A SWOT analysis is a planning and marketing tool that helps businesses identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within an industry. It can appear in a simple table or as a presentation to help develop a marketing strategy or a due diligence report.
In this article, we’ll guide you through all your questions about SWOT analysis, including how to create one to identify your standing in the market. We also provide a list of 31 SWOT analysis templates formatted into multi-slide presentations, single-sheet worksheets, or even infographics.
The best part? You can edit all of these SWOT analysis examples online, share them with your team or download them for free. Pick the SWOT template you like from the list below and start editing your template.
Here's a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit SWOT analysis templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more below:
As we said earlier, a SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique and marketing tool that identifies Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of a business, project or person. It’s often portrayed in a four-section grid.
The main purpose is to help you focus on key areas that can positively and negatively affect your chances of success by identifying the forces influencing a strategy, action, or initiative and ultimately making more effective decisions.
SWOT analysis can be used internally (within an organization) or externally (outside of an organization) to aid decision-making. It is not limited to external or internal factors, and depending on the type of strategic planning required, you might need to perform a SWOT analysis on one or both of these factors.
The example below shows how to use internal and external factors for a SWOT analysis, as well as how these factors differ from each other.
These are characteristics or resources within your company that directly influence its operations, performance or purpose. These are usually within your company’s control so they can be modified, removed or improved if needed.
A SWOT analysis that examines internal factors can look like the following:
External factors are elements, people and situations that are outside of your company’s control and can have an impact on its goals, marketing and operations. Since you have no control over external factors you can only be reactive rather than proactive.
A SWOT analysis using external factors can look like the following:
Now that we have a good understanding of what a SWOT analysis is and the key factors that can be used to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, let’s take a look at a real-life SWOT analysis example using a top brand like Amazon.
Despite how simple and effective a SWOT analysis document can be, many people still struggle with writing one. Writing an effective SWOT analysis requires research, critical thinking and clear and concise statements.
To write a good SWOT analysis in business or for projects, follow this step-by-step guide below.
1. Understand the Purpose: Define the main objective of your SWOT analysis. It should be a SMART goal so that when you conduct the analysis, you’re focused on accomplishing a specific agenda.
2. Research and Data Collection: Conduct extensive research beforehand using internal or external sources. These could be reports, market research, customer or employee feedback, survey results, competitor analysis, industry trends, positioning, social equity, etc.
3. Organize Your Data: As you gather your findings, be sure to answer the following questions with detailed and concise answers:
4. Document the Analysis: Evaluate the list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and prioritize them based on their potential impact on the business.
5. Draw Conclusions and Make Recommendations: Summarize the key insights into a SWOT format and create actionable steps to leverage strengths, address weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate threats.
6. Review and Revise the Results: Once you’re done, take the time to revise your SWOT to ensure it accurately reflects your current situation and meets your overall goal.
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The first template we're going to explore is for a personal SWOT analysis. You can use this editable SWOT analysis template when it’s time to review the state of your career, health or relationships.
On a personal level, you are more likely to succeed when you maximize your potential. You are also better off knowing aspects of life that are more challenging before they become big problems.
The personal SWOT analysis is a good way to get started with diagramming your personal development journey. Use this SWOT analysis template to map external factors and understand your internal strengths.
Not sure how to get started with your SWOT analysis? This worksheet template helps you by asking a few of the right questions for each section of the analysis.
You can easily fill this and all our SWOT analysis forms online. Customize them with your brand colors and fonts and print them to fill out separately. This is also perfect for adding to a marketing plan document for added industry and competitive analysis.
The SWOT analysis is a powerful tool for businesses that need to embark on strategic planning for upcoming initiatives. The SWOT analysis template will help you take advantage of this powerful tool without wasting precious resources on design.
When you need to analyze your company, a business SWOT analysis is a powerful tool. The SWOT diagram allows you to uncover insights about your company that will help you capture more market share.
Because the SWOT analysis is a versatile tool, you can utilize it to work within a large corporate company or a small business context.
Match your SWOT analysis to your industry. With this template, we've used unique illustrations that help showcase what your business does, showing that you can be more creative with your SWOT analysis design if you prefer.
Customize this editable SWOT template to match your industry and your business offerings. Then input your own core strengths, internal weaknesses, external opportunities and threats.
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. This ability to diagram the pros and cons of potential initiatives helps manage the internal factors in the hotel planning process.
Within a hotel context, the SWOT diagram helps in the decision to buy new software, invest in new in-room amenities, invest in social media or refurbish your infrastructure.
