Your Guide to Stormboard’s PEST Template
What is the PEST process?
PEST is an acronym for political, economic, social, and technological business factors. The PEST process can be used by a business or organization to understand how external factors will influence the way a product or service will resonate with the public and target audience.
The PEST process was created in 1967 by Harvard professor Francis Aguilar.
Who should use the PEST process?
The PEST process is a great tool for individuals or team members involved in analyzing the public response to a product or service:
Entrepreneurs who are completing their initial business plan and want to mitigate for external factors and trends during the build of their product or service.
Product development teams who are looking at how new iterations of a product will be received by the public.
Enterprise management looking to scale the reach of a product and step into new markets with new demographics.
The PEST process can be used as a further addition to a business plan after a SWOT analysis is completed.
Pro Tip: Find out more about how to complete a SWOT analysis with Stormboard.
How to use the Stormboard PEST Template
The PEST (political, economic, sociological, and technological) Template is used to assess how these four external factors relate to your current business situation.
Use this template as a strategic tool in understanding the market and determining how these factors will affect the performance and activities of your company in the long-term.
Stormboard’s PEST Template — the Stormboard templates are infinite in size, which means that you can make each section bigger or smaller to suit your needs.
The PEST template sections
Political
Use this section to identify any political factors that may affect your business, such as regulations, tariffs, and so on. This section is important to complete as legalities and regulations can affect the ability for your company to be profitable.Economic
Write down any economic factors that may affect your business in this section. Look into interest rates, inflation, and unemployment to understand the impact the economy has on the daily pocketbook/wallet of your target market.Sociological
In this section, include any social/sociological factors that may affect your business. Try to determine your consumer’s current needs and what brings them to the table as your target market.Technological
This section is where you will put any technological factors that may affect your business. Understanding the impact of technological research, technology lifecycle, and information sources will help you to determine where your message distribution channels.
Conclusion
This template is ideal for companies who need to assess external factors in order to make changes within their business or get a different view of how they are operating in order to stay competitive.
Do you want to use the PEST template with your team? Sign up for a free trial with Stormboard here.
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