What do you do if your marketing research requires conducting competitive analysis?

1 Identify Competitors

Begin your competitive analysis by identifying who your competitors are. You're looking for businesses that offer similar products or services to the same target audience. Start with a broad scope and narrow down to those most relevant to your market. Consider both direct competitors, who target the same customer base with similar offerings, and indirect competitors, who may satisfy the same customer needs but with different products or services. Remember to look at potential entrants to the market as well, as they could become significant competitors in the future.

2 Gather Data

Once you have a list of competitors, it's time to gather data about them. Look into their product offerings, pricing strategies, marketing tactics, sales processes, and customer service reputation. You'll want to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Public sources like their websites, press releases, and customer reviews are a good starting point. Additionally, consider using tools that track online presence and performance, such as search engine rankings and social media engagement. This quantitative and qualitative data will form the foundation of your competitive analysis.

4 Review Strategies

Delve into the specific marketing strategies your competitors are using. Look at their advertising channels, content marketing efforts, public relations campaigns, and any other tactics they employ to attract and retain customers. This will not only provide insights into what's working for them but also what's not, which can save you time and resources by avoiding similar pitfalls. By reviewing their strategies, you can also identify opportunities for differentiation or areas where you can improve upon what they're doing.

5 Evaluate Performance

Evaluating the performance of your competitors is a critical component of competitive analysis. This involves looking at sales trends, market share, growth rates, and customer loyalty. While some of this information may be difficult to obtain, you can infer a lot from observable factors like customer feedback and how active they are with marketing initiatives. This evaluation will give you a sense of where you stand in comparison to them and highlight potential areas for growth.

6 Adapt Strategies

Finally, use the insights gained from your competitive analysis to adapt your own marketing strategies. If you've identified a service gap or an innovative approach that competitors haven't exploited, consider how you can incorporate this into your offerings. Maybe there's an underserved customer segment or a marketing channel that competitors are overlooking. Use this information to refine your product development, pricing, distribution, and promotional tactics to better meet the needs of your target market and to stand out in the competitive landscape.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?