A crucial benefit a SWOT analysis can unlock for your hotel is the power of proactive action. Instead of reacting to challenges passively, a SWOT analysis helps you manage your hotel actively.
As a creative, you can utilize a SWOT analysis diagram template to brainstorm an action plan to take your career to a new level.
The SWOT diagram is a way to utilize self-analysis to improve your work. Additionally, the diagram helps you find a sense of direction in your business.
It's easy to fall into habitual patterns and fail to innovate. With a SWOT analysis, you can bring new trends and opportunities to the forefront of your brainstorming process.
Examples of new opportunities include new places to show your work, streamlined marketing practices or adding a new medium to your offerings.
SWOT analyses are perfect for any industry, including restaurants. Easily customize this creative SWOT template by adding photos of your own menu dishes, matching them to your brand and inputting your own restaurant's industry information.
Opportunities here could be that there are no similar cuisines offered nearby, while threats could be that you're walking into a saturated industry. Consider how you can make the most of each of these.
Even nonprofit organizations need a SWOT analysis chart to see if their mission makes sense at the time and place they're starting out. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your up-and-coming organization can help you make a stronger impact in the market.
Use interactive features in your SWOT analysis layout to engage the stakeholders in the information.
When you manage a school’s operations as an administrator or executive, it's vital to stay on top of all the moving parts. A school SWOT analysis will help you do your job exceptionally.
A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for administrators who want to optimize the functioning of their schools.
A SWOT analysis is a diagram that can inspire administrators, teachers and staff to study the tweaks they can make in day-to-day operations to improve their culture and results. Generally, a SWOT analysis is used in schools before an audit or assessment.
The SWOT analysis chart is a practical way to study the systems and procedures that exist within the organization.
This is a basic SWOT analysis infographic template that you can use for any business in any industry. Easily replace all of the existing content with strengths and opportunities that match your own business and the industry that you're in.
Strategic planning is a crucial function when it comes to building capacity for your non-profit. If your goal is to increase the impact and bring your mission statement to life, a SWOT analysis is a good investment of your time.
If you want to achieve your nonprofit's mission statement, reviewing your existing strengths and identifying any obstacles to growth is crucial.
A SWOT analysis is a structured tool to help you uncover insights and discover aspects of your organization that you had never considered.
This data science SWOT analysis template shows just how creative you can get with your SWOT analysis template design. Add a stock photo to your background that's relevant to what your business does to make it more unique.
In consulting firms, information and strategy are clear competitive advantages. This competitive advantage is why a well-done SWOT analysis is so valuable.
Imagine that you are creating a proposal for a client. You know the competition will be fierce for this account. What do you express to make sure the potential client knows all the things that set your firm apart?
This need to have clarity when it comes to expressing what sets you apart is where the SWOT analysis can help your consulting firm.
It can even be a great idea to create a personal SWOT analysis when you're working to build your personal brand. This can also be helpful when trying to find a job or improve your overall career performance. What are your strengths, and where can you improve?
Cybersecurity firms are in the business of analyzing threats. This threat detection capability will help you bring some of those skills to bear with the SWOT analysis.
As a Cybersecurity professional, you spend time thinking about security breaches and cyber attacks. Finding the time to think about the bigger picture of your business can prove challenging. This time scarcity problem is one reason that the SWOT analysis is so valuable.
The SWOT matrix is a structured grid that allows you to uncover a lot of information quickly.
This low time cost will help you find high-leverage opportunities or fixes without setting you back when it comes to the rest of your workload.
In the retail space, it can be challenging to stay ahead in a competitive marketplace. A SWOT analysis will help you deal with competitors and find creative ways to earn your customer’s loyalty.
As a retail professional, knowing exactly what strategies to use to increase your revenue can be challenging. However, by using tools like the retail SWOT analysis, you can uncover new opportunities.
With this SWOT diagram template, you may learn things about your brand image or business processes that significantly impact your bottom line.
You can also create a SWOT analysis for your employees. If you're evaluating their performance, consider doing so with a template like this one. Input their strengths and weaknesses and how you can help them improve.
Offer each employee a SWOT diagram template for them to analyze their own characteristics. Help them improve on their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. Use dynamic fields and master slides to set up the same template for all your employees. Easily change their name and personal information on their SWOT analysis layout.
If you're starting a new business, especially in a saturated industry, you absolutely need to create a SWOT analysis. This editable SWOT analysis template will help you find your unique angle so that you're able to compete with already established brands in your market.
As an HR professional, the discovery of more efficient business processes is precious to your business. Working through an HR SWOT analysis is one of the best ways to discover new opportunities to bring your organization value.
