Written by:
Brian Nuckols
We've created a list of 15 SWOT analysis templates for professionals. The best part? You can edit them online, share them with your team or download them for free.
Pick the template you like from the navigation below and start editing your template.
Template #1: Personal SWOT Analysis
Template #2: Business SWOT Analysis
Template #3: Hotel SWOT Analysis
Template #4: Creative SWOT Analysis
Template #5: School SWOT Analysis
Template #6: Nonprofit SWOT Analysis
Template #7: Consulting Firm SWOT Analysis
Template #8: Cybersecurity SWOT Analysis
Template #9: Retail SWOT Analysis
Template #10: HR SWOT Analysis
Template #11: Marketing SWOT Analysis
Template #12: Web Development SWOT Analysis
Template #13: Startup SWOT Analysis
Template #14: Engineering SWOT Analysis
Template #15: Cloud Solutions SWOT Analysis
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The first template we're going to explore is the personal SWOT analysis. You can use a personal SWOT analysis 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.
These personal SWOT analysis diagrams can help you map external factors and understand your internal strengths and are a great way to get started with the SWOT process.
A personal SWOT analysis will help you identify strengths and have more insight when it comes to weaknesses.
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. As a study tool, the SWOT diagram allows you to uncover insights about your company that will help you grow into new markets.
Because the SWOT analysis is a versatile tool, you can utilize it to work within a large corporate company or a small business context.
A SWOT analysis is a useful planning tool for improving business strategy when you are managing a hospitality business.
A SWOT matrix 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 buy new software, investing in new in-room amenities, investing in social media or refurbishing 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 to brainstorm an action plan to take your career to a new level.
The SWOT analysis 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.
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 is a practical way to study systems and procedures that exist within the organization.
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.
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.
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.
You may learn things about your brand image or business processes that significantly impact your bottom line.
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.
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.
Web development firms have many opportunities to grow their business in existing markets. Additionally, there may be hidden opportunities that are currently latent and unexplored. A SWOT analysis for your firm can help you explore both visible and hidden demand for your services.
Web startups can use a SWOT analysis 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.
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 are working 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.
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, it can make sure you are not leaving any opportunities behind.
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, 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.
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 a cloud service SWOT analysis template is a great way to get started with the diagramming process.
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.
Now that we've explored all of the various template options you can use, let's shift to some frequently asked questions.
We'll chat about using swot analysis cases from business planning to help your marketing modifying pricing during a brainstorming session, improve project management, or launch a new product or new project.
SWOT is an acronym. This acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In short, a SWOT analysis is a roadmap for assessing these parts of your business.
You can use a SWOT analysis in businesses from pest analysis to nonprofits and everything in between.
Use a SWOT analysis any time you want to understand the factors that are driving your business. A diagram is a simple tool designed to help you make fast decisions when it comes to a new direction.
Often, you will use a SWOT analysis during times of strategic planning.
There are a few specific use cases for a SWOT analysis that I will highlight. Use a SWOT analysis when:
There is no set way to conduct a SWOT analysis. With that said, a series of prompting questions may be an excellent tool to get ideas flowing. For example, when it comes to identifying your strengths. You can ask the following questions:
Yes! If you need to move quickly, there are templates available for you to use. A SWOT template can help you stay organized and streamline the design process.
Visme also offers over a dozen templates for use if the word editor does not lead to the result you had in mind.
As we discussed in the last section, it can be annoying to create a template from the beginning. You can get a headstart on the design process by using a PowerPoint template.
In a SWOT analysis, opportunities are defined as factors that are currently external to the organization. For example, let’s say you have new marketing channels to experiment with or research and develop to embark on.
Also, you may be able to invest in new technology or start keeping up with the leads coming through your pipeline.
When it comes to threats in a SWOT analysis, anything that could potentially hinder your growth is a threat. Competitors, changes in regulations, going into debt and anything else that could endanger the future of your company's success should be listed.
Start by asking the question, “what are our biggest strengths?” While this question is quite broad, it is an excellent seed to get the gear’s brainstorming process. At the beginning of the process, allow any answers to emerge, knowing that you can refine the solutions as you continue.
This is a broad question, but you should accept all answers in the beginning stages of your discussion.
Q9. What are some examples of weaknesses in SWOT analysis?
The next you should ask to improve the SWOT analysis process is: “What are we not good at?” or “Where do we have opportunities to improve?” These broad questions will act as another seed to help you develop the SWOT analysis’s weaknesses section.
I won’t be coy. Visme is the best SWOT analysis maker, hands down. We have the best design capabilities and the most straightforward editor to use. With Visme, you will have a beautiful, informative SWOT analysis completed in half the time.
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About the Author
Brian Nuckols is a writer working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He enjoys communicating visionary ideas in clear, action oriented language. When he’s not working on content for a transformative company you can find him analyzing dreams, creating music, and writing poetry.