Does your business put a priority on its competitive market analysis and competitive analysis ideas? Does it monitor marketplace trends and its understanding of market change? And most importantly, does it put a priority on making changes as a result of insights from this analysis?
Whoever tries the most stuff usually wins.
Related: The Small Business Crash Course on Creative Business Ideas
No business attribute is more important today than that of adaptability, as many, many businesses are on the brink of irrelevance unless they change as fast as change itself. Your strategies do run out of steam, get old, and become ineffective … you need to keep refreshing them based on your anticipation of the next change. A competitive analysis is critical in helping with your anticipation of market and customer change. Read on to understand why.
Why do a competitive analysis?
A vigorous competition watch kills two birds with a single stone – helps with a better understanding of rival tactics and opens a window through which you can see your own problem areas. Further, I’m sure you’d agree that knowing where you stand is highly important.
Still, looking for reasons to use competitive analysis in improving business success? Read through the following reasons and find out yourself.
Identify opportunities to serve newly acquired and prospective customers.
Determine the size of the market – identify service gaps and areas for self-improvement where competition is exploiting at the moment.
Find the tested ways to cater to the target market.
Update and add unique value propositions.
Conclude if your marketing strategies are effective.
Benefits of competitive research
There are many benefits of effective competitive analysis. Here are the ones we feel are most significant:
You can really dive into your market to understand it better.
Define who your real customers are and better target them.
You can get an understanding of what your competitors have done that has been successful without re-inventing the wheel.
Isolate trends that make a positive difference.
Who are your competitors?
Most companies believe they know who their competitors are. But when we do a little research on identifying them, they are usually surprised by the results. Here are the questions and facts you need to know and be asking yourselves:
What to find about your competitor and where?
A local store is not your competitor online if they don’t offer their service via the internet. Your competitors based online could be entirely different. Examine new and emerging players in the market.
Evaluate the premise of your rivals – if you share similarities, look for areas where a certain edge can be established and nurtured.
Competition analysis – How to do it effectively
Taking a sneak peek at competitors requires a little undercover work from your office and occasionally doing a walk around surveillance. Here are some things you should consider:
Acquisition approach
Look for rivals’ social media engagement – how frequently they respond to their clients, are their social media reps doing a decent job or not, and subtle indicators of customer acquisition via self-promotion.
Unique value propositions
Learn how your rivals are playing the game, so you can beat them to the punch. The unique value proposition sheds light on the fraction of clients that your rival is fixated on.
Online strategy
How many followers do they have?
