Use your strengths. Fix your weaknesses. Lead with clarity.

A real-world guide to unlock strategic growth

How to use analysis to grow your business strategically

Most SMEs don’t suffer from a lack of ideas. They suffer from uncertainty. From being too close to the day-to-day. From not knowing what matters most right now.

That’s why so many strategies stall. Not because people don’t care. But because leaders don’t have the clarity to lead.

This is where a real-world SWOT analysis, done properly, can help.

Why SWOT analysis matters

If you run a business, especially one that’s growing or repositioning, you’re probably asking:

  • Where should we focus?

  • What’s holding us back?

  • How do I get my team aligned around a plan that makes sense?

  • How do I lead clearly without needing all the answers?

A proper SWOT gives you the lens to answer those questions. Not with guesswork. Not with opinion. But with a shared, visible picture of the truth, what’s strong, what’s fragile, what’s risky and what’s possible.

How to assess your business strengths and weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses are your internal story. But you’re probably too close to see it clearly.

This is where you pause and ask:

  • What do customers consistently value in us?

  • What do we do that competitors can’t easily replicate?

  • Where are we slow, stretched or inconsistent?

  • Where is the business model fraying at the edges?

You're not writing a pitch deck. You're diagnosing your operating system.

Example strengths:

  • Deep sector experience

  • Longstanding relationships

  • Agile team culture

  • Financial resilience

Example weaknesses:

  • Over reliance on key individuals

  • Weak marketing function

  • No data driven decision making

  • Low profitability despite high revenue

How to spot real world threats and opportunities

External factors shape your ability to grow. Look outward and ask:

  • What are our customers struggling with right now?

  • Are new technologies or competitors shifting the market?

  • Is our brand visible where the demand is growing?

  • What could put pressure on us in the next 12 months?

Real opportunities:

  • Competitors overextending

  • Adjacent markets opening up

  • New funding or tech becoming accessible

  • Shifts in customer behaviour

Real threats:

  • Price pressure and commoditisation

  • Supply chain issues

  • Reputation risk

  • Economic downturns

How to turn it into a strategic growth roadmap

Strategy doesn’t happen when you make a list. It happens when you cross reference:

  • Can you use a strength to attack an opportunity?

  • Can you use a strength to defend against a threat?

  • Can you fix a weakness to unlock a new opportunity?

  • Can you reduce a weakness that exposes you to a threat?

Then prioritise your plays based on:

  • Time to impact

  • Cost and resource

  • Strategic value

Why this helps your team align and execute

When you involve your team in this process, you create buy in. They stop chasing tasks and start aligning around outcomes.

You shift from firefighting to forward motion and that’s what keeps your best people engaged and performing.

Strategy isn’t only for the boardroom; it’s for your whole business. In a recent LinkedIn poll, titled How connected is your current business strategy to the decisions you make day to day? leaders said that:

  • Drives everything, we do

  • Aligned, but not consistent

You need to do a reality check and make sure it’s not only you as the leader or founder believing this, but your whole organisation. Otherwise, you’re wasting valuable time, energy and money.

Bring your team into the conversation. Have strategies that cascade from the board vision, that relates to everybody in the business. Their ‘Why’.   

How ARETE helps you use this to help grow your business

We guide founder led teams through this process, make it real, then stay involved to help you lead through execution. We keep your strategy moving, not just mapped.


🌐 www.areteadvisory.co.uk/strategy-development

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SWOT analysis in business strategy?
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It’s a framework that helps you understand where your business stands and where it can grow.

How can we use SWOT analysis to grow a business?
Use SWOT analysis to clarify internal performance, explore external trends and turn insights into a clear, focused action plan that drives growth.

What makes SWOT more effective in SMEs?
In SMEs, SWOT is most effective when it's grounded in reality, led by leadership and connected directly to decisions rather than theory or templates.

How often should you review your SWOT?
At least once a year or after any major shift (new product, market expansion, leadership change). The faster you grow, the more frequently you should review it.