SWOT Analysis for a Business Plan: Examples and Template

A SWOT analysis for a business plan is a four-box summary of your business’s strengths and weaknesses (internal things you control) and the opportunities and threats around it (external things you don’t). To do one, list three to five specific, evidence-backed points in each box, rank them by how much they matter, then turn them into actions: use strengths to chase opportunities, fix the weaknesses that threats would expose, and put those actions in your plan with an owner and a date.

Most of the value comes from that last step. This guide covers all of it, with two complete SWOT analysis examples and a blank template you can copy.

What is a SWOT analysis in a business plan?

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The four boxes split along two lines:

	Helpful	Harmful
Internal (you control it)	Strengths	Weaknesses
External (you don’t)	Opportunities	Threats

BDC, Canada’s business development bank, puts it the same way: strengths and weaknesses are internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats are external.

In a business plan, the SWOT does one job: it shows a reader, whether a lender, an investor or you in six months, that you’ve looked honestly at what could help and hurt the business, and that your strategy follows from it.

Questions to ask for each quadrant

Blank boxes invite vague answers. Work through these questions instead, and write down only the answers you can back up.

Strengths (internal, helpful)

What do customers, or early testers, say they like about what you offer?
What can you do that nearby or online competitors can’t, or won’t?
What skills, licenses, certifications or experience does your team have?
What assets do you own or control: equipment, a location, a lease, an email list, a supplier deal?
Where are your costs lower than competitors’, and why?

Weaknesses (internal, harmful)

What do customers complain about, or what would they complain about?
Which skills are missing from the team?
Where do you depend on one person, one supplier or one sales channel?
How much cash runway do you have if sales come in slower than planned?
What do competitors do better, according to their reviews and yours?

Opportunities (external, helpful)

Which customer groups are underserved in your area or niche?
What local changes help you: new housing, an office opening, a road or transit project, an event?
Are there trends in buying habits that favor what you sell?
Has a competitor closed, moved or raised prices?
Are there grants, loans or programs you may qualify for? (Check each one with the program itself.)

Threats (external, harmful)

Who could copy you quickly, and what would it cost them?
Which input costs could rise: rent, ingredients, shipping, wages?
Could a rule change, permit or license requirement affect you?
What happens if your main platform, supplier or landlord changes terms?
Is demand seasonal, and what does your slowest month look like?

A quick test for sorting items: if you could change it by deciding to, it’s internal. “We have no delivery service” is a weakness. “A delivery app just launched in town” is an opportunity.

How to do a SWOT analysis, step by step

Define the scope. One SWOT per business, location or product line. A SWOT for “the company” and “the new catering service” at once gets muddy.
Gather evidence first. Pull your market analysis, competitor notes, customer feedback and cost estimates. A SWOT built from memory repeats your assumptions back to you.
Brainstorm freely. Write every item you can think of in each box. If you have a partner or staff, ask each person to list items alone before comparing, so one voice doesn’t set the tone.
Make each item specific. “Good service” becomes “owner has 8 years of pastry experience and can do custom orders in 48 hours.” If you can’t make it specific, cut it.
Rank and cut to three to five per box. Score each item for impact (1 to 3) and likelihood or certainty (1 to 3), multiply, and keep the highest scores. A box with twelve items tells the reader nothing about priorities.
Turn it into strategy with a TOWS matrix (next section).
Assign actions. Each strategy gets an owner, a deadline and, where it costs money, a line in your budget. BDC’s guide makes the same point: priority actions belong in an action plan with a deadline and a person responsible.

How to turn a SWOT into strategy: the TOWS matrix

A SWOT on its own is a list. The TOWS matrix crosses the boxes to produce strategies. You pair each internal box with each external box:

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	SO strategies: use a strength to capture an opportunity	WO strategies: use an opportunity to fix or work around a weakness
Threats	ST strategies: use a strength to blunt a threat	WT strategies: reduce a weakness so a threat can’t exploit it

How to read each one:

SO (maxi-maxi): your growth moves. These usually become your main marketing and sales plans.
WO (mini-maxi): the opportunity is real, but a weakness stops you from taking it. Hire, partner, train or buy your way past it.
ST (maxi-mini): defensive moves that lean on what you’re good at.
WT (mini-mini): your risk plan. These are the “if this goes wrong, we do that” lines lenders like to see.

Aim for one or two strategies per cell. Each should name the specific items it combines (for example “S1 + O2”), so a reader can trace it back.

SWOT analysis example 1: a local bakery

Example: a made-up bakery called Corner Loaf, planned for a storefront in a mid-sized town. All details and numbers are invented for illustration.

Strengths	Weaknesses
S1. Owner has 8 years as a pastry cook and can take custom cake orders	W1. No retail or management experience; the owner hasn’t run a business
S2. Lease signed on a corner unit with foot traffic from a bus stop	W2. One oven, so daily output is capped
S3. Sourdough and laminated pastry that the two nearby grocery stores don’t sell	W3. Opening savings cover about four months of fixed costs
S4. 600 followers on a personal baking account built over two years	W4. Owner is the only baker; illness means a closed day

Opportunities	Threats
O1. An office building two blocks away is due to open next spring	T1. Flour and butter prices can rise quickly
O2. No bakery in the area takes custom cake orders online	T2. A chain coffee shop nearby sells pastries
O3. Local farmers’ market accepts new food vendors each season	T3. Morning traffic drops in summer when schools close
O4. Cafés nearby buy pastries from a supplier 40 minutes away	T4. A new bakery could open in the same area

Ranking, using impact × certainty (1 to 3 each), for the opportunities:

Opportunity	Impact	Certainty	Score
O1. Office building opening	3	2	6
O2. Online custom cake orders	3	3	9
O3. Farmers’ market stall	2	3	6
O4. Wholesale to cafés	2	2	4

O2 scores highest, so it leads the strategy. O4 is kept but scheduled for later.

