Business owners have two crucial tasks on their hands between analyzing their competitors and establishing a digital strategy. However, anyone in business knows that these two processes can take time. Do you need to choose between the two to increase your company’s chances of success?
Companies can easily accomplish both these goals, and doing so in as little as 40 minutes is possible. Digital strategies for various solutions (such as this Uber Clone) and similar technology made it easier to perform your analysis and set up a strategy plan simultaneously.
Why is a Competitor Analysis Necessary for Businesses?
According to Stephen Bavister, the steps your competitors are taking that contribute to their success can give you a framework to model. If you want to keep your company’s unique market position secure, keeping a closer watch on your competition is one of the ways to help ensure that this happens.
Business owners often struggle to perfect their marketing strategy because so much trial and error is part of the process. The companies that are the most successful have gotten into the habit of performing regular analyses of their main competitors. If you need to know what elements make up a successful marketing plan, keeping a watch on your competition can provide some helpful insight.
When you first begin your marketing strategy for a business, you can expect some mistakes. However, you don’t want these mistakes to overtake your marketing strategy. At the very least, these mistakes may hinder progress, and at the worst, may lead to failure.
What Are Essential Steps for Completing a Competitor Analysis?
When you want to produce the desired results, you need to follow six vital steps. You can complete these steps in a relatively short period of time, despite how complicated they may appear on the surface. You will be able to perform a more effective analysis when you understand how necessary these steps are.
1. Discover Who Your Competitors Are and Aren’t
Many companies have the greatest uncertainty about which other businesses are competitors, which include direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors are most easily described as companies that sell the same types of products and services as you. Indirect competitors are in a different area of business but may use the same or similar keywords in marketing.
One of the most significant downsides to misunderstanding your competition is wasting resources trying to compete against a non-competitor. Your chances of success will often depend on whether you know who you are competing against. Think carefully about which better-known businesses someone searching for your products or services will be more likely to find.
When you focus your efforts on companies that are not legitimate competitors, your strategy will end up shifting towards a customer base that does not represent the majority of prospects that you’re seeking. This scenario is one that can have lasting ill effects. Avoiding competition against non-competitors will save your company a lot of wasted time and money.
2. Get Familiar with Your Competition’s Web Presence
If you want an accurate snapshot of what your competitors are doing, look no further than their websites. One of the advantages of a website is how much information is in that location. Because this is a form of media that likely receives regular updates, you can usually find what you need quickly.
Some of the things that you might want to look at include how active the company is on social media, what newer press releases say, and what type of information is in the blog. Remember, understanding your competition often requires digging a little deeper.
One of the things that these types of insights will do is help your put yourself in their customers’ position. You need to keep an open mind yet stay focused. Your end goal is still to reach target customers rather than getting too caught up in reaching out to less likely prospects.
3. Find Out What Your Competitors Are Getting Right – and Wrong
According to Billie Nordmeyer, the most effective form of brainstorming for critical business decisions is a SWOT analysis. This type of analysis is perfect for determining any strengths and weaknesses your competitors are facing.
Evaluating other businesses’ strengths helps you see where they might have an edge, such as keywords that customers might use when searching for a company like yours is one example of a potential strength. By contrast, if your competitors have difficulty reaching parts of your target market, there is an excellent opportunity for you because of their difficulties.
4. Familiarize Yourself With Your Competition’s Content
Taking a closer look at the content that your competition has produced is essential. The critical thing to remember is to identify what gets your attention the most. You can use this information as an inspiration without copying the ideas.
The style that a company uses in its written content, known as “voice”, influences how prospects and customers see the business. Does the company come across as friendly and informal, or does it use a more formal tone throughout the website? Examples of content to examine include individual site pages, blog posts, news releases, and social media posts.
5. Take a Look at Their Analytics Data
Two of the best advantages that come with analytical tools include easily seeing which keywords and terms are currently trending and how often companies are being mentioned, regardless of the platform. When you can examine these analytics for your competition, you are likely to have a strategic advantage. Putting all of this information together will help you form a more effective strategy.
6. Keep Track of Your Competition
Because the Internet is an ever-changing environment, you will need to stay on top of changes to maintain a competitive edge. You may have opportunities that you had never considered before that you will discover by tracking analytics. Access to your competition’s analytics gives you an advantage.
Final Thoughts
Conducting an analysis of your competition and forming a strategy can be easier than you may have thought. The best news is that this process can take a short amount of time.
