A competitive analysis is an in-depth look at your current marketplace that can identify new marketing opportunities your competitors haven’t found yet. Depending on the area of marketing you’re looking to revamp, you can look into the minds-eye of your competitors through social media, keyword rankings, website design, email marketing… this list goes on. A competitor analysis is a marketing asset that keeps on giving as long as you keep it updated. We put together our list of the most valuable information you can learn when you conduct a competitive analysis (plus some tips on what to look for in your research).
Whether you're just starting marketing for your new business, or you’re looking to revamp your current marketing strategy, you should know what is the industry standard in your line of business. It’s always a good idea to be following your competitors online and subscribing to their monthly newsletters to not only see what their marketing but also how they are marketing. If others in your industry have a strong social media strategy and regular newsletters, it’s a good idea to also remain on trend with these marketing assets.
It can sometimes be hard to track the success of your competitors without behind-the-scenes access to their business, but simple methods such as engagement and followers on social, frequency and quality of blog posts and more can help you to identify how they are generating leads. Looking at your own metrics can also identify how well your competitors are doing. If you’re not ranking high for keywords in your industry, someone has to be. So keep an eye on sudden declines in your keyword ranking to identify spots where your competitors have invested in PPC.
Looking at what your competitors are doing is just as important as looking at what your competitors are not doing. A competitive analysis can find the gaps in your competitors’ marketing strategies to open the door for opportunity for your business. This especially applied to keyword ranking, but can also apply to much larger picture marketing strategies. For example, are your competitors on LinkedIn? If not, you better be. But we go much more in depth about that here.
Looking at the marketing strategy of 10 to 12 of your competitors can give you serious insight into your own marketing efforts (and vice versa). If you’re looking for help to pinpoint marketing opportunities in your industry, H&C Inc. has a team of experts to do the heavy lifting for you. Allow us to do a competitor analysis to inform your marketing strategies. Shoot us a message today!