Competitor Analysis: How Your Competitors Make Your Online Marketing Better
How can you play a game when you don’t know the rules? Like a good game of Risk, you need to measure up your opponents, their strengths, their weaknesses, and decide exactly what kind of a stand you’re going to make in order to claim your portion of the market share.
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Identify Your Competitors
Sit down and make a list of all the websites and/or businesses you would consider your biggest competition. If your customers aren’t turning to you, who are they turning to? Keep in mind this may not even be something in your direct niche.
For instance, one of my clients produced videos and taught classes on how to type in a healthy manner on various devices. They didn’t really have much in terms of direct competition, but what they were competing with is the many ergonomic devices out there. This made their competitor market huge.
So, yes, even if they don’t seem like direct competitors, if your target audience might choose someone else, you have to include them in your plans.
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List Their Strengths and Weaknesses
You need to know what it is your competitors do well and where they need to improve. So, make a list of strengths and weaknesses for each one. This will become your ‘power list’.
One you’ve recorded everything, go through, item by item and list how you’re better than that competitor and how you outperform them. Once you have this, you’ll be able to lay the groundwork for your copywriting, your marketing plan, your business model, and almost every element of your business.
Layout Each Competitor’s Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy your competitors use can tell you a lot about your market and how best to find them. By listing out the main way each of your competitors generate business, you’ll be able to use the same concepts and ideas yourself. Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean copying them! Doing that will also mean you’ll copy their mistakes!
As an added bonus, you’ll be able to analyze each competitor’s marketing plan and identify areas, segments, and concepts they’ve missed. This will give you years of information and ideas for years to come, particularly if you refresh your competitor analysis on a regular basis.
Find out what types of places their using to generate traffic. Where are they advertising? What kind of referrers do they have for their website? What sorts of keywords are they using? Which audience segments are they targeting? Particular regions they’re performing well in?
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Competitor Content Analysis
Take a wander through your competitor’s content strategy. Start on their home page, go through their product/services pages, look through their blog posts, their guest posts, social media content, everything.
As you go through, make note of:
- What features and benefits do they place an emphasis on?
- What style and tone do they use?
- How have they structured their content? Does it work? Why or why not?
- Have they used link bait or buzz content? Was it successful, and if so, why and who did it attract?
- Have they been using specific social networks? Which ones? How?
- Where have they been placing content?
- Have they been focusing on certain target audiences, uses, products, or ideas?
At this point, you already have the framework for a comprehensive and effective marketing plan. You simply need to incorporate your own goals, priorities, ideas, and needs.
September 29, 2010 at 6:45 am | Marketing | No comment