Whether you are developing or revising your department’s strategic plan, a SWOT analysis is an integral part of the process. Through diagramming the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your organization, the process will generate insights into your next steps.
With your SaaS marketing strategy, you'll want to create a SWOT analysis that allows you to figure out what makes your tool stand out amongst the rest. Include some unique opportunities for growth and your marketing angle that will get potential customers interested in your brand over the others.
Your Visme account includes a large variety of SWOT analysis example templates for your team to choose from. Select the one that best matches your needs and start highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Marketing strategy is a mission -critical function for every business. When you sit down to check off the tasks on your to-do list, it’s easy to get lost in the daily grind. Utilizing a tool like a marketing SWOT analysis will help you stay connected with the big picture.
The marketing SWOT analysis tool is a great way to get started with streamlining your marketing strategy.
When it comes to forging a marketing strategy for your campaigns, there is a ton of planning that goes into the process. A SWOT analysis will help you make sure all the potential opportunities your team can take advantage of are included in the process.
Likewise, the SWOT diagram will help you ensure that any challenges your team needs to be aware of are addressed in each campaign.
Take a page out of this SWOT analysis book and include a useful stat about your industry at the top. This will help you fill out the rest of your analysis and ensure you know exactly where you stand in the market.
Get started with a SWOT analysis sheet straight away if you want your business to flourish.
Web development firms have many opportunities to grow their businesses in existing markets. Additionally, there may be hidden opportunities that are currently latent and unexplored. An editable SWOT presentation template for your firm can help you explore both visible and hidden demand for your services.
Web startups can use a SWOT analysis table to significant effect. You can utilize the diagram to determine how your firm is doing when it comes to customer service. Additionally, you can discover if there are marketing opportunities you can take advantage of in future campaigns.
Ecommerce brands also need a SWOT analysis. How unique are your products? What do your competition's websites look like? How can you stand out? Additionally, consider conducting a PEST analysis to explore broader external factors influencing your business environment. Talk about all of this and more when editing this SWOT analysis table template.
As a startup founder or early employee, you know about the potential of disruptive innovation. A SWOT analysis can reveal helpful insights that open new horizons of disruption and opportunity.
The benefit of a SWOT analysis for your startup is that it gives you the full picture. On the one hand, you can take a complete inventory of where you are right now. On the other, it can help you see what’s emerging for your startup in the future.
As you work through the process, consider all the aspects that make up your startup. Think of your strengths and any potential weaknesses. Make sure to take an inventory of all existing functions, including parts of your organization that may be neglected. Use one of our SWOT templates to document all the information.
How can you make your retail store stand out from the crowd? A SWOT analysis can provide you with the details to ensure your store layout, prices, sales, discounts and more are perfectly in line with your industry and will target the right audience.
As an online banking solution, there's more and more noise each year. You need to create a SWOT analysis to understand the frustrations and pain points that many of your target customers have with their existing online banking.
Find out what your business can do to make online banking as easy as possible in your opportunities section and go for it. This is the best way to draw in a larger audience.
Engineering is a great field to utilize the SWOT analysis. The diagramming process can help make sure you are succeeding in crucial operational details. Additionally, these SWOT analysis templates can make sure you are not leaving any opportunities behind. Utilizing this strengths and weaknesses analysis template to delve deeper into internal factors affecting your engineering projects.
Project managers at engineering firms have two competing priorities. First, you have to make sure everything stays agile, on track and everyone is executing. On the other hand, you have to make space for creativity, strategy and making sure nothing gets stale.
These competing priorities are why the SWOT analysis is so valuable for engineering teams.
The real estate industry also needs a SWOT analysis to determine what kind of market they're in. Is it a good time to buy or sell? This SWOT analysis template example can help homeowners, home buyers and real estate agents figure that out.
As a cloud solutions firm, you sell a specialized and crucial product to your customers. A SWOT analysis can help you refine your messaging and grow your business.
As a company manager or founder of a cloud service firm, it can feel like you always have new problems to solve. Whether it’s fixing inefficiencies or improving your services, there is still the potential to optimize.
Using SWOT analysis, you can shift from reacting to problems as they happen to addressing things ahead of time. Using this cloud service SWOT analysis template example is a great way to get started with the diagramming process.
As a fashion brand, you need to know what your competition is up to and what the state of your industry is so that you have the best chance at success. What makes your brand unique? What are the potential threats to your business? Having a clear understanding of where you stand can improve your chances of a successful business.
This SWOT analysis template example is just what you need to take your fashion brand to the next fashion week.
Before we get into the templates, let’s cover some frequently asked questions.
