Competitor analysis, also known as competitive analysis, is of vital importance for all businesses that operate in the online market. The main reason is that you need to know what your competitors are doing at all times so that you can find a way to gain an advantage over them. This sounds easier than it actually is.
A competitive analysis must be conducted thoroughly because you need solid information that can help you out in the long run. In other words, you have to plan your approach and develop a strategy that will allow you to keep an eye on your competition. With that in mind, let’s have a closer look at what competitive analysis is and why you need it, to begin with.
Simply put, competitive analysis is a strategy that allows you to closely monitor your competitors’ activities. Those activities include their marketing strategies, how they communicate with their audience, which media channels they leverage and so on.
The main purpose of this analysis is to help you identify market gaps you can exploit so that you can gain a competitive advantage. However, many businesses make a crucial mistake here. As a matter of fact, a lot of companies use competitive analysis to copy what their competitors are doing.
If they are successful, then doing exactly the same as they do will make you successful too, right? Quite the opposite actually.
Online audiences will quickly notice the similarities between two competitive companies, especially if they have the same approach. It’s safe to say that they won’t like it at all. Therefore, the purpose of a competitive analysis isn’t to copy others but to learn from their actions and do something better.
As mentioned before, competitive analysis isn’t meant to help you copy what your competitors are doing. Instead, it should help you assess their strengths and weaknesses so that you’ll know in which direction to go from there.
For example, if your competitors have poor content marketing, you should focus on improving yours. That way you’ll have an edge where they don’t, which will give you an advantage. The real purpose of a competitive analysis is to help you create something unique and you cannot do that if you don’t know what everyone else is doing.
A competitive analysis can be a real life-saver for businesses, especially those that are new in the market. Operating in a highly competitive environment means that you must do everything you can to survive. If that means watching what your competitors are doing, then so be it. You can rest assured that they are doing the same to you.