SWOT Therapy: The opportunities playbook
“A great Opportunities discussion starts by predicting the future: Where is our category headed? How is tech changing our business? What shifts are happening with our customers, competitors, and culture? That’s a discussion where everyone gets to use their creativity and curiosity to project the future. This can be liberating for some executives who usually don’t allow themselves the freedom to speculate about what’s coming next.”
Continuing their crusade for serious approaches to SWOT Analyses, Robin McLoughlin and Scot Safon turn their attention to the most inspiring part of the analysis: identifying your OPPORTUNITIES. It’s the part that lets you dream…and hopefully gets you ready for the future.
Robin: Opportunities is the quadrant where everyone suddenly sits up a little straighter. It’s the fun one. the dreamer’s box. Why do you think, Scot?
Scot: I’ve always enjoyed the Opportunities discussion because it’s where we get to focus on the “what ifs.” New markets, new products, new customers — people love imagining what’s possible. But it’s also the SWOT section where you can get derailed by unrealistic ideas that eat up time, money, and energy. There’s a real cost to chasing the wrong things.
Robin: Exactly. This isn’t a free-form brainstorm where every idea gets a gold star. There are bad ideas here — ones that don’t align with your strengths, your strategy, or your resources. The magic is in identifying the ones with real potential to move the business forward.
Robin: What I always find interesting is that sometimes people aren’t sure if their point is a Weakness or an Opportunity — it’s a bit of “is the glass half full or half empty?” In markets dominated by a single leader, optimism spots Opportunity, pessimism spots Weakness, and SWOT helps everyone see clearly and act with confidence.
Ideally, companies should be open to their current Weaknesses actually becoming their future Opportunities.
Scot: Totally agree. And don’t forget to re-consider old ideas that might have been considered failures. Maybe you tried them too soon, underfunded them, or didn’t have the right talent in place. Those can become fresh Opportunities if the timing — or your capabilities — have changed.
Here’s one example:
Marketers who wrote off email advertising as “spam” 10 years ago have found new Opportunities in email newsletters — consumers have shifted how they get information and make decisions, and now Email Marketing is a big Opportunity for some brands.
Robin: Agree, and this also where your Strengths conversations can pay off. Which of your Strengths can unlock new Opportunities? And what is the path to get your team there?
Scot: I like to push teams to be ambitious here: your Strengths are telling you where you have competitive advantages, so push your advantages beyond your current boundaries. Can you redefine a Strength to push it into Opportunity territory?
A few examples: Amazon built an instant strength in online bookselling…so rather than focus on the Opportunity to “sell more books,” they saw the Opportunity as “sell more things.” Netflix built its Strength on sending DVDs to customers, but the Opportunity was in connecting customers to content in the fastest way possible (which was, ultimately, streaming).
The Opportunity isn’t just “sell more of what we already sell.” It can be something transformational.
Robin: But Opportunities have to be actionable. Once you’ve identified the best ones, you should follow up with real next steps such as:
prototyping
stress testing
budgeting
Otherwise, they’re just nice ideas that never grow legs.
Scot: And remember — if you’ve spotted an Opportunity, your competitors have, too. Be crystal clear why you’re better positioned to make it happen.
Robin: So, the bottom line: “Opportunities” isn’t just the “fun box” in the SWOT. It’s the foundation for your future work. Handle it seriously, make it ambitious but keep it realistic, and it can become a True North for your strategy.
Scot: Agreed. Which makes me think — the only thing more exciting than identifying an Opportunity… is knowing how to protect it.
And that, my friend, brings us to THREATS.
Robin: Oh, that’s going to be a lively one.
Connect with Scot and Robin:
Scot Safon, Marketing Consultant, Robin McLoughlin, Principal at McL
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