4 Steps to Do Competitor Analysis

[Jasmine]

Competitor analysis means analyzing businesses, companies, products, services, or website that might give you potential threat or competition in the future. When you do competitor analysis, you will check everything about your competitor so that you can devise a strategy to perform better in the future.

How to do competitor analysis in 4 easy steps?

Step 1: Search for your competitors and make a list

You will have to first identify who your actual competitors are. If you are launching toothpaste in your city, another company selling toothpaste will be your potential competitor. You will have to find a competitor in your market, in your community, in advertising, in organic search as well as paid search.

Step 2: Make a note of your competitor

Once you have identified your true competitor, you will have to create their profile and check their history and company bio, market share, and target audience.

Step: Find Out what strategies they have implemented

Now, you know who your competitors are, you will have to learn more about them. Find out what strategies they have implemented in product development, marketing, promotion, advertising, etc.

Step 4: Take actions

The final step of competitor analysis is to build a strategy based on what you have learned about your competitor, and implement what you have learned.

 

[Mika]

Whether you are a business owner, a website owner, a forum owner, or just a simple freelancer, you should do a competitor analysis. When you do competitor analysis, you will sell more products, you will get more visitors on your website, you will get more users on your forum, and you will get more sales on your freelancing services. Competitor analysis means finding your strength and weakness. Once you know what your strengths and weakness are, you can use your strength to convert your weakness into your strength. You need to build a proper strategy and your strategy should include things like improving where improvements are needed, finding what your audience wants, and finding the most effective channel for your business is. Simple things such as knowing what platform your competitor uses to advertise their products or service, how do they build traffic, how do they generate sales, where their customers are based will greatly help you. If you plan to run ads, knowing where they advertise, where their ads appear, and what their ad conversion rate is will help you plan your marketing and advertising campaigns. You should always devise a plan to outperform your competitor. Your product pricing should depend on your competitor's price for a similar product.

 

[Holicent]

Competitor analysis is an important part of business strategy, but many companies overlook it. That's a mistake. You need to know what your competitors are doing, because that information can help you develop a strategy that will help your company grow. To get started, follow these four steps.

Step 1: Identify Your Competitors
Your first step is to identify the companies that qualify as your competitors. This may seem obvious, but some companies include other types of businesses in their competitive analysis—like those that provide complimentary products and services, or those that serve a different market segment. But because those types of companies aren't really competing with you for the same customers and revenue, they shouldn't be included in your competitive analysis. So first ask yourself: which companies are truly competing with me? Once you've identified them, you're ready for the next step.

Step 2: Gather Information About Your Competitors
Next up, it's time to gather information about your competitors so you can make an informed comparison between them and your company. You should assess things like their:

Brand positioning
Products/services offered
Pricing structure
Target audience/customers
Marketing tactics/strategy
Sales tactics

 

[Mika]

Before you can do competitor analysis, you will have to analyze your products. Your competitors are the businesses that are selling the same products that you are trying to sell. For instance, if you are trying to sell shoes, businesses that are selling shoes are your competitors. However, you will also need to know that your true competitors are not all those who are selling the same product, your competitors are only those who are selling the same product in the same market. For example, if you are selling shoes in New York, your competitors are the businesses that are selling shoes in New York and not the companies that are selling in Paris. You will also have to drill down your competitor further. For example, if you are selling shoes in New York, you may not be selling in the entire New York, you might be selling in a certain district, or neighborhood, therefore, all hose businesses that are selling in that district are your competitor. Therefore, your analysis should be based on these factors. Once you identify your true customers, you will have to learn their strategies, their products, their market size, etc. so that you can build a better strategy to sell products.