The SWOT Analysis is an age-old business planning tool. Mapping out Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats sets businesses up to self-evaluate and make better decisions. Google the words business, marketing or brand consultant and you will prob find 50% of the websites referring to SWOT.
Well, I am a brand planner. I don’t do SWOT. I look primarily at positives. My brand strategy discovery gravitates towards “Good-ats” and “Care-abouts.” Brand strategy is all about positivity. Aspiration. Likes. Sure, some of these overcome negatives but branding, at its very core, is about identification and positive reputation. So why, why spend time in negative land.
If I turned my framework on its head, I’d be asking about “bad-ats” and what consumers don’t “care about.” As a single shingle brand planner, one who needs to be nimble and cost=effective, I choose to live in always-always land. Where goodness lives and happens — and where brands are built to serve people in positive ways.
And I’m sticking to it. Peace.
