What it brings you
- A clear view of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
- The areas where you can outperform them.
- The marketing actions that attract the most prospects.
- The main trends in your industry, so you can adjust your approach.
- What your target audience likes and dislikes, so you can refine your offers.
The questions to ask
Their market position
- Who are your five main competitors, direct and indirect?
- What are their strengths?
- What is their market share today? Is it growing or shrinking?
- Which regions are they active in?
- How much business do they do?
Their offer and their communication
- What do they offer, and what sets them apart from other players in the industry?
- How is their pricing structured?
- What is their advertising approach: which media, which content, which messages?
- How much do they spend on advertising?
- Which keywords do they rank for, and which ones get the biggest share of their ad budget?
Their customers and their teams
- Why do consumers choose these brands?
- What do they dislike about your competitors?
- How does your competitors’ community engage on social media?
- How do their customers see their services, and what feedback do they give?
- Are their employees happy with their working environment?
The four-step method
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List your competitors
Rank them by strengths and weaknesses, and sum up what gives each one its edge. To go further, a SWOT analysis looks at their strengths, their weaknesses, the opportunities they can seize and the threats they face, including from you.
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Watch their marketing
Subscribe to their newsletters and follow their social media accounts to see how they talk to their prospects.
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Study their websites
Look at their SEO and their paid ads.
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Check their figures
Where they are published, their financial statements give you benchmarks on their sales, revenue growth and changes in market share.