The power of competitive analysis: how do you stay one step ahead of the competition?

Why is competitive analysis important?

Conducting a competitive analysis provides you with in-depth insights into how your competitors operate. This goes beyond just looking at their products or services. It is about their marketing strategies, their strengths and weaknesses and how they respond to market needs.

Here are a few benefits of good competitive analysis:

• Discovering market trends: By analysing what your competitors are doing, you will get a better idea of trends in your sector.
• Identify new opportunities: By seeing where your competitors leave stitches, you can identify opportunities to differentiate yourself.
• Better positioning: By comparing yourself to the competition, you can communicate more clearly why customers should choose you.

In short, a strong competitive analysis helps you make informed decisions and ensures you can stay ahead of your competitors.

Step 1: Identify your competitors

The first thing you need to do is determine who your competitors actually are. These can be direct competitors, companies that offer exactly the same product or service as you, but also indirect competitors, who offer something similar that attracts the same target audience.

Make a list of companies active in your market and consider what impact they have on your business. A handy way to do this is to simply google which companies come up on keywords relevant to your products or services.

In addition, you can use tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Alerts use to identify new players in your market and monitor their activities.

Step 2: Analyse their marketing strategy

The next step in competitive analysis is to scrutinise your competitors' marketing strategy. This can be done in several ways:

• Website analysis: Check out their website. How do they present their brand? What is their tone of voice? What does their user experience look like? Are there things that stand out, such as testimonials, prices or frequently asked questions that you don't already have?
• Content strategy: Are your competitors actively looking at content marketing? How often do they publish blogs, videos or newsletters? What topics do they cover? By analysing which content is performing well among your competitors, you can get inspiration for your own strategy.
• Social media: Check out their presence on social media. What platforms do they use and how often do they post something? Do they get a lot of interaction from their followers? By understanding what works well for your competitors, you can get ideas to improve your social media approach.

Pay particular attention to what your competitors are consistent at. Do they recognise the same market problems as you? Or do they choose a completely different angle?

Step 3: Analyse their SEO and advertising efforts

SEO and online advertising are crucial components of a successful marketing strategy. It is therefore important to see how your competitors score in these.

• SEO analysis: Use tools like Ahrefs or Moz to see which keywords your competitors are ranking high on. This will give you an idea of where their focus lies and where you may be able to fill gaps in your own SEO strategy.
• Advertising strategy: take a look at your competitors' ads. Google Ads and Facebook often offer insight into what ads your competitors are running. Where do they focus their paid campaigns? Is it focused on brand awareness or do they want to drive more direct sales?

When you discover which strategies work well for your competitors, you can apply this knowledge to refine your own SEO and advertising strategy.

Step 4: Identify their strengths and weaknesses

Once you have gathered enough information about your competitors, it is time to identify their strengths and weaknesses. You do this by comparing their offerings with yours. For example, look at:

• Product quality: Do your competitors offer products or services of similar quality? How are they ranked on review sites such as Google Reviews or Trustpilot?
• Customer service: What is the reputation of their customer service? What do customers say in reviews about their experiences? This could be an area where you can excel.
• Prices: How do they compete in terms of price? Are you more expensive or cheaper? And does your value for money offer more value to the customer?
  By knowing where your competitors are strong or weak, you can sharpen your own value proposition and stand out in areas where they fall short.

Step 5: Adjust your strategy

The power of competitive analysis lies in the ability to turn the insights gained into action. After you have properly analysed your competitors, it is important to use that information to refine your own strategy.

• Improve your USPs: Capitalise on your unique selling points (USPs) and communicate them clearly to your target audience.
• Fill in the gaps: For example, does a competitor not offer excellent customer service, while you can? Capitalise on this.
• Keep innovating: Don't rest on your laurels. The business landscape is constantly changing, and you have to be willing to innovate and keep adjusting your strategy based on new insights.

Conclusion: competitive analysis as a growth strategy

Competitive analysis is a powerful tool to keep your business on its toes and identify new opportunities. By knowing what your competitors are doing, you can better respond to market needs and differentiate yourself. Do you also want to stay ahead of the competition and grow with a strong strategy? Contact us to find out how we can strengthen your competitive analysis!