Today the business environment is highly competitive and you have to establish yourself above your competitors. The competitive analysis techniques helps in finding out the strengths of the competitors so that you can come up with relevant measures to avoid being boxed. In the context of analyzing the competition, several strategies can be employed, starting from the lowest and going up to the higher level of analysis. Now, let’s consider how one can apply it and identify some of the most effective strategies to evaluate the competition and use the insights gained to succeed.
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Direct And Indirect Competitors
The first step that needs to be taken to define the general strategy for competing against the rivals is to identify exactly who your competitors are. Your direct competitors may be those organizations that are offering similar products or services in the same market as yours, targeting the same group of customers. For instance, if you are offering team communication software, other products like Slack or Microsoft Team are direct competitors.
But also look further afield to establish indirect competitors to have a more accurate analysis. These could be companies targeting the same customer need but with an alternative solution or good. By the same token, indirect competitors would be other solutions for sharing files and messages, such as e-mail services or even conventional telephony. Being aware of both threats allows for a more expansive view when contemplating opportunities within the market.
Research Competitors Online
The second method is to search online and gather all possible information regarding the identified competitors. It is crucial to visit their websites and analyze their social media pages as well to identify all the necessary information about the product portfolios, messages, pricing, and more. Check out the social networking sites where members provide information about promotions and new products are launched.
In addition, to learn about their business strategy, collaborations, revenue streams, and any issues they encounter, consider checking their news articles and press releases. Putting all of this together gives you a sense of the way they situate themselves in space so you can decide where they are most different.
Benchmark Strengths and Weaknesses
Now, perform a more systemic competitive analysis where particular attributes will be compared to each other. Here, you’ll have to list important categories such as Features & Functionalities, Quality, Price, Customer Service and Support, Company’s Values & Attitude, and Brand Identity. Then under each list out some of the ways you and your major competitors perform it.
Find opportunities in which you are stronger than your competitors and threats that show you the area where competitors are doing it better than you so that you can implement strategy correction. This should be done frequently since it is likely that the bench-marking framework would need to be updated due to changes in the market.
Market share means how much of the total available market a particular company has been able to capture in terms of sales. The new activity might indicate a shift in approach or even a new initiative that might have a significant impact on rivalry. For instance, a segment’s market leader with continuous losses indicates that the rival competing for its customers is open for business. On the same note, observing the rate at which shares for a new entrant are growing should be of interest to their advantage.
It is important to know that there are several ways to obtain market share data. In some industries, it is possible to use reports of third-party research firms, for example, Gartner. They include Google Keyword Planner which can also be used to measure traffic volume for your site as compared to that of your competitors. Moreover, Alexa and SimilarWeb offer desktop and mobile benchmarks for website traffic in terms of popularity. Exploiting these measures over time can make it easier to identify trends that may help in making strategic decisions.
Evaluate Competitor Advertising Strategies
This way advertising provides relevant information on how competitors operate and how they try to capture the market of the intended consumers. Brand monitoring can be done by setting up Google Alerts on the competitor brand name so that alerts are given on every new campaign they initiate or every news where they feature. It is also useful to register in advertising networks such as Facebook and Instagram where you can observe current successful campaigns from competitors in your niche.
Assessing Direct Messaging, Creative, Offers, and Calls to Action can offer some insights into what works in a market. In the same vein, monitoring competitors’ spending in terms of channels, placements, and targeting strategies reveals where rivals place their bets. Investing as much or more in what works may quickly increase brand visibility and consideration even beyond the initial level.
Conduct Win/Loss Analysis
One of the most useful, but underutilized methods to gain a deeper understanding of your success and failure in meetings with competitors is to study the reasons behind your wins and losses. In addition, include both leads who have not purchased from your company and customers in the process of engaging with them to share their purchasing experience.
Decision drivers can be identified through questions such as the products that were considered, the marketing messages that swayed the decision, the pricing models that were compared, the specific product features that tipped the decision, and the final decisive factors.
This is not only clear for pointing out the competition’s weaknesses one needs to improve but also for identifying the current advantages one is capable of building upon. It also provides insight into what customers want and what is important to them rather than what one may guess. The analysis of the answers provided in the win/loss interviews may reveal the important points in the table that should be leveraged in the different aspects of the go-to-market strategy.
Summary
It is always advisable for any organization to conduct a competitive analysis with specificity and a regular interval because the situation at your organization and the surrounding market environment is always changing. Being able to identify the right competitive intelligence techniques and directions on how one can maintain flexibility when making the right decisions, is given.
From tracking the changes in the market share of a particular player to analyzing the strategies employed in the advertising campaigns to the detailed questioning of the lost sales leads – there is a lot of information available to those willing to research the competitors. Now, with the techniques that are presented today, you have a set of tools to evaluate your rivals, look for opportunities, differentiate your strategy from competitors, and attract more customers. Just remember, an edge is earned gradually, and thus, it is advisable to go back through these methods at least once in a quarter.