What is competitive analysis?
Competitive analysis is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of major competitors, as well as a strategy to identify opportunities and threats that can help you surpass these competitors.
Your business does not operate in a vacuum.
As a business owner, one of your most important tasks is to decide how to respond to changes in the market and competitive landscape.
Whether you are Start a business Or to run an existing small business, it’s important to understand your position relative to your competitors.
Competitive analysis provides you with the important information you need to make informed marketing decisions, Brand Location, pricing, etc.
If you plan a marketing strategy without competitive analysis, then you are flying blindly.
Don’t fly blindly.
Optimize and focus your marketing strategy through competitive analysis.
Competitive analysis in 4 simple steps:
Step 1-Identify your competitors.
The first step in any competitive analysis should be to identify your competitors.
Even if you are just starting a business and committed to your business, you need to do this business planAfter all, unless you know your competitors, developing a strategy to enter the market is challenging.
Keep an open mind. This task may be more challenging than you expected.
For example, Coca-Cola’s most obvious competitor is Pepsi. However, they are also competing with other beverage brands that produce cola.And they are also competing All other non-Cola beverages.
When conducting a competitive analysis, please have a broad understanding of who your competitors might be. You may have missed a set of key competitors simply because your scope is too narrow.
However, it is also possible to cast your net too wide.
So, how do you judge who your actual competitors are?
Compare your audience.
If the target customer of a potential competitor is not your customer, then they are not your true competitor.
So start with a broad perspective and then narrow your list. This will provide you with the most accurate map of the competitive landscape.
Step 2-Collect competitor information.
Now that you know who your competitors are, it is time to start collecting information so that you can make informed decisions about your business.
This step will represent most of your work in competitive analysis.
The more comprehensive your research, the better you will be able to draw wise conclusions and design effective strategies.
So, don’t shorten this step.
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website
Start with a competitor’s website. As the online ambassador of every company, the website should contain a lot of valuable pricing, product and brand information.
Please pay attention to the following themes when viewing competitors’ websites.
Identify the products or services offered by your competitors.
Do they offer a wide range of products that support up-selling and cross-selling? Do they offer the same or similar products as yours? How are they different? Do they provide any products or services that you do not provide? (The reverse is also true.) What is their unique selling proposition? How do they compare quality and ease of use?
You must clearly and fairly understand how your product or service is Really Superimposed into the game. Rose glasses are not your friend here.
Research their pricing (including discounts and gifts).
How much does your competitor charge for similar products? Are their charges always higher or lower than your business? Did they create additional value through gifts? Or do they rely on discounts to lower prices? How do their prices compare to your other competitors? Do they offer a strong refund policy or money-back guarantee?
Some companies have built their entire brands around price competition. This may or may not be the model you want to accept.
Understanding how competitors price their products and services may reveal basic pricing trends, which will help you price your products appropriately.
Looking for identifiable logo.
Who is this business? What is their brand voice? Are there any distinctive “personality” characteristics or values? Are there clear visual cues to support these characteristics and values? Do they have a strong logo? What is the most important brand message on their website?
A carefully choreographed Business website The brand positioning of competitors should be revealed. If not… well, that’s also the key data.
Once you discover the weaknesses of your competitors’ brands, it may be easier to see your mistakes and growth opportunities.
Which logo is the best?
Pay attention to their customer support.
Can your competitors easily contact their customer support team? Is the phone number clearly published? Do they provide chat services? What is their reporting time? Do they provide well-written FAQs and on-site support documents?
Strong customer support and ease of use are selling points that attract many consumers. Outcoming the competition in customer support will provide you with good service.
Analyze their SEO performance.
Well, you can’t tell how well your competitors understand SEO just by looking at their website. However, you can use tools such as SEMRush or Ahrefs to get an overview.
Here is what you should look for:
Which keywords does their website rank for? Is your website ranking for the exact keywords? What is missing? What are their most successful keywords? How do they compare to your most successful keywords? Are there obvious keyword gaps in your website that are well covered by your competitors? Which pages of your competitors receive the most organic traffic? How many inbound links do they have to their content?
Checking popular keywords, link strategies, and web themes can (and should) help guide your SEO efforts.
Marketing
Examining the marketing behavior of competitors can reveal valuable opportunities and potential threats for your own business.
The entire marketing strategy of a competitor is unlikely to be clear at a glance. However, you can investigate certain aspects.
When conducting a competitive analysis, study the content, advertising and email marketing of competitors.
advertising
First search for your competitor by name in Google.
It is very likely that the first result will be a pay-per-click advertisement placed by the competitor (or one of their competitors). What are they advertising? What language do they use?
Now that you have been searching for your competitors on Google, you will most likely start to see other competitors’ ads pop up while surfing the web. Write down any other advertisements you see, including notes about content, copywriting, and graphic design.
Weak copywriting, information, or design in a competitor’s advertisement is an opportunity for your business to make a better impression. Strong messages, copywriting or graphics will convey a clear brand positioning that you can respond to.
content
For many businesses (especially small businesses), it should not be surprising that advertising has disappeared and content has entered.
Does your competitor have a blog? If so, are they writing high-quality content? Do they deal with the same topics and keywords as you? Does their content include a call to action? If so, what are they? Do readers interact with content through comments?
Blogs are just a form of content that people participate in. Social media is an important channel for investigative content.
What kind of content does your game publish-text, video, photos or graphics? Does it have a unique visual brand style that is easy to identify? Does it provide opportunities for real connections and valuable information? Or is it mainly promotional materials? Do followers participate and interact? What are the topics they publish?
Content marketing Build awareness of professional knowledge. The successful (and unsuccessful) content of your competitors may reveal your business path to stand out in your field.
Sign up for any free newsletter provided by your competitor. And try to fill out the shopping cart on their e-commerce site without checking out.
Then sit down and see what kind of e-mail nurturing activities they send you. Give it a week or two to see how often they contact you and what they share.
Will they follow up in time? Are their emails value-driven and attractive? Or will they send you a discount offer?Do their The email looks professional Still sloppy? Are they long or short? How often do they contact you?
You can learn a lot about your competitors through how they talk to and find potential customers via email.
Step 3-Perform SWOT analysis.
Now that you have collected a lot of information, it’s time to do something with it. We recommend that you use your findings for SWOT analysis.
SWOT analysis and evaluation secondAdvantage, widthweakness, OhOpportunity, and TonA threat to your business.
Compared with competitors, the information you collect will reveal your strengths and weaknesses. It will also discover valuable opportunities and potential threats. This will provide you with a blueprint to modify your marketing strategy.
Learn how to conduct a good SWOT analysis.
Step 4-Re-adjust your marketing strategy.
This is the greatest reward.
Now that you have completed the SWOT analysis, you should clearly understand where your business is compared to your competitors.
Check the opportunities you have identified. Then, consider what advantages you can use to seize these opportunities. And consider whether you need to upgrade your brand.Sometimes, you may need a Rebranding Fully participate in your industry.
Finally, make a plan according to the order of priority (the most influential tasks come first). This should point out a clear path forward.
