Is This Helping or Hurting? How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis on Your Photography Business
Here in Canada, as we head into the winter months, many studios and photographers will be spending time working on their business, instead of in their business. But every business has seasonal cycles, either due to weather, holidays, or other external factors beyond our control.
These troughs in our business cycles are the perfect times and opportunities to focus our attention inward for a change, to assess what’s working, what’s not, what needs improving, what needs to change, or even what needs to come to an end. It’s times like these when we can look back and be proud of the work we’ve done, take stock in our business, to think strategically, and plan accordingly, about the next steps. This is the perfect time to conduct a simple SWOT analysis.
If you have any business or strategic planning training or experience, you’ve undoubtedly heard of a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. I’ve been involved in conducting SWOT analyses at other companies, and it always seemed so cliché and a waste of time. So, why do I suddenly care? Well, two reasons.
First, in the past, when I’ve been part of these at other organizations (twice), they would hire a strategic planning firm who would come in and spend months interviewing staff members, analyzing the organization, and producing a report that included a SWOT analysis, but ultimately, the organization failed to implement the recommended plan. They hired an expensive firm that did a lot of work and then just let the report sit on a shelf as nothing changed.
Secondly, quite frankly, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Where I am in Southern Ontario case numbers are surging, hospital beds are filling up, and less than an hour away from me, Toronto photo studios have gone into lockdown again, effective as of today, Nov. 23. You may have noticed I took the week off last week. I spent the last week, doing a lot of thinking about my business, about this podcast, and consulting and commiserating with colleagues about the future of our businesses and when we’ll be able to operate at full speed again. As I mulled everything over, I came to the realization that my business training had kicked in and I was actually subconsciously conducting a SWOT analysis.
A lightbulb went off, and it made me realize how important this simple analytical process is. Even if we don’t develop a plan or road map, it’s an important tool to help us fully understand internal and external factors that can harm us or help us, so that, at the very least, we can be mentally prepared for how to deal with them, should they arise.
Prior to this pandemic, I’d be willing to bet that zero photography studios had ever considered what to do in the case of a pandemic, what to do if their business was ordered to cease operation for weeks or months on end. But I’d also be willing to bet that those of us whose businesses make it through this, will know exactly what to do next time.
An Introduction to SWOT Analysis
So, what is a SWOT analysis? Simply, it’s a process for identifying the factors, internal and external to our business, that are either harmful or helpful. Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats. Let’s look at each of them individually.
STRENGTHS: These are the characteristics of your business that give it an advantage over others.
Quality of your work is better than your closest competitor.
Excellent established relationships with art producers and photo editors.
Exceptional in-person sales skills.
Wizard with Facebook Ads.
WEAKNESSES: These are the characteristics of your business that make it a disadvantage in comparison with those of your competitors.
Lack of social media presence.
Haven’t put enough work into learning SEO basics to improve your organic search results.
Fear of speaking with people on the phone.
Have not developed a strong portfolio that identifies with a particular genre or niche.
OPPORTUNITIES: External factors that allow your business to increase revenue, improve service, and achieve goals.
Adding a new genre to your portfolio.
Ability to give a presentation to your primary client base.
Decrease in competition due to
Meeting with associate photo editor at a Conde Naste magazine.
THREATS: External environmental factors that endanger the profitability or stability of the business.
Low financial barrier to entry. (Anyone can buy a camera and start charging people for photos.)
Global pandemic of airborne virus requires government intervention to shut down businesses to stop the spread of disease.
Google makes massive change to its SEO algorithm.
People stop using Social MEdia platform you invested a lot of time into.
Those are examples of potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Conducting a SWOT Analysis
Conducting a SWOT analysis is very simple. Take a blank piece of paper and draw a large square. Divide the square into four quadrants by drawing one vertical line through the middle of the square and on horizontal line through the middle of the square.
Beside the first row, write “Internal,” and beside the second row, write “External.” Above the first column, write ”Helpful” and above the second column write “Hamful.” Label the top-left quadrant “Strengths” because strengths are internal and helpful. Label the top-right quadrant “Weaknesses” because weaknesses are internal and harmful. Label the bottom-left box “Opportunities” and the bottom-right box “Threats.” These are both external factors, but opportunities are helpful and threats are harmful.
Set aside some time — maybe an hour, maybe five minutes, but set aside some time — to think about each of these areas. What are your strengths and your businesses’ strengths? Write them down. What are your weaknesses? Write them down. What potential externalities are opportunities or threats? Write them down.
Develop a SWOT Mindset
Finally, it’s helpful to develop a SWOT mindset. When you encounter something in your business or something changes in your external environment that could affect or will affect your business, make a mental note of it. Is it internal or external? Will it help your business or hurt your business?
If it helps, put it in your calendar to do a SWOT analysis once a month or once every quarter. Right now, it doesn’t matter if you do anything with the results. It only matters that you start the process of thinking strategically about your business. And a SWOT analysis is a simple and effective way to do this.
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