What Is a Competitor Analysis?

If you’re looking for ways to stay ahead of the trends in your industry, you need to know what your competitors are up to. That’s where competitor analysis comes in. By understanding their strengths, weaknesses, and strategies, you can develop a unique plan for your brand and gain a crucial edge to stand out against your competitors. 

 

But how do you conduct competitor analysis effectively? Read our blog below to find out what a competitor analysis is and how to conduct one that reflects your individual business needs. 

What Is Competitor Analysis?

A competitor analysis is the process of evaluating your competitors to identify their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. This helps businesses make informed decisions and develop more effective marketing, sales, and product strategies.

 

By conducting a thorough competitor analysis, you can identify market gaps and opportunities, benchmark your brand against competitors, refine your marketing and pricing strategies, improve your product or service offering, and anticipate market trends and shifts.

 

How can it help your business?

• By analysing competitors’ tactics, marketing budget allocation, and top-performing pages and keywords to stay ahead of trends. 
• Assess where your competitors are focusing their efforts compared to your strategy so you don’t fall behind. 
• Capitalise on untapped opportunities by refining your approach based on competitor success, driving business growth.

 

How to Conduct a Competitor Analysis in 7 Steps

1. Identify Your Competitors

Start by making a list of direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors offer similar products or services, while indirect competitors target the same audience with alternative solutions.

 

Use competitor research tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Search to uncover key players in your industry.

 

2. Analyse Their Strengths and Weaknesses

Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) for each competitor.

 

Strengths:

 

What do they do well?

Do they have strong brand recognition?

Are they known for high-quality products or services?

Do they have superior customer service?

Are they dominating the market in a particular area?

 

Weaknesses:

 

Where do they fall short?

Are there common customer complaints?

Do they lack innovation or struggle with outdated products?

Are their prices too high or too low?

Do they have a weak online presence?

 

Opportunities:

 

Are there emerging market trends they aren’t capitalising on?

Can you offer a better customer experience?

Are there gaps in their product range that you can fill?

Can you target an underserved audience?

 

Threats:

 

Are they expanding into your niche?

Are there external factors (economic downturns, regulations) that could impact them and you?

Are they investing heavily in marketing and innovation?

Could new competitors disrupt the market?

 

By breaking down these areas, you’ll be able to identify where you can outperform your competition and create strategies that leverage your strengths.

 

 

3. Examine Their Marketing Strategies

 

Dig into how competitors attract and retain customers by analysing their content marketing (blogs, videos, social media posts), advertising (Google Ads, paid social campaigns), SEO tactics (keywords, backlinks, site structure), and email marketing strategies.

 

This insight can inform your own marketing approach and highlight potential gaps to exploit.

 

4. Evaluate Their Customer Experience

 

Customer experience is a crucial differentiator. Check online reviews, testimonials, and customer feedback to understand how people feel about your competitors.

 

Consider using tools like Trustpilot and Google Reviews to gain insights into their strengths and pain points. Take note of common complaints, as they might highlight an opportunity for your business to excel where they struggle.

 

5. Review Their Products and Services

 

If possible, purchase a competitor’s product or service to assess quality, user experience, and packaging. Pay attention to ease of use, features and benefits, customer support quality, and after-sales service.

 

Analysing these qualities will give you a better understanding of where your product stands in comparison.

 

6. Analyse Their Online Presence

 

A strong online presence is often a sign of a well-established competitor. Review their website, blog, and social media platforms to determine how they engage with their audience.

 

Key things to analyse include:

 

• Website design and user experience
• Blog frequency and quality
• Social media engagement rates
• Use of video content
• Community management

 

By comparing these elements to your own, you can spot areas for improvement in your digital strategy.

 

7. Track and Monitor Regularly

 

Competitor analysis isn’t a one-time task – it’s an ongoing process which should be monitored regularly. Set up alerts with tools like Google Alerts and Mention to stay updated on competitors’ new developments, product launches, and marketing campaigns.

 

Regular tracking ensures you stay ahead and can quickly adapt to any shifts in the market.

Key Competitor Analysis Tools

There are many tools available to help you conduct effective competitor research. Here are some of the best options:

 

SEMrush & Ahrefs – Great for tracking SEO performance and keyword rankings.

 

SimilarWeb – Provides insights into website traffic and digital marketing strategies.

 

BuzzSumo – Helps track content performance and trending topics.

 

Google Alerts – Notifies you whenever your competitors are mentioned online.

 

Social Blade – Analyses social media performance across multiple platforms.

 

Using these tools will save you time and provide data-driven insights into your competitors’ strategies.

Applying Your Findings to Your Business

Once you’ve gathered all this information, it’s time to use it to refine your own strategy. Here’s how:

 

Improve Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Identify areas where competitors fall short and make them your strengths.

 

Enhance Your Marketing Approach: Use their successes and failures to guide your own content, advertising, and SEO strategies.

 

Optimise Your Pricing and Offers: Ensure your products or services are positioned competitively based on market trends.

 

Refine Your Customer Experience: Learn from competitor reviews and customer complaints to improve your own service.

Conclusion

A well-executed competitor analysis helps you refine your strategy, identify opportunities, and stay ahead of the competition. By using SWOT analysis and competitor research tools, you can uncover valuable insights that shape your brand’s growth. Competitor research should be an ongoing process, allowing you to change direction when necessary and seize new opportunities as they arise.

 

Here at Clever Clicks Digital we offer competitor analysis as a one-off service or as part of our SEO/PPC retainers. During competitor analysis, we unveil the tactics and strategies your competitors are employing. This includes insights into their areas of focus and the allocation of their marketing budget. 

 

Contact our team of experts to find out more.