The Idea of Keeping your friends close and the enemies closer started in ancient wars. Modern-day marketing is a war too with companies looking for that extra edge to make them stand out over their competitors. Competitor Analysis is often overlooked in business promotion but with the dominance of data-driven digital marketing, it is now more significant than ever. It provides businesses of every type, small or big, with the intelligence to grow and perform better.
One of the most recent examples of good competitive analysis will be the phone brand Xiaomi predicting and analyzing the marketing plans of rivals One Plus. One Plus introduced its product as a budget segment phone. Xiaomi planned their phone release accordingly and crushed their competition.
A detailed and well-done analysis can provide you with the answers to why are your competitors outranking you? What are the major changes they have made? Which group to target more for selling similar services and products? And, what are the risks and mistakes to be aware of in the modern market? Performing well-researched proven ways to competitor analysis and being knowledgeable about the tools/software for it is an important asset for a capable digital marketer.
Stages of a Competitor Analysis Process
There are no hard and fast rules for competitive analysis. It might be as simple as learning from the competitors’ activities or as complex as hiring a dedicated company for performing in-detail analysis. However, competitor analysis planned to outperform the rivals generally include the following stages from the perspective of your digital marketing team.
* Identifying Competitors
Identifying your present and possibly future competition in the market is the first stage of the analysis. One of the basic ways to get this information is by searching the services and products at a local level. Flag the top-ranked companies apart from yours here. You can’t track and analyze every single competitor you might have.
Filter and shortlist your identified competition to 3-5 major entries. It is enough for the start. Target the specifics of the products and services for this purpose. For example, if you are an RTO providing a 2 years nursing course in Melbourne, your competitors are most likely to be other colleges and RTOs providing the same. There is no point in targeting all colleges in the region for closer analysis.
* Investigating Competitor’s Strategies
Once you have identified your main competitors, you can start investigating their strategies and marketing habits. This will allow you to focus on what matters the most. For example, if one of your competitors spends a lot on Google ads and if that doesn’t match your marketing budget, you can analyze their social media strategy instead. It is important from now on to be aware of your current business situation as well as your plans while performing competitor analysis. With the help of data analytics and experienced digital marketers, you can know about the competition better as well as their thought processes.
* Benchmarking Competitor’s Ads
Benchmarking here means closely following and comparing your company with a bunch of highly successful competitors. This will allow you to recognize where your campaign is at the moment and what to expect in the future. Google Ads specifies a certain cost-per-click (CPC) for Ad Words. To start bidding and knowing your aims with PPC marketing, you need to benchmark the ads by your competitor first. A top PPC Marketing Agency in Ontario has specified that this step is almost mandatory before creating a digital marketing strategy in 2022.
* Using Different Tools to Track Organic Performance
Believe it or not, a competitor analysis has been prominently around since the first advertising era. From flyers, newspapers, radio, and TV, to now devices using the internet, you have to adapt to new tools and techniques to stay relevant.
Top Tools for Competitor Analysis
Here are 8 of the best tools currently available for performing competitive analysis in 2022 alongside their major distinctive features. Digital Marketers can utilize one of these in their next campaigns for better results.
- SE Ranking
- SEM rush
- Siteliner
- Spyfu
- Hootsuite
- Alexa
- Brand24
- Similar Web
* Evaluation of the Content Marketing Strategy
Data-driven marketing campaigns mostly succeed when paired with a proper content marketing strategy. Once you have taken care of the technical portion of the competitive analysis also evaluate their content marketing strategy. For example, Pepsi started a horrible marketing campaign with poorly prepared content regarding racism in 2017. Coca Cola was planning similar ideas quickly changed its strategy to focus on more social work involved content rather than making celebrities do all the work. Evaluate the content marketing strategy of your competitors as well.
* SWOT analysis- Mapping Out Challenges and Opportunities
Strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat (SWOT) analysis is not limited to marketing. However, it is an important part of competitor analysis today. Make sure you are not left behind in spotting both opportunities and risks with a well-implemented study. Allocate necessary resources and get experienced heads to work in this stage and equip your business with good guidance.
* Research and Updates
Thinking strategically is the right decision for recent businesses. Researching more and updating your ideas and methods will improve your strategic decisions. Hiring a digital marketing agency in Ottawa to complete the competitor analysis and reaping benefits from the reports is also an option here. Don’t hesitate to think differently and try new ways after researching. With the competitor analysis complete it is up to you to make positive changes to your company.
Benefits of Competitor Analysis in a Digital Marketing Campaign
– You can learn from the established campaigns of those companies.
– Your business can have insights on what to do and what not to do with the marketing data.
– Trends and innovative techniques to resemble in your upcoming plans.
– Identify gaps, opportunities, and threats to your market or business domain.
– Predict the moves, and plans, and avoid losses while improving yourself through it.
– Smart Investment in Social Media, SEO, Brand awareness, backlinks, and PR campaigns.
Make Sure You Always Have an Upper Hand with Competitor Analysis
Competitor Analysis has long been associated with something that large companies invest in. However, we mustn’t forget that competition can be at every stage or level of your business life. Startups vs startups, small business vs small business, SMEs vs SMEs, and corporates vs corporates. Everyone is looking to grow and perform better. Competitor analysis allows you to work more smartly and reach new heights in modern times.
