Step-by-Step Guide of Performing Marketing Competitor Analysis

In this time of digital marketing, due to overwhelming competition, you highly need to be aware of competitors. This can be done by setting up a thorough competitor analysis in your target segment.

A complete competitor analysis report includes defining your niche, exploring. Plus, studying your direct or indirect competitors. However, this isn’t something that can be done very quickly. You have to invest both in your time, energy and sometimes money too.

You can penetrate the market over and above them with the help of complete data, collected from detailed study.

In this post, we’ve outlined the essential steps to create the report.

Step 1 – Choose Your Closest Competitors

For creating the report, the very first step is to define your niche to explore your competitors further. In the market, you have to compete with direct as well as indirect competitors. It is useless to spend time on competitors having the least impact on your marketing or sales.

Direct competitors are those who are selling the same product (the company can be different) within your target segment.

While indirect competitors are having some sort of similarity with your products, they are offering. These have comparatively less impact but yet cannot be neglected.

Hundreds of free as well as paid techniques can be employed to find out your competition. However, you will generally have an idea of your competition. But if this is going to be your unprecedented experience, then conduct an audit of products. It refers to a study who else is selling the same product within your target audience. Enlisted at least ten of your competitors, then further narrow it down to top 3 to 4 most influencing brands.

Step 2 – Define Your Customer Profiles

After finding out the most impactful competitors, now you have to evaluate the following points from their profiles.

• Different business metrics including customers, revenue and company overview
• Then, study the features, pricing, perks and quality of their products.
• The customers reviews, their key points, most selling product, least selling product
• SEO, advertising, social media management, content strategy. Plus the customer service, unique aspects, demographics
• The areas where they are lacking.

Although this can be a lengthy process, there are many paid tools out there. You can minimize your efforts and save much of your time plus energy.

Step 3 – Compare the Competitors

You have deeply studied personas of your marketing competitors, now it’s time to just one other step. Compare the features of your brand or marketing technique one by one with others. It would be best if you looked at those techniques they are making use of and getting good results. Afterward, you can also include tactics if those are actionable and effective.

Contrast the key points, and find out their weak areas. Usually, it is advised by expert marketers to capitalize on their shortcomings firstly. Other points you should compare can be the product, sales, pricing. And content strategy, customer service, advertising techniques, and many others.

Step 5 – Identify Areas for Improvement

Of course, now you have a better idea about the strengths, weak areas of your company as well as your competitors. Now, it can be easy for you to identify where the need for improvement is required. Or adapt the techniques by which businesses of your competitors is growing.

Not only about the techniques regarding content creation. SEO, advertising and social media management of your niche-challenger can also be monitor.

Step 5 – Repeat the Exercise

Wisest business owners are the ones who always stay one step ahead of their rivals. For this, continually updating a competitive analysis report is essential. This is an ongoing process, as the market trends change very quickly and new techniques have to adapt. Therefore, one should be repeating this exercise to keep their business growth constant.

Summing Up:

It is imperative to create and keep updating the report describing the analysis of competitors. It will help you to reach out to more people and later on converting them into your customers. No matter you are leading the niche; you still need to come up with such kind of report, since business standing below, you always looking for means that can result in getting the first position.

Apart from creating a content report, definitely, there would cost hundreds of other ways too. For instance, you can also get more Instagram followers to broaden your brand-exposure. But still, you highly need to run your business marketing with proper competitor analysis.