How to Perform an Effective Competitor Analysis Intro
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How to Perform an Effective Competitor Analysis Intro_ When was the last time you performed a competitor analysis for your company? Also, do you know how to do one efficiently and effectively? If you’re unsure, or if your previous “analysis” was a quick scroll through of their social media accounts, you’re likely missing out on important data that could help your brand effectively position its product or service, create compelling persona content, and outperform competitors. What exactly is a competitive analysis or audit? A competitive analysis is a strategy where you analyze your industry, identify your direct competitors, and deep dive into their product or service, online, and marketing strategies. Through this audit, you can develop solid goals and company strategies that will help you rise above your competitors. Yes, we understand conducting a competitive analysis takes a good amount of time, but doing so will help you set a realistic business strategy that will allow you to compete, and eventually outperform your competitors online. Also, if you’re setting up or revamping your online content strategy, implementing in-depth research like this will help you orient yourself within the market, identify opportunities to overtake competitors, and determine where you should put your effort and resources. In this guide, you will learn how to identify your major competitors, analyze their online content strategy, equip your marketing team with a strategy to compete during the buyer’s decision stage, and discover how to run an effective, on-going analysis that sets your company apart. So, channel your inner Sherlock Holmes, put your spy hat and goggles on, and get started with your competitor analysis! (Because considering today’s digital market, they’ve probably already run an audit on you.) 2 Table of Contents_ 3 1. Define Your Buyer Personas_ While it’s important to know who your competitors are and where you stand in your industry for a competitive analysis report, the first step your brand should take is to understand where you stand in the eyes of your current customers and potential customers. Do you know who your business’s buyer personas are? And if so, how much do you know about them? According to Hubspot, “Buyer personas are semi- fictional representations of your ideal customers based on data and research. They help you focus your time on qualified prospects, guide product development to suit the needs of your target customers, and align all work across your organization (from marketing to sales to service.)” As a result, your brand will be able to better attract high-quality visitors and leads to your online channels who you’ll be more likely to convert and retain. More specifically, having a good understanding of your personas is critical to driving your marketing strategy, content creation, product or service development, and basically anything that relates to your customer acquisition and retention. “Okay, so personas are an important step to take when I’m developing my competitor analysis report. But...how do I actually make one?” 4 Well, you’re in luck they actually aren’t that difficult to create. The most stable ones are based on a combination of market research, as well as insights you retrieve from your actual customers (like surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.) Market research, surveys, and focus groups help companies identify many important pieces of information, including: • Facts about your target market • What matters to someone who would purchase from you • The demand for your product • The potential price points • Perception competition • Impressions of your branding • And more... Once you’ve gone through the research process, you’ll want to take that raw, meaty data about your potential and current customers and identify patterns or commonalities to develop the persona, which you would then share with the rest of your company. Your business will be able to develop an in-depth understanding of the people they’re targeting every day and develop strategies accordingly on how best to target, support, and work with them. 5 Free Buyer Persona Tips, Templates, & Worksheets Whether you’re a newbie or experienced within building buyer persona’s the below tips, templates, and worksheets will give you a blueprint for conducting a thorough study of your product or service, target audience, and how you fare in your industry. • Market Survey Template » • Focus Group Template » • Questions You’ll Want To Ask In Interviews » • Tip: Look through your contacts database to uncover trends on how they find and consume your content • Tip: Get your sales team feedback on the prospects they’re conducting communications with the most • HubSpot Free, Downloadable Persona Template » • Free DigitalMarketer Customer Avatar Worksheet » When you’re clear on the characteristics of the person who is going to buy your products or services, it’s a lot easier to find and present them with a message that moves them to action (over your competition.) Recommendation: If you’re new to developing personas, start off with 2-4, as any more than 4 tends to stretch budgets and narrow the focus too much. 6 2. Understanding Your Industry & Identify Competitors_ 2.1 Understand Your Industry During this age and time, it’s worthwhile to analyze the state of your industry - whether as a potential new entrant or as an existing company in the industry. One way to go about this analysis is to use Porter’s Five Forces Template. This process considers five different criteria and how the power, threat, or rivalry in each is. Below is a brief overview of the five forces analysis: Competitive Rivalry This section asks how high the level of direct competition is in your industry. You will want to ask yourself what other rivals offer the same product or service you do in the same location that you provide business in. The Threat of New Entrants This topic reviews how difficult it is to start a business or develop a product that could compete with yours. Take a look at the barriers to entry like resources, financial, restrictions, etc. 7 The Threat of Substitution For this criteria, think of the alternatives to your product or service. Keep in mind, these are not direct substitutes. Buyer Power Is your market a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? If your product or service is dependable on the latest trend or discount, buyer power is high. If they do not have any other legitimate alternative, then buyer power is low. Supplier Power Finally, consider how much suppliers influence your business. For example, when gas prices go up, if your company gets materials by plane or car, then you will see a supplier power increase. After you’re finished with your exercise, take a look at how often your categories are marked as “high” or “low.” If there are more lows than highs, great! You definitely have an opportunity to make an impact in the market. If your highs outweigh your lows, you will need to decide the actions you’ll have to take to overcome these threats or obstacles. 8 2.2 Identify Your Direct Competitors Once you understand your industry as a whole, dive into who you’re really competing with so you can compare data accurately. When comparing your brand, you should only focus on your direct competitors. Who are direct competitors? Direct competitors are businesses that offer a product or service that could be utilized as a similar substitute for yours, and that produce in the same geographical location/area. Once you determine who your direct competitors are, you’ll then want to analyze their complete product or service line and the quality that they’re offering. Also, take a look at their pricing to determine any specials or discounts they may be offering. Here are some helpful questions to consider when identifying: • Are they a low-cost or high-cost provider? • Are they doing mainly volume sales or one-time purchases? • What is their market share? • What are the characteristics and needs of their ideal customers? • Are they using different pricing strategies for online purchases versus brick and mortar? • How does the company differentiate itself from its competitors? • How do they distribute their products/services? 9 3. Analyze Your Competitor’s Online Content Strategy_ The best place to start looking for your competitor’s content strategy is to audit their website. This step does require a lot of “poking around” to find what you’re looking for, but it helps set you up to perform the next steps more easily. Below is the most structured way we’ve found to approach this poking around exercise and used on multiple client competitor analysis reports. 1. View their web site’s navigation bar to find out where the content is housed 2. Click through each menu in the navigation to see if there is a sub-nav that leads to content assets you would want to note in your analysis 3. Scroll through the site’s homepage and see if there are other places content could be housed that weren’t in the navigation 4. Visit the footer of the website for good measure - many times there are links to pages that aren’t easily accessible, even several clicks into a site 10 Below is a list of some content assets you may encounter and will want to note within your analysis. • Blog Posts • Whitepapers • Case Studies • Videos • Ebooks • Webinars • FAQs • Infographics • Press Releases • Templates • Checklists • Buyer Guides • Data Sheets Recommendation: Your competitor may have more than one blog, so make sure to research and note for what those blogs are. With larger companies, they will develop a blog with its own objective.