What Is a SWOT Analysis? And Why Every Business Should Use One in Marketing

When you’re running a small, local or rural business, strategic planning can feel like a luxury, something for bigger companies with boardrooms and time to spare. But if you’re aiming to grow, expand your reach, or simply make smarter decisions about where to focus your limited resources, you need a clear direction. Enter the SWOT analysis, a simple but mighty tool that can help guide your marketing strategy, make better decisions, and set the groundwork for long-term success. It’s not just corporate jargon, it’s a practical framework for understanding where your business stands and what steps will actually move the needle.

In this blog, we’ll break down what a SWOT analysis is, why it’s vital for small, local or rural businesses, how it works in real life, and how it ties into your overall marketing strategy. We’ll even introduce you to a fictional rural business to show how the process works in practice.

What Does SWOT Stand For? SWOT is an acronym for:

• Strengths – What does your business do well? What assets, resources, or reputation give you a competitive advantage?
• Weaknesses – What internal areas are holding you back? This could include skill gaps, financial constraints, or outdated tech.
• Opportunities – What external trends or changes could work in your favour? This might include shifting customer behaviours, new funding opportunities, or local events.
• Threats – What external factors could negatively impact your business? Think competitors, rising costs, legislation changes, or bad weather if you rely on outdoor footfall.

Why SWOT Matters for Rural and Local Businesses

For smaller businesses, especially those in rural areas, your strengths and weaknesses are often more personal and tightly woven into the fabric of your day-to-day operations. That makes it even more important to pause and assess the lay of the land. Here’s how a SWOT analysis can help: It gives clarity when making marketing decisions, SWOT can help you evaluate based on your current capabilities and goals. It identifies hidden areas for growth, you might spot a strength you hadn’t thought of marketing or an emerging trend your competitors haven’t jumped on yet. It highlights where to protect your business, a rising competitor, new legislation, or even bad customer reviews could be a threat. If you see it early, you can act. It also keeps you grounded, helping you avoid “shiny object syndrome” that tempts small businesses to chase every trend without a strategy.

Meet Our Dummy Business: Willow & Hive

Let’s walk through SWOT using a fictional rural business called Willow & Hive, a small artisan candle-making business based in Devon. They sell at local markets, have a modest online shop, and are looking to grow their presence and increase online sales.

SWOT Breakdown for Willow & Hive:
Strengths: Unique, hand-poured candles using local beeswax and natural ingredients; strong branding and eco-conscious packaging; loyal following at local markets and events; founder is a great storyteller and posts engaging content on Instagram.
Weaknesses: Limited production capacity due to time and equipment; website is outdated and not optimised for mobile or SEO; no email list or customer retention strategy; shipping process is slow and not tracked.
Opportunities: Increase in demand for sustainable and eco-friendly products; potential wholesale partnerships with farm shops and gift boutiques; local tourism market growing post-COVID; grant funding available for rural female entrepreneurs.
Threats: Rising costs of ingredients and packaging; cheaper mass-produced competitors on platforms like Etsy and Amazon; unpredictable footfall at markets due to weather; Instagram algorithm changes reducing reach.

With this SWOT, Willow & Hive now has a clearer picture of where they shine, where they’re stuck, and what lies on the horizon, both good and bad.

How Can You Use a SWOT Analysis in Strategic Marketing?

Clarify Your Messaging: Strengths and opportunities often become the foundation of your marketing messages. For Willow & Hive, this could mean leaning into phrases like “Locally made using sustainable Devon beeswax,” “Perfect for gifting, eco-friendly and hand-poured with love,” and “Support rural craftsmanship, one candle at a time.” Marketing that’s rooted in your real strengths will always outperform generic sales pitches.

Decide Where to Focus Your Efforts: Let’s say Willow & Hive wants to grow but has limited time and budget. SWOT helps prioritise. Their weakness is a poor website and no email list. Their opportunity is an increased demand for sustainable gifting. A logical next step might be: invest in a simple but mobile-friendly online shop; launch a “Sustainable Gift Guide” to capture email subscribers; create bundles for Christmas and offer tracked shipping. SWOT takes you out of the fog and into action.

Plan Content and Campaigns: Every post, newsletter, or flyer should tie back to what you do best and what your customers care about. With a SWOT, you can create themed content based on your strengths (like behind-the-scenes of candle-making), address weaknesses (e.g. announcing improved delivery times), or jump on trends (like promoting gifts during eco-awareness months).

Get Strategic with Growth Plans: Growth doesn’t mean doing everything, it means doing the right things. With a SWOT in hand, Willow & Hive can look at expanding to wholesale with the right partners who share their eco values. They can apply for rural business grants, knowing they’ve got a strong brand and clear gaps to improve.

Prepare for Bumps in the Road: Threats aren’t always avoidable, but you can prepare. If Willow & Hive knows packaging costs are rising, they can test alternative local suppliers, introduce “refill” or “zero-waste” product lines, and communicate openly with customers about price changes. That’s the power of strategic thinking in action.

Going One Step Further: What Is TOWS?

Once you’ve mapped out your SWOT, you don’t just leave it on a pretty slide. TOWS flips the SWOT model and helps you turn it into practical strategies by cross-referencing the four areas:

• Strengths + Opportunities – How can you use your strengths to make the most of new opportunities?
• Strengths + Threats – How can you use your strengths to neutralise threats?
• Weaknesses + Opportunities – What weaknesses do you need to fix to unlock new opportunities?
• Weaknesses + Threats – What urgent issues might sink you if you don’t address them?

Using the TOWS framework, Willow & Hive might decide to use their strong brand (S) to pitch to local stockists (O), reduce packaging costs (T) by switching to local suppliers (S), and address slow shipping (W) in order to benefit from rising online gift demand (O).

Curious about how TOWS works? Check out our guide here: What is a TOWS Matrix and How to Use It

Final Thought on SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis isn’t just a once-a-year exercise. It’s a living, breathing check-in with your business. Done well, it gives you clarity, direction, and confidence to market yourself strategically, especially in the ever-changing world of rural enterprise.

At Escape the Village, we help small businesses like yours stop guessing and start planning. If you’re ready to do your own SWOT (or need a friendly brain to help untangle your marketing spaghetti), we’d love to chat. You don’t need a boardroom to be strategic. You just need a starting point—and a willingness to look at your business with fresh eyes.

Need help with your own SWOT or marketing plan? Let’s talk, reach out today!