Competitor Analysis, also known as the Competitive analysis, let's you analyze your completions' strategy, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
In definition, ‘A Competitor Analysis in marketing and strategic marketing is an assessment of the strength and weakness of current and potential competitors.’ In other words Competitors Analysis is analyzing the competitors company, products, marketing strategies, etc. It is one of the essential components while creating a corporate strategy.
A good Competitive study will give you a greater understanding about the market as a whole and your position in it. Also, a good competitive analysis should examine the various variants of your competition- their marketing strategy, pricing, market share, strengths, weaknesses, culture, and reviews.
Why do a Competitor Analysis?
It is always wise for any business to be alert and conscious about what is happening at their peer’s business. This knowledge not only keeps you well informed, but also gives you awareness about what they are doing that you aren’t.
Let us look at some reasons why any business should take up Competitor Analysis.
#1- Compare and comprehend
By learning your competitions status, you can compare and understand where you stand in the market, where your weaknesses lie, your shortcomings, your scope of improvement, and also how you are perceived in comparison to your competition.
#2- Set a goal
Understanding other businesses from your industry that are bigger or smaller than you, can give you a better understanding about where you want to reach, what kind of success you want to achieve and it also teaches you to learn from their mistakes.
#3- Influence decisions
Gaining information about your competition gives you a quantitative as well as a qualitative picture that can influence better decision making.
#4- Spot trends
Analyzing your competition can give you a unique prospective about your market, and you can realize your niche.
Do not forge their doings but always create your path to better them. Copying a trend or their route seldom benefits a business.
How to do a good Competitive analysis?
Before you dive into the methods of Competitive Analysis, it is important to remember that you are looking at companies who do what you do, that have the same goal as yours. Your strategies may be different, but in the end they too have the same purpose- make profit and increase market value.
By studying their business know how, you are willing to learn from them- their strategies, their mistakes, recovery, etc. to outrun them in a healthy environment.
#1- Identify Competitors
It is important to know who your competitors are and which of them will you include in the study.
There is nothing wrong in using Google or any other search engine to search for your product category, check which company products is the first to pop up, and where does your product lie in the search results.
Check with your existing customers, using a survey to ascertain which brand of product they would consider buying other than yours.
Make a list of competitor, not more than ten. Make sure they are a mix and that they belong to these three categories.
Direct competitors
Indirect competitors
Replacement competitors
#2- Gather background information
Gathering background information is essential in charting a good competitor’s analysis. It make sure you have information about,
Company business
Company bio
History
Company website
Social media page
Market share
Finances
Pricing
Marketing strategy
Personnel, etc.
#3-Marketing Mix
The Marketing Mix is a strong tool that focuses on the comprehensive marketing plan. It includes the product, price, placement, and promotion.
Through these 4P’s a product is introduced to the market. You need to enquire and find out about them, you can include the negative points as well.
Product
What are they selling?
What are their unique features?
How are they different from your product?
Price
What kind of pricing system do they adopt? One-time or subscription?
How is the pricing against your products?
Are they offering discounts, sales?
Promotion
What advertising channels are the competitors adopting to market their products?
What is their USP- Unique Selling Proposition?
Place
Are they selling directly to the customers or through middle-man?
Are they selling at their brand name shops, retail, and shopping centers?
#4- Target customers
Every company has a different approach towards their customers, it is important to know how the competitors handle their customers. Search answers to questions such as,
Who are their target customers?
How efficient is the customer care?
How do they handle reviews?
How accessible is their website?
#5- Strength and weakness
Every company is unique to have survived the market dynamics. Find out their strengths that has helped them to-
- Fight competition with unique marketing strategies
- Survive losses with financial backing, etc.
Also, analyze their mistakes, the reasons for it and how they overcame it.
Now, when you have this data, analyze and compare your company’s variants with that of the competitions and try to ascertain your position and make plans, strategies, a plan of action to better yourself and move ahead of your competition.
#6- Implement action
The whole objective of the competitor’s analysis is improvement. To achieve this, it is important to look at your company with a critical eye and find areas that need improvement.
Where do you lack in efficiency?
How can you improve quality and price?
How to improve after sale support? etc.
Implementing changes can only result in your company moving forward, make sure you track the results of changes made, after you have performed Competitor analysis.
At Clansung solution,s we aim to create brand recognition, through competitor analysis thereby creating an efficient digital marketing plan that is perfectly tailored to meet your brands needs.