A SWOT analysis is a living document that highlights the four essential characteristics of a business, campaign, or strategy at a point in time. The letters SWOT stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
The analysis is conducted with your team as part of the planning and development stage. By including internal and external characteristics, your team and stakeholders can see the big picture of the current situation.
SWOT analyses are actionable decision-making tools. They form the foundation for how you’ll develop strategies, formulate roadmaps, create teams and set goals. When you skip conducting and documenting a SWOT analysis, it’s difficult to have a vision for the future or even a good grasp on the current market and position.
A Swot Analysis document—like the templates below—summarizes an analysis previously done with your team. The overview is recorded in a professionally designed document to share with stakeholders, team members or clients. To lay down the content for the SWOT analysis, answer these questions in a group discussion.
For some answers, you’ll need to do some research, including competitor analysis, market analysis, market status, positioning, social equity, etc.
The SWOT analysis layout looks like a four-sectioned grid. Strengths and weaknesses are next to each other, as are the opportunities and threats.
Creating a SWOT analysis has plenty of benefits for any business. Here are three of the most influential for choosing a SWOT analysis.
A SWOT analysis’s versatility is one of its greatest characteristics. First, it can be applied to any business regardless of size, situation, or scope. They can be incorporated into high-level decision-making or to help strategize a social media campaign.
Second, they are inexpensive to make and simple to conduct. Finally, a SWOT document or presentation slide can easily form part of your branded material inside a Visme workspace.
Another benefit of a SWOT analysis sheet is that you get four stories about the same topic in one simple grid. When making decisions, having information is essential for the big picture and the details.
Depending on the project, some stories will be more important than others. The strengths and weaknesses help you see what strengths to rely on and what weaknesses to be careful with. The opportunities and strengths tell the story of growth and obstacles to overcome.
Doing the work to get the most out of the SWOT analysis includes researching and collecting data. The analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data not only fills in the section of the SWOT analysis but also fosters better communication between team members and stakeholders.
The collected data in the SWOT analysis becomes a communication point with four stories for decision-making and effective strategy.
Like any business tool, the SWOT analysis does have some limitations. These are three you need to know about
Conducting a SWOT analysis can be overwhelming when there are too many people involved or there isn’t a moderator to take control of the situation. The initial list of weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats in the swot analysis layout will likely be very long.
When the list is too broad, it’s not practical or efficient. Choices must be made according to the purpose of the analysis and what is most important or needs immediate attention.
Another limitation of creating a SWOT analysis with too many people is that there will be differing opinions on the same topic. This is where it’s important to have the data to back up every list item.
In some cases, the differing opinions during the analysis will take the conversation on a tangent, away from the analysis at hand. It’s another reason to assign a moderator during the analysis.
Finally, another major limitation of a SWOT analysis is that it needs prioritization of items.
A SWOT analysis chart template helps you document the answers to the questions mentioned above, but it doesn’t offer insight into what has to be done next. Yet another reason there needs to be a person in charge who knows how to prioritize results and take action on them.
Don’t conduct a SWOT analysis on your own. To get a real idea of the big picture, there needs to be a variety of voices and sources of information in the conversation. With Visme, you can share a live project or collaborate synchronously.
Data must back every characteristic written down in the SWOT analysis grid. An opinion isn’t good enough.
Don’t go overboard on the number of characteristics in each section. Five is a good quantity. Formulate each item as a short sentence or even one word, if possible. Use SWOT templates to save time.
Keep your eye on the goal of the SWOT analysis. Stay close to the main topic in question. Sometimes it's better to conduct separate analyses to gain a better understanding of a situation.
An effective SWOT analysis doesn’t stop at creating the document to include in a report or presentation. It needs continued action to assess all four sections and make decisions toward growth.
No hard rule says when or how often you should perform a SWOT analysis. The best way to know when is the right time is when you need to know the current situation of any aspect of your business.
Any new campaign or strategy needs a SWOT analysis. Ongoing business topics need a SWOT analysis at regular intervals—like quarters—or when things aren’t performing to their best, and it's time to reassess. A SWOT analysis is a great reassessment tool at any moment in your business.
Create your own set of branded SWOT templates and SWOT analysis sheets for your team to use inside your Visme workspace.
Not sure how to choose the best SWOT analysis template for your needs? Select a few that you think will work with your brand style and do a poll with your team to choose the final one.
Don’t forget that everything in the Visme SWOT templates is editable and customizable to match your brand.
If you made it to this section of the article, you might already know that it is time to create a SWOT analysis with Visme. However, if you are unsure if it is time to get started, it is time to take the next step.
Sign up for a free Visme account today and get started with your SWOT analysis.
