What is Competitor Analysis & How to Conduct It? [With Latest Examples]

Business is full of diversity and evolution. You must analyze the market and its trends in time to improve your business in the long run. However, the best practice to improve your brand and its related actions is competitor analysis. 

There are a lot of factors involved in the marketing competitor analysis. In this blog, we have mentioned all the essential factors of the analysis that will benefit your business. Plus, we have also mentioned the step-by-step process to analyze your potential competitors. 

Without any further delay, let’s begin the guide !!

What is Competitor Analysis?

Competitor analysis refers to identifying potential competitors in your industry and researching them. In this analysis method, you have to research their marketing strategies. This data will help you figure out your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. In this way, you can compare your competitors to your brand. You can analyze the overall company’s efforts or even dive deep into some specific aspects. All these analytical efforts will help you improve your business processes based on your ultimate goals and objectives.

Competitor Analysis in Marketing 

All the growing companies regularly perform analysis for marketing. It helps your company to be updated with all the necessary information rolling in the market. Moreover, it will also avail you of various advantages, including the following: 

• You can identify market gaps 
• It allows you to develop new products/services 
• It will help you discover various market trends
• It enhances your marketing and selling strategies 

In simple words, constantly analyzing your competitors will help your brand to achieve better heights of success. Below, we have also mentioned some of the steps to conduct a marketing analysis.  

How is Marketing Competitor Analysis Done?

The competitor analysis marketing method consists of various potential steps. Here are all the optimized steps mentioned in how you can conduct a competitor analysis. 

Step 1: Identify Your Potential Competitors

Everyone can never be your competitor. It is essential for you to decide on one or two potential competitors. You have to put your complete focus and attention on some specific market players. In this way, you will be able to better focus on them. 

And reach out for better outcomes. Here, we have mentioned the best way to select the top-rated competitor for your brand. Follow the simple steps mentioned below: 

1. You should search for various high-volume keywords over the search engine. 
2. It will show you a list of websites over the SERP that your competitors are choosing over your company. 
3. You can even check out their social media accounts to understand their marketing strategies and tactics. 
4. Research all the brands and list 5-10 brands that you find similar and relevant to your offerings. 
5. Lastly, collect their website, social handles, and other available information. 

Step 2: Describe Your Competitor’s Business Structure 

As soon as you finalize your competitor, you should start analyzing their business structure. It will allow you to know about the growth, market share, and customer loyalty of your potential customers. Then, you should also review their website and social handles to collect certain data about your competitors. For instance, you will get to know about the company’s leaders or employees, operations duration, and job opening places. After this step, you will have an overall idea of your competitor’s current market conditions. 

Step 3: Research the Marketing Mix of Your Company 

Now, you have all the necessary information about your competitor. You should start researching their marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion. Let’s understand each of them in a little detail. 

• Product: Pick the most popular product or service of your competitors. Next, you should analyze the product and find out its features, target audience, and the problem it solved. By looking at the ad campaigns, you will find out the most popular products and services of your competitors. You will get to know various valuable insights about that product by manually researching it. 

• Price: You have your product now that you also sell. Now, it is time to understand the pricing patterns crafted by your competitors as you can analyze the pricing lineup of the products in comparison to all present in the market. Plus, you can even check out their sales, discounts, and other special offers. Here, you can not only think about making profits but have to provide various discounts to capture the volume in the market. 

• Place: Now, see where this product is generally sold, such as physical stores or online stores. This will help you place your product at the place where your targeted customers really are. Hence, you have to see all the places where your competitor potentially sells their products and services. In this way, you will ensure whether you sell your products or services at the right place or not. 

• Promotion: It refers to the platforms where your customers generally find out about your offerings. It includes the advertising channels and brand messaging. In this competitor analysis method, you have to find out the best possible promotional channel for your offerings. It includes direct marketing, referral marketing, organic searches, or social media marketing. Plus, you also have to make sure that these brand messages match and align with your target audiences. Each marketing method has a different motive. Thus, you should choose them based on your offerings. 

Step 4: Find Out Their Value Proposition 

The value proposition is a benefit statement of your product that makes the customers choose your offerings in the market. Here, you must provide your offerings to the customers with a helping motive. In this competitor analysis method, you must check out the competitor’s value propositions. Then, you can create your own as well, which will help you stand out in the market. Review the taglines, slogans, “What We Do” page, and more to develop a better value proposition to rule the market. You have to consider several things regarding your customers before crafting your value proposition. It includes pain points, desires, benefits, how they provide the benefits, purchase power of the customers, and industrial response of the customers over your competitor’s products and services. 

Step 5: Make Your Company’s SWOT Analysis 

Now that you have completed the competitor analysis in marketing, it is time to reconsider your company. At this point, you have to do a SWOT analysis of your company. This analysis will allow you to know all the essential details of your company. SWOT basically stands for the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Below, we have described each of them in a little depth. 

• Strength: As the name sounds, you have to look at the positives of your company in this step. You can look at the positive feedback and reviews of your customers. It will allow you to know certain spaces where you’re better than your competitors. Also, write down the unique qualities of your business, products, and services. You have to add your company’s assets: intellectual technology, proprietary technology, and capital. Simply put, this step will help you to know your positive side and increase your confidence. 

• Weakness: Here, you have to face the downside facts of your company. Before applying analysis methods, you also have to figure out the weaknesses of the company. It will help you choose the essential aspects to add to your marketing strategies. In simple words, you will also get to know where your company’s partners and customers fall behind. This way, you can take the right actions to improve your business actions and procedures. 

• Opportunity: This analysis step allows you to know about emerging that can provide you with an advantage. Simply put, you will get to know about a lot of opportunities. These will simply help your company to better proceed in the future and present actions.

• Threats: In this step, you have to analyze the threats your company has in the market. It includes competition, new market trends, economic issues, political issues, and more. They can negatively impact your business and provide you with challenges. You have to face these challenges and improve your business functioning. 

Step 6: Identify Areas of Improvement 

After making the marketing competitor analysis, you are very familiar with all the aspects of your industry. You know the best strategies for potential competitors and the drawbacks of your own business. Now, you just need to mold your competitor’s marketing tactics in a way to fit your company. You can also take the help of any CRM tool to implement the strategies in your business better. Therefore, you will improve your business in all the possible areas.

Step 7: Monitor and Track Your Results 

Lastly, you have to monitor and track your company’s improvement progression. Just have keen eyes over all the methods and strategies you’re implementing. It will help you know whether you’re going in the right direction or not.

Competitor Analysis Examples 

Here are example of competitor analysis that can help you make informed decisions. 

• Market Share Analysis: You can analyze the market share and determine the market share of your competitor. This way, you will figure out the dominant players in your field. You have to take the help of research reports and publications. 

• Customer Feedback and Reviews: In this competitor analysis example, you have to read the feedback and reviews of your competitors. You can read them through social handles, separate review platforms, and surveys. 

• Marketing and Advertising: This analysis marketing effort includes analyzing marketing and advertising strategies. You can look for marketing platforms, brand messages, and more. 

• Product and Service Comparison: In this competitor analysis for marketing, you have to compare your products to the competitors. You should assess the features, quality, customer reviews, and price of the competitor’s products. It will allow you to develop some features that can help you differentiate your offerings. 

• Price Analysis: Your competitors might be positioned as low-budget, mid-range, or premium brands in the market. Here, you have to understand which tactic is working in the market. Similarly, you have to position your brand in the market to better your offerings. 

Wrap Up 

These are the basic 7-step processes to analyze your potential competitors in the market. If you properly follow the steps mentioned in this article, you will have all the essential changes required. We hope this guide helps you in the competitor analysis.