Graham and kevin discuss SWOT and PESTLE analyses.


SWOT and PESTLE are two tools that can be used very effectively to jump start your business strategy and business plans. SWOT and PESTLE are best used for structured brainstorming, and you can do this either by yourself or with a group of people from your business. We introduce a template you can download and use to support your SWOT and PESTLE. You can download the template by following this link.
What is SWOT analysis?
SWOT analysis takes its name from the first letters of the four aspects of your business that it analyses:

Strengths the business possesses
Weaknesses that might prevent the business from achieving success
Opportunities that the business might take advantage of
Threats that might impact on the business

The SWOT analysis is quite straightforward, it involves capturing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that are relevant to your current business situation and evaluating these to develop plans to address them. This article takes you through the key steps in developing a SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis is split between internal factors that affect your businesses; the strengths and weaknesses and external factors, the opportunities and threats.

You can do a SWOT analysis as a stand alone brainstorm, where you look at each of the 4 dimensions in turn. Alternatively you can do a more in depth analysis drawing information from other places.

For strengths and weaknesses consider using the business health check we discussed in Episode 28. You can take the health check by following this link.

For opportunities and threats a PESTLE analysis can flush out an extra level of detail.
What is a PESTLE analysis?
The PESTLE analysis is a great tool to use as a starting point in developing business strategies and plans. It allows you to look at the market through a number of different perspectives and assess the changes that are likely to impact in the next 3-5 years, and whether we need to react to them.

Kevin explained PESTLE analysis in detail in a blog post he published, and you can find more information by following this link.
What does PESTLE stand for?
PESTLE analysis takes its name from the first letter if the 6 different external factors we need to explore

Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environmental

Sometimes an extra element, Organisation, can be introduced. This extra element turns PESTLE into PESTELO. Kevin explains PESTELO further in this blog post.
Tools to help your SWOT and PESTLE analysis
You can download our free SWOT and PESTLE template by following this link

The Template gives you:

A check list for your SWOT analysis
A Method for analysing each factor identified in your PESTLE brainstorm
A way of prioritising Opportunities and Threats, and linking these to your Strengths and Weaknesses.
A Tool to convert Opportunities and Threats into an action plan.

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