SWOT, PESTLE, or 4Ps? Which Framework Should You Use for Your Strategic Plan?
An axiom I found deeply annoying as a kid (and only slightly less annoying now that I know it’s true) is: “Anything worth doing is worth doing right.” Strategic planning is one of those things. If you’re going to gather your leadership team, clear schedules, and pour energy into the process, it should be more than a half-hearted brainstorm in a windowless conference room. You’ll get out of it what you put into it.
At the heart of any strong strategic plan is a clear, honest understanding of where your institution stands and what it might face in the future. That’s where tools like SWOT, PESTLE, and the 4Ps come in. In this blog, we’ll walk through how to choose the right tools (spoiler: use all three), and give you practical, not-boring tips on how to actually use them to make smart, mission-aligned decisions.
PESTLE Analysis: Start with Understanding Your Environment
What Is PESTLE?
PESTLE is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors. It’s an environmental scan and analysis used to identify the external forces that could impact your institution (even if you do everything right!).
Why You Probably Need a PESTLE Analysis
A PESTLE is a key starting point because in higher education, as in construction, where you’re building affects what you’re building. You wouldn’t try to build an ice hotel in Miami, because in that location your hotel is not sustainable—but you have to know that information before you can act on it. The same principle applies to academic programs, student services, and operational strategy. The setting (virtual or geographical) of your institution is going to have an impact.
How to Create a PESTLE Analysis
Divide and Conquer. Assign each PESTLE category to different members of your leadership team or staff (ideally people who already have some insight into that area). For example, let your finance lead tackle Economic trends, and your student services team handle Social factors.
Consult Your Experts. External stakeholders, especially advisory boards and program councils, are great sources for understanding political, legal, and industry-specific shifts. Ask them: What trends are you seeing in your field? What challenges are coming down the pipeline?
Look Near and Far. Don’t just look at what’s happening on your campus or at your institution. Look at global, national, and local trends. What are other institutions (especially your competitors) doing? Are you ahead, behind, or completely on a different track?
Use Data (not just vibes). Pull in labor market data, enrollment trends, tech adoption curves, and policy updates. Your institution probably has access to more of these insights than you think. Use it to paint a clear picture.
Chat about It. After everyone’s done their homework, bring your team together to connect the dots. What external shifts are headed your direction, and how might they impact your ability to deliver on your mission?
SWOT Analysis: Take Inventory Before You Make Plans
What is a SWOT?
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s a framework for assessing your institution’s internal capacity and external positioning. Where a PESTLE helps you scan the environment, a SWOT helps you look in the mirror, and then down the street.
Why You Probably Need a SWOT Analysis
If you don’t know what you’ve got, you’re going to waste time solving the wrong problems or missing the right opportunities. Imagine deciding to host a big formal dinner party and then realizing 10 minutes before everyone arrives that you only own three forks, one folding chair, and a bunch of mismatched Tupperware lids. There might have been workarounds available to you if you had conducted an inventory earlier. Maybe you could have hosted the dinner at your friend’s fully furnished apartment, maybe you could have rented silverware; but without that early assessment, you’re stuck scrambling. A thorough SWOT shows you where you’re already strong, what needs attention, where there’s momentum, and what risks could derail your plans. It helps you plan with intention instead of just reacting to whatever issue is shouting the loudest this week.
How to Create a SWOT Analysis
Start With PESTLE. Use your handy PESTLE analysis (which I absolutely convinced you to do above) to inform your SWOT. If the PESTLE analysis shows a shrinking regional student population, that’s a Threat. If you’ve already invested in strong online infrastructure, that might become a Strength or Opportunity.
Be Honest. Don’t try to spin weaknesses into something they're not. This document should not be public. This is the time for your internal team to be as real and as frank as they can be. If your advising system is clunky and students hate it, put it on the list.
Ask for Input. Loop in different departments, faculty, staff, and even students. Everyone sees different parts of the elephant. Your facilities team and your deans probably have very different ideas of what’s “working.”
