It is important to analyze your competitors with https://www.aqute.com/ in order to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence your business. It should be repeated regularly to keep up with changes in your industry or broader trends.
1. Analyze Your Own Strengths And Weaknesses
Unless you’re a unicorn, chances are your competition is doing something right (or at least not doing anything wrong). With the aid of competitor analysis you can get an overall picture of their strategy and find a hole in it that will give you a competitive advantage.
You need to start by determining your own strengths and weakness. Consider your current marketing and selling strategies. Consider, for instance, your media contacts, expertise in the industry, and reputation if you are a professional in PR. Then, ask yourself how you can improve your performance.
Next, identify your direct competitors. These are companies which sell similar products or services to the same target audience. Consider indirect competitors as well, which are companies who do not directly compete with you but still fill a similar need. If you sell a fitness program, for example, your competitors could be yoga studios or personal trainers.
Once you’ve identified your competitors, study their products and services in detail. Compare their features and prices. It’s important to also understand their policies on customer service. Use review sites such as Capterra and G2Crowd for this research. Speak to customers of your competitors to get a unbiased opinion. This will help you understand what their needs and frustrations are.
2. Identify Your Direct And Indirect Competitors
The information that you can gather from a competitive analysis will help identify your direct competition, businesses who offer the exact same product type and target the exact same ideal customer segment as your business. You may also discover indirect competitors, businesses that take a different approach in solving the consumer problems your business addresses.
Indirect competitors might also have the same price point as your direct competitors or be able reach the same audience. They may not have the same products or services, but they don’t compete in sales conversations. For instance, a company that provides a DIY SaaS solution for customers to manage their support needs might have an indirect competitor in the form of a professional service provider that offers a more comprehensive and integrated approach to customer support, such as Turbotax.
It’s crucial to be aware of your indirect competitors, as they may become direct competitors without you knowing. This could put you at a competitive disadvantage on the market. Using network analysis to discover and monitor indirect competitors is a valuable addition to your competitor research toolkit. You can find these companies using social media, business profiles in directories, and online surveys.
3. Analyze Your Customers’ Needs
Using the information you’ve gathered about your competitors, assess what your customers want and need. This can include features which make them stand out, price points and other factors. Then, brainstorm how you can meet those needs. You could do this by adding a new feature to your product, by offering discounts to your customers, or by changing how you market.
If your customers are looking for new video games to play, then you may be able to satisfy their needs by creating an alternative with similar graphics and gameplay. If your competitors are offering products that are cheaper than yours, then you may be able compete by providing better customer service, or adding a bonus.
You can also analyze direct and indirect competitors in order to determine their strengths and weaknesses. Direct competitors are companies who sell similar products or share the market. Indirect competitors offer different products to the same audience. (For example, Mortal kombat and Animal Crossing both have video games but they are not in competition with each other, because their audiences differ). The last type of competitor is the replacement competitor. These are companies that do not compete with your category, but meet a similar market need (like McDonald’s providing food to hungry people). You can use competitor analysis to keep up with industry trends.
4. Analyze Your Competition’s Marketing Strategy
Your marketing team needs to be in the know about your competition’s marketing strategies to inform future campaign planning. This competitor analysis will help you to determine your target audience’s preferences, behaviors and pain points. You can then craft your own competitive differentiations in order to win over consumers.
For a marketing analysis of your competitors, you can look at their website and social media to see the messages they use. You can also examine their product reviews, and other online marketing in order to understand how they are positioning themselves on the market. Include this information in your report to help you make informed decisions on how to position yourself.
If you find it difficult to gather the information you need about your competitors, you may want to hire a professional marketing firm to help you. They can collect the information that you need about the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of your competitors (SWOT Analysis) and deliver it to you in a clear and actionable manner so you can formulate your next step.
In addition to identifying your direct competitors, you should also analyze indirect competitors who serve a similar customer need. An accountant might compete with bookkeepers or a scheduling tool company may compete with other time management tools.
5. Analyze The Pricing Strategy Of Your Competitors
Understanding your competitors’ pricing strategy is key to developing a business strategy which will help you stand out in a highly competitive market. This analysis provides concrete information that eliminates guesswork, enabling you to create a pricing structure that works best for your specific products and customers.
A key part of this analysis is determining what your competitors are offering in terms of product and value. For example, do they sell a premium product or is their pricing based on volume sales? If you are selling a high-end product, for instance, it might be worth lower prices on some of your lesser-selling items to increase overall market share. This is often called a loss-leader and is popular with retailers.
You also want to consider how your competitors are marketing their offerings. For example, are they using social media to promote their product or offering discounts as a way to drive customer demand? Understanding the marketing strategies of your competitors can give you valuable insights into what might work for you.
Finally, it is important to monitor your competitors’ prices over time. This is especially important for companies who rely on both physical stores and online sales. Automated tools for competitor price analysis are a great way to streamline the process. This allows businesses to adjust their pricing strategies in response to market fluctuations.
6. Analyze Your Competition’s Customer Service
Once you’ve compiled a list of competitors, it’s time to dive deeper into their strengths and weaknesses. There are many factors to consider, including product/service analysis, marketing strategy, and customer experience. Here are some tips on how to conduct a thorough competitor study:
Start with specific and measurable goals. This will ensure that your competitor analysis is focused and provides actionable insights. For example, if you’re looking to refine your messaging or experiment with the funnel structure, set these objectives before starting your research. This will prevent you from getting lost in details and missing the bigger picture.
Pay attention to the price when analyzing the products and services of your competitors. Is their price point in line with your own? Are they offering frequent sales and discounts? These things can be both good and bad, depending on what you want.
Analyze your competitors’ customer service and learn what makes them stand out from the rest. This will help you to provide better customer service and build loyalty. If your competitors offer free trials and live chat support, you might want to add this feature to your own site.
After you’ve analysed your competitors, you can use the information to create a business strategy. Remember that competitive analysis shouldn’t be a one-time process. It should be a continuous process to keep you informed about industry trends and customer demands.
