When was the last time you conducted a competitive analysis for your company? And, more importantly, do you know how to properly perform one?
If you’re not sure, or if your most recent research consisted of a cursory glance at a competitor’s website and social media presence, you’re likely losing out on crucial information that might help your business grow.
This comprehensive guide will teach you how to conduct a competitive analysis that will give your company a competitive advantage in the market.
What is a Competitive Analysis?
A competitive analysis is a method of formally assessing what your competitors are up to. In this case, we’re discussing qualitative analysis rather than quantitative or cost analysis. You had to consider their product, their marketing strategy, their customers, as well as their strengths and weaknesses – and how those could become threats?
There’s a reason this sounds similar to a SWOT analysis. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and competitive analysis are two ideas that are connected. Simply put, they are cousins in terms of marketing.
How to do competitor analysis in three simple steps?
Identifying your competitors, studying their customer journey, and assessing their marketing strategies are the three primary phases to follow while conducting a competitive analysis.
Identifying your competitors
Although this is an important stage, the question remains as to how you will identify your competition. First and foremost, you must understand your brand. Who are your clients? What is your product or service? Now go out and look for other businesses that provide a comparable service. Both direct and indirect rivals should be considered.
Market research will suffice to locate your direct competitors. A simple Google search for your product type will return all competitor search results.
Simply look at their website to see whether you consider them a competitor—that is, if they market to the same audience and if their product is practically identical to yours—that is, if it addresses the same problem.
It is impossible to keep track of all competitors, even if you wanted to. As a result, mix it up with some other competitors on your level and the top of the best (the market leader). Keep in mind that you’ll need someone to aim for.
Companies that market to the same audience as you but offer a substitute for your product or service are considered indirect competitors.
Analyze your competitor’s customer journey
You may be unaware of what your competitors are preparing behind closed doors, but they have a website with a lot of information out in the public domain, just waiting to be discovered.
Simply go to your leading competitor’s website and navigate around it as if you were a customer. Is there anything special you’d like to add to your journey? Maybe their welcome email or cart prompts appeal to you.
Take your time analyzing their pricing strategy. Were you able to provide comparable pricing? if not, Is there a cause for this? Are you’re a less expensive option? What is it about them that makes them command such a high price? Is it merely that they have a stronger brand awareness?
Go to Trustpilot to find out what their genuine weakness is when it comes to customer service. You can filter reviews on Trustpilot by “bad,” “poor,” and “average,” and then study them for any similarities in consumer concerns.
While you are analyzing customer complaints, stop by their Twitter page and click on “Tweets and Replies” to gain deeper insights into their customer experience.
Analyzing customer journeys, particularly those of firms that are rapidly increasing their market share, is critical to determining what your target audience wants. It’s important to remember that they’re market leaders for a reason.
These techniques can assist you in identifying your competitors’ weaknesses without resorting to invasive detective-like tactics.
Properly review their marketing strategy
Another crucial step in your competitor analysis is to examine their marketing strategy. You must gather information about how they sell their items, as well as what they are doing differently and similarly to you. If they’re performing better on the channels you’re targeting, why is that?
- Did they have a blog?
- Did they have a website?
- Do they update their blog on a regular basis?
- What kind of blog content do they produce?
- What do they intend to do with the blog content?
- Which social media platforms are the most popular?
- What type of social media content works best for them?
- What kind of information do they include in their emails?
- How frequently do they send out email marketing campaigns?
There are many questions to ask yourself at this stage, but seeking answers to all these questions will assist you in crafting your future strategies and help benchmark your brand going forward.
Some popular tools that will help you in analyzing the competition
SEMrush
It combines a number of marketing tools into a single platform. They promote themselves as an online visibility platform that will assist you in analyzing and improving all aspects of your digital marketing. They’ve got you covered with SEO, PPC, and content marketing, as well as their market explorer.
SEMrush allows you to compare growth rates to competitors, identify game changers, niche players, and established players all in one place.
Facebook ad library
Knowing what your competitors are offering their customers allows you to undercut them or plan a better, more attention-getting offer to overlap with theirs. The Facebook Ad Library is a one-stop-shop for all of your competitor-sponsored advertising.
View all sponsored ads or filters by Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or audience network, as well as live deals.
Also, do check out our How Facebook ads benefit your business(link)post.
Conclusion
To sum up, if you conduct competitive analysis on your own, you will have a lot to deal with in terms of brands, products, notes, and so on. It is preferable to seek the services of a professional digital marketing agency for a more professional appearance.
If you’re looking for one, we have a capable and efficient marketing team at Stellar Digital who specialize in performing a complete competitor analysis for your company. Simply send us an email at stellardigital@gmail.com.