Keep it Focused. It’s okay if your initial list is long. Sometimes you need to get all the frustrations, wins, and wild ideas on the table. But once you’ve captured everything, whittle it down to the top 5–7 items in each quadrant. Focus on what aligns most closely with your mission, values, and the areas where you can have the greatest impact. The goal is clarity, not a running list of everything that’s ever gone wrong.
Use it to Drive Strategy. When you move into goal setting, refer to your SWOT. If you’re not addressing a major weakness or building on a key strength, ask why.
4Ps Analysis: Make Sure People Actually Want What You’re Building
What Are the 4Ps?
The 4Ps stand for Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. This tool is a classic in marketing strategy, but it’s incredibly useful for higher education when evaluating programs, enrollment trends, and student recruitment. In an old-school business model, the 4Ps might refer to a physical product, shelf/store placement, retail pricing, and ad campaigns. But in higher ed, they take on a more nuanced shape:
Product: Your core offerings (degrees, certificates, student services, expert faculty)—the things you are bringing to the table. Are they relevant, high-quality, and distinct?
Price: Not just tuition, but total cost (including time!) and perceived value. Is your pricing competitive, transparent, and seen as worth it?
Place: How students access your offerings (online, in-person, hybrid, mobile-first, synchronous/ asynchronous). Are you meeting students where they are?
Promotion: How you communicate your value through marketing, outreach, application experience, community presence.
Why You Probably Need a 4Ps Analysis
Sometimes institutions pour time, energy, and resources into shaping their identity: launching new programs, refining messaging, updating their technology, only to find that students still aren’t enrolling, and no one can figure out why. This doesn’t necessarily mean the programs are bad. More often, it means something is misaligned: the offerings, the format, the price point, or the way the institution is communicating with its audience.
How to Create a 4Ps Analysis
Start with Cross-Functional Input. The 4Ps touch multiple parts of your institution, so don’t leave this to one department. Your academic leaders, marketing staff, enrollment team, financial office, and student services staff all have pieces of this puzzle. Assign each “P” to a relevant lead (e.g., academics for Product, finance for Price, marketing for Promotion), but bring everyone together for discussion and synthesis.
Assemble a Cross-Functional Team. Assign each “P” to a relevant lead academics, student services, finance, marketing, and bring the group together to share insights.
Do the Research. Use labor market data, enrollment trends, CRM and marketing analytics, IPEDS, and student feedback to evaluate what you offer, how you deliver it, what it costs, and how it's promoted.
Ask the Right Questions. Is your product relevant? Is your price competitive and clearly communicated? Are your delivery formats accessible? Are your marketing efforts reaching the right people?
Get Student Input. Survey current, former, and prospective students, including those who didn’t enroll.
Wrap it Up. After each “P” is reviewed, regroup. Look for misalignments (great product, poor promotion?) and use what you’ve learned to refine your strategies prior to execution.
Connect It to SWOT. Your 4Ps often reflect internal strengths or weaknesses. Use them to dig deeper into what’s working and what’s not.
Now What?
At this point, you might be thinking, “Emily, you seriously want me to do all three of these analyses. Don’t they overlap a ton?” To which, I would emphatically say: Yes! They do! The overlap is where the real insight lives. That’s where your smartest, most actionable strategies will start to take shape.
Let’s say your SWOT finds that your faculty are brilliant and loved by students. Your PESTLE shows growing public trust in microlearning, informal education, and expert-led content. Your 4Ps shows that your students love asynchronous, short-form content that’s informal, insightful, and easy to consume on the go. These are not three random data points, they constitute a clear direction, so launch a podcast, build a micro-course series, start a speaker spotlight YouTube channel. Whatever the format, the message is the same: your institution has an opportunity to connect with your audience in a way that aligns with who you are and what the world is asking for.
And that’s what this whole process is about. These tools aren’t just planning exercises (nobody needs more busy work) they’re decision-support systems. They help you see the connections, the contradictions, and the opportunities that surface only when you take a holistic, intentional approach.
So yes, do a SWOT. Do a PESTLE. Do a 4Ps. Let them overlap. Let them inform each other. And let them guide you toward a strategic plan that actually fits the institution you are and the one you want to become.
