Given that people are willing to spend much of their time online, businesses need to take digital marketing seriously to grow and thrive in this saturated global market. Digital success isn’t easy to achieve, but once you get the hang of it and all the puzzle pieces fall into place, you can sit back and enjoy the incredible results that will guarantee your business prosperity and fame.

As a business owner, there are many different aspects that you should carefully consider, but a vital one that we’ll focus on in this article is competitive market analysis. Below, we’ll discuss what exactly it is, the benefits of competitive market analysis and how to do it correctly. Stay tuned.

It’s difficult, especially for small companies or start-ups, to make themselves heard in the hustle and bustle of the virtual world and not be completely drowned out by larger and better-known players in the same industry. You have to keep an eye on your direct or indirect competitors and carefully observe and analyze their every move. This way, you can take advantage of the situation and outperform them all and win over potential customers.

The process of studying competitors and comparing different aspects of one’s business like product line, pricing, content marketing, social media presence, etc. and using all this information to determine the strengths and weaknesses is called competitive market analysis. Our agency, Momentum Digital, starts all new client projects by learning more about their business, as well as their competition.

Start with Benefits 

A thorough analysis of your competitors can be beneficial in several ways. By knowing your rivals well, you can either follow their footsteps or go in the opposite direction and stand out, depending on the industry’s situation. By analyzing the strategies and results of your competitors, you should be able to make rational decisions. After all, your ultimate goal is to become the best in the industry and to achieve that, you should constantly monitor your competitors’ actions/consequences and act accordingly.

When and How It Should Be Conducted

Prior to starting a business, experts recommend conducting a competitive market analysis to identify the potential opportunities and threats of the market. Once the business is launched, an annual analysis is necessary to keep up with the latest changes/trends in the industry and stay current.

Below are some steps that should be followed when it comes to a competitive market analysis:

Identify Your Competitors

The first step is to look for your competitors and find out where they stand in the market. It’s not enough to identify only the big players; you should also pay attention to the small newcomers, as they’re motivated to bring something original and outstanding to the industry, from which you can learn a lot.

Moreover, you shouldn’t only focus on your direct competitors (those who offer similar products or services to the same target audience), but also consider your indirect rivals (those who offer different products or services to solve the same problems) and your replacement competitors (those who offer alternative solutions to your products or services for the same problems).

Hubspot mentions some of the top Competitive Market Analysis & Insights tools companies can use online.

1. Think With Google Research Tools
2. Census Bureau
3. Make My Persona
4. Tableau
5. Statista
6. SurveyMonkey
7. Typeform
8. NielsenIQ
9. Ubersuggest
10. Pew Research Center
11. BrandMentions
12. Qualtrics Market Research Panels

Now that you’ve used some tools and software, start getting analytical and also use your instincts to identify the rest.

Know Your Competitors Inside Out

After you have identified all of your competitors, it’s time to thoroughly investigate various aspects of their business, including:

Their Products/Services

Do they take the quality of their products or services seriously? What material do they use for their products? Do they make their products from scratch or do they source them from other vendors? What about the durability and lifespan of their products? Based on the answers to these and other similar questions, you can determine the quality of your own products so that you stand out from all the other competitors. 

Their Pricing

How much do your competitors charge for a single product? This is especially important as you need to set a reasonable price that is neither much higher nor much lower than your competitors to avoid losing customers. Also, pay attention to any special promotions or discounts they offer to their customers.

Their Shipping Process

Shipping may seem trivial at first glance, but don’t underestimate the huge impact it can have on customers. Free shipping is a proven strategy that has been used as a great enticement since the early days of online shopping. Compare your shipping costs to those of your competitors and make sure that you don’t alienate and scare off customers with prices that are too high. Packaging also matters, and you should be able to come up with innovative packaging methods that are more attractive to your target audience than those of your competitors.

Their Social Media Presence

You should also closely monitor your competitors on various social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. How often do your competitors post on these platforms? What about the number of likes, shares and comments they receive for each post? Are they able to have honest communication with their audience on social media? Are they offering giveaways on their social media platforms? You should carefully analyze these data to be able to stand out in the online world.

You can also use tools like Facebook Ad Insights to review their marketing and put together Facebook Ads campaigns for your business.

Their Content Marketing

When exploring your competitors’ content marketing, keep two things in mind: the quality of the content they create and the way they promote their content through various channels. Try to find out the following

• Do they hire professional writers and graphic designers to create original content for them? 
• What tactics do they use to promote their content? 
• What platforms do they use to showcase their content?

After knowing your competitors completely, it’s time to dig deeper and examine every detail of their performance in detail. One method you can use for this step is to conduct a SWOT analysis. It is a subcategory of competitive market analysis where you focus on evaluating your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This process would shed light on some aspects of your own performance that you’d normally tend to ignore.

SWOT

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

Another similar style competitive market analysis we mention in the past takes it a step further with a SWOTT analysis.

Thanks for Reading our blog about Competitive Marketing Analysis: Component for Your Digital Success.

With all this information you’ll learn more about your competition to get a leg up so you can find other ways to improve and beat them online.

Need more help? No worries, at Need Momentum, we know the ins and outs of creating effective content marketing and can help you with the process, contact us today.