operational, resource, project) for the implementation of the strategy
  • Monitor results

7. Marketing

  • Qualitative marketing research (focus groups)
  • Quantitative marketing research (statistical surveys)
  • Experimental techniques (test markets)
  • Observational techniques (on-site observations)

SWOT Analysis in Strategic Management

swot analysis in strategic management

Basic SWOT Analysis Template

basic swot analysis template

Conducting a SWOT Analysis for Your Business Plan

Swot analysis business worksheet.

swot analysis business worksheet

Elements of a SWOT Analysis

1. strength, 2. weakness, 3. opportunities, business swot matrix template.

business swot matrix template

Synthesis SWOT Analysis Template

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COMMENTS

  1. SWOT Analysis: How To Do One [With Template & Examples]

    SWOT Analysis: How To Do One [With Template & Examples] As your business grows, you need a roadmap to help navigate the obstacles, challenges, opportunities, and projects that come your way. Enter: the SWOT analysis. This framework can help you develop a plan to determine your priorities, maximize opportunities, and minimize roadblocks as you ...

  2. 20+ Free SWOT Analysis Templates

    Analyzing your marketing plan with a SWOT template is a strategic approach. Simply list your marketing strengths (brand recognition, creative content) and weaknesses (limited budget, outdated website). ... Whether this is developing a new project plan or business, or scaling your revenue - a SWOT diagram is particularly useful when there's ...

  3. SWOT Analysis: Examples and Templates [2024] • Asana

    Use a structured system such as a business case, project plan, or implementation plan to outline what needs to get done—and how you plan to do it. Read: 11 project templates to start your work on the right track SWOT analysis template. A SWOT analysis template is often presented in a grid format, divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant ...

  4. SWOT Analysis: Free Templates and Examples

    A SWOT analysis is a technique that visualizes, organizes, and categorizes internal and external factors that may affect a business, brand project, initiative, or campaign. SWOT stands for its four primary categories: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis is often done before changing an ongoing plan or implementing ...

  5. SWOT Analysis: 31 Editable Templates & Examples

    A SWOT analysis chart is a useful planning tool for improving business strategy when you are managing a hospitality business. A SWOT matrix template can be beneficial when deciding whether to embark on a particular venture or strategy by visualizing the pros and cons. ... Whether you are developing or revising your department's strategic plan ...

  6. 14 Free SWOT Analysis Templates

    ‌ Download Business Planning SWOT Template - Word. With sections for a clearly defined objective, internal and external factors, and evaluation, moving from goal to strategy is the focus of this SWOT analysis template. Word templates offer easy printing and sharing for brainstorming sessions or a group process.

  7. Free and editable SWOT analysis templates

    Resize or remove graphic elements, insert your brand assets, use your company colors, and more. Grab a SWOT analysis template for free and customize it to your heart's content. Get your colleagues' input to make it the best evaluation possible. Collaborate easily by granting them editing access to your SWOT analysis diagram.

  8. SWOT Analysis

    SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing these four aspects of your business. SWOT Analysis is a tool that can help you to analyze what your company does best now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future. SWOT can also uncover areas of the business that are ...

  9. How to Do a SWOT Analysis (Examples & Free Template!)

    First, you should attempt to match your strengths with your opportunities. Next, you should try to convert weaknesses into strengths. Let's take a look how this works. 1. Harness your strengths. One of the best things about the strengths you identified in your SWOT analysis is that you're already doing them.

  10. 11 Free SWOT Analysis Templates and Examples

    Business Plan SWOT Analysis Template. 6. PowerPoint Diamond SWOT Template. Via SlideModel. The 5-slide deck Diamond SWOT analysis template is a simple and easy-to-use PowerPoint with a flat design. The diamond divides the categories into four sections with different colors to help each section stand out. It offers a unique layout for users ...