TOWS strategies for Corner Loaf:

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	SO: Launch online custom cake ordering at opening, promoted to the existing followers (S1 + S4 + O2). Run a weekday breakfast offer timed for the office opening (S2 + S3 + O1).	WO: Use the farmers’ market as a low-cost test of products and prices before adding a second oven (W2 + O3). Take a free small-business course before opening (W1).
Threats	ST: Compete with the chain on sourdough and custom work, not on price (S3 + T2). Build a cake pre-order list so summer revenue doesn’t depend on morning traffic (S1 + T3).	WT: Keep a cash reserve target and a menu that can drop butter-heavy items if prices spike (W3 + T1). Train a part-time helper on the three best sellers by month three (W4).

Notice that every strategy is something the owner can do, and each one points to a section of the plan: marketing, operations or the financial projections.

SWOT analysis example 2: a small online store

Example: a made-up online shop called Fernway Goods that sells refillable cleaning products, run by two partners from home. All details are invented for illustration.

Strengths	Weaknesses
S1. One partner is a chemist and wrote the formulas	W1. No paid advertising experience
S2. Refill pouches mean repeat orders every 6 to 8 weeks	W2. Products ship as liquids, so shipping is heavy and costly
S3. Small batches let them test new scents in weeks	W3. Sales come almost entirely from one marketplace
S4. 140 product reviews averaging 4.8 stars on that marketplace	W4. Both partners also work part-time jobs

Opportunities	Threats
O1. Customers ask for a subscription option in reviews	T1. The marketplace can change fees or search ranking at any time
O2. Zero-waste shops in nearby cities sell refills in bulk	T2. Large brands now sell their own refill packs
O3. Concentrated formulas would cut shipping weight	T3. Carrier rates could rise
O4. Corporate gift orders around the holidays	T4. Copycat sellers with lower prices

TOWS strategies for Fernway Goods:

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	SO: Launch a refill subscription on their own website (S2 + O1). Pitch bulk refills to zero-waste shops, using the chemist partner’s formulas as the selling point (S1 + O2).	WO: Develop concentrated versions to cut shipping weight (W2 + O3). Grow an email list from marketplace buyers, within the marketplace’s rules, to move sales to their own site (W3 + O1).
Threats	ST: Release limited scents that big brands can’t match quickly (S3 + T2). Feature review count and formula details in listings to stand apart from copycats (S1 + S4 + T4).	WT: Cap marketplace sales at a target share of revenue by the end of year two (W3 + T1). Quote shipping from two carriers each quarter (W2 + T3).

Two lessons from this example. First, the biggest weakness (W3, one sales channel) and the biggest threat (T1, that channel’s rules) are linked, so the WT strategy deserves the most attention. Second, “big brands sell refills” isn’t fatal: the ST row shows how to compete on what they can’t do.

Where does the SWOT analysis go in a business plan?

There’s no fixed spot. Common choices:

After the market analysis, as a summary of what the research found. This is the most common place and reads naturally, because opportunities and threats come out of your market and competitor research.
In the strategy or marketing section, right before the strategies it produced.
In an appendix, with a one-paragraph summary in the main plan, if the plan is long.

Many business plan outlines don’t name a SWOT section at all. The SBA’s outline, for example, lists market analysis, marketing and sales, and financial projections, but no SWOT heading. So treat the SWOT as a tool that feeds those sections, and place it where it helps your reader follow your reasoning. If a lender or program gives you its own template, follow that.

Keep it to one page: the grid, the TOWS table and two or three sentences on your priorities. For the full layout of a plan, see how to write a business plan, step by step.

Common SWOT mistakes

Mixing up internal and external. “Strong local demand” is an opportunity, not a strength. Use the “could I change it by deciding to?” test.
Vague items. “Great quality,” “passionate team” and “competition” say nothing. Name the evidence or the competitor.
Too many items. Twenty bullets per box hide what matters. Rank and keep three to five.
Only good news in the weaknesses box. “We care too much” isn’t a weakness. Readers trust a plan that names real gaps and shows how you’ll handle them.
No evidence. Each item should trace back to research, customer feedback, a quote, a lease or your numbers.
Stopping at the grid. Without the TOWS step and owners, the SWOT changes nothing.
Strategies that don’t reach the numbers. If a strategy costs money, like a second oven or a website, it needs a line in your startup costs or projections.
Doing it once. BDC suggests an in-depth analysis every three to five years and a review every one to two. For a new business, revisit it after the first few months of real sales.

If you draft your SWOT with an AI assistant, give it your own research and ask it to challenge your list rather than write it; generic AI SWOTs tend to repeat the mistakes above. See writing a business plan with ChatGPT or Claude.

Blank SWOT analysis template

Copy these tables into your plan and fill them in.

Strengths (internal, helpful)	Weaknesses (internal, harmful)
S1.	W1.
S2.	W2.
S3.	W3.
S4.	W4.

Opportunities (external, helpful)	Threats (external, harmful)
O1.	T1.
O2.	T2.
O3.	T3.
O4.	T4.

	Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	SO:	WO:
Threats	ST:	WT:

Strategy	Items it uses	Owner	Deadline	Cost (if any)

If you’d rather work in slides, BDC offers a free SWOT analysis template in PowerPoint; it asks for your email and business details before the download.