  11. How to do a SWOT Analysis in 7 Steps (with Examples & Template)

    Step 6: Draw the SWOT Analysis Table. The final step is crafting a swot analysis table. This involves creating a matrix and dividing it into four sections. The internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) are listed above, with the strengths on the left and the weaknesses on the right. On the other hand, the external factors (opportunities and ...

  12. SWOT Analysis Template: Guide and Free Download

    The SWOT analysis framework is one of the most widely adopted in business and project management. It is invaluable for creating a startup business plan, positioning yourself in a new market, and driving growth. SWOT analysis templates are easy to use and understand.

  13. PDF SWOT Analysis Template

    Using the questions from the previous page as a guide, fill out each quadrant with the stren g th s, w eakn esses, o p p o rtu n i ti es, an d th reats that are unique to your business.

  14. How to Write a SWOT Analysis for a Business Plan

    Here's how to effectively write a strength in a SWOT analysis: Identify Internal Positive Attributes: Focus on internal factors that are within the control of the business. These can include resources, skills, or other advantages relative to competitors. Consider areas like strong brand reputation, proprietary technology, skilled workforce ...

  15. 35+ SWOT Analysis Templates (Free, AI, PPT & Our Picks 2024)

    This management and business SWOT analysis template plays with shades of green, blue and gray to suggest trustworthiness, which is underscored in the balanced rectangle design. A monthly fee for 20 PPT template downloads starts at 49.99 USD. Seven-day free trial available.

  16. FREE SWOT Analysis Template

    Most importantly, the SWOT analysis in this guide offers a clear view of personal and business situations. SWOT Analysis Template. Free SWOT analysis template in different formats (image, Powerpoint, editable PDF, and Excel spreadsheet). ... Most companies use SWOT analysis to create a business plan. If you need to do a SWOT analysis of a ...

  17. 35 Powerful SWOT Analysis Templates & Examples

    This could be a business planning swot template, project plan, swot diagram, or implementation plan. SWOT Analysis Examples. One of the most common ways to create a SWOT analysis is through a SWOT matrix. This is a visual representation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The matrix is made up of four smaller squares that ...

  18. SWOT Analysis Template & 5 Examples I OnStrategy Resources

    A SWOT analysis examines your organization's core Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in your competitive environment to help develop focus areas in strategic planning. Conducting a SWOT analysis creates a synthesized view of your organization's current state. Read the full introduction on SWOT analysis here!

  19. 10 Free SWOT Analysis Templates (In Nifty, Docs & Excel)

    Unlike a generic SWOT template, a business planning template solves a specific purpose. It helps you create a task list of activities to be performed when making a business plan within the SWOT framework. The following business planning SWOT template for Excel provides a perfect example of how you can use the framework to make a business plan.

  20. SWOT Analysis Explained

    A SWOT analysis is a framework used in a business's strategic planning to evaluate its competitive positioning in the marketplace. The analysis looks at four key characteristics that are ...

  21. SWOT Analysis: How To With Table and Example

    SWOT analysis is a process that identifies an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Specifically, SWOT is a basic, analytical framework that assesses what an entity ...

  22. Develop your SWOT analysis

    A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your business. Developing a SWOT analysis can help you look at your business in a new way and from different directions. It can also help you to: create or fine tune your business strategy. prioritise areas for business growth to ...

  23. 20+ Best SWOT Analysis Template PowerPoint for Strategic Planning

    SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Presentation. The SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Presentation is a versatile, creative asset that's perfect for both business and corporate presentations. It's clean, simple, and unique, with fully editable and customizable elements. Offering 5 light & dark template versions, 10 pptx files, 300 total slides, and a 16:9 ...

  24. 10+ Business Plan SWOT Analysis Template

    To conduct a SWOT analysis for your business plan follow the following steps. You can also read SWOT analysis in word . 1. Make a list of your company's strengths and weaknesses and its opportunities and threats. In other words, identify your SWOT. You may also see competitor SWOT analysis templates .