How to do Competitor Analysis in 2021

It is important to understand how to do Competitor Analysis in 2021. Most of us work within competitive markets. So, keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing. It makes good business sense. Keeping an eye on them allows you to adapt to business and market sector changes.

What is Competitor Analysis?

Competitor analysis evaluates the marketing strategies undertaken by companies operating within your market. These companies want to beat you and take all your customers for themselves.

What are your competitors doing?

Your market shifts and swings one way to another with or without you. Sometimes these shifts are not significant for you. Other times you get a kick up the backside. So it’s kind of vital that you can see what’s coming so you can grab it with both hands or get out of the way.

Let’s say your business is a wooden rowing boat, and your market is the wild sea. Getting anywhere is hard work. Lots of blood sweat and tears to move forward. This journey is even more challenging because you are blindfolded. And you are facing the opposite way of travel.

New obstacles

You have heard how great data is for your business, so you keep looking back. After all, you have done this trip a hundred times. You know where you are going — no need to look forward. There is a brand new lighthouse to ward off shipping from a shallow rock outcrop. Don’t worry; they will get out of your way. It’s never got in the way before. And this no need to turn round and assess the situation.

But you can’t see anything. Of course, there is a good chance that you will get to your destination — no problem at. But using your Intelligence would make things a lot easier of you could take your blindfold off. And turn round to assess the situation. Change direction, avoid the bad weather. And check what’s going on.

Take your blindfold off

Not using Competitor Analysis and Competitive Intelligence makes your blindfolded. While using data is useful, it is not always the case that the past equals the future. A shift in market dynamics may or may not work in your favour. But making monitoring the market is an essential task for you.

The entry of a new competitor or a merger between two competitors can have a say in shaping market trends. Such consequences may not always involve the number of players in the market. The introduction products that reduce the need for you is a threat.

Staying uninformed of significant shifts in the market risk your market share. Analysing your competitors allows you to stay informed about these abrupt market shifts. Notice an abrupt change in the market early, gives you time to adjust your actions. And allow you to offer countermeasures.

Digital marketing too

Competitor analysis is fundamental in crafting your content marketing strategy. You might have to wait for a while to understand how you compare with a competitor revenue. But monitoring and analysing content strategy is real-time.

To get a picture of their content marketing plan, you need to assess their content’s topics. Their frequency, length and tone. Gain your competitors’ perspective on how they want to engage with their customers. Look at the channels they are posting their content. And understand how they engage with their audience on the various platforms. Moreover, you will identify gaps in their strategies and leverage an upper hand over them.

Learning from their mistakes

Monitoring your competitors allows you to turn their failures into your success. Analysing competitors also involves analysing their customer base. Stay updated on how customers react to their strategies. By understanding what prospects and customers are saying about their offering.

Analysing customer feedback provides you with an opportunity to capture unhappy customers. This simple tactic can prove to be very useful and lead to sales. You can also focus on the aspects of your competitor’s customers care about. And what’s not important to them. Especially helpful if you plan for a product extension or launch a new product category.

Looking at what your competitors did in the past and failed could save you a lot of time and money. Either by not doing what they did or changing the way they did it. No point in you both losing money by doing the same thing. Competitor monitoring is also essential when you are benchmarking your performance. Proper benchmarking gives you an accurate picture of your position in the market.

Market needs

Competitive markets experience frequent changes and dramatic shifts in market dynamics. This may seem obvious. But your ultimate goal is maximising profit by performing better than your competitors. To take advantage, you need to be flexible and adapt to these changes in a way that suits you the most.

Adapting to market disruptions and demand changes requires an efficient competitor monitoring strategy. Before starting your plan, you need to see how your competitors react to market changes.

So, to improve your business strategy’s responsiveness, first, track what others are doing. Then adjust your strategy to adapt to changes better than them. And that’s a good base for Competitor Analysis. Hopefully, you can see the importance of how to do Competitor Analysis in 2021.

About Octopus Intelligence

When you need to win more business, when you need greater certainty when investing and making important decisions, and when you just need to beat your competitors, we answer the questions when you just need to know.

We understand we live in an increasingly uncertain, competitive and ever-shifting world. And what you need is an active real-world business development strategy.

The UK based Competitive Analysis consultants with a global client base. Offering Competitive intelligence-based growth-focused actions. To answer the what and the how for the now and the next.

So we help you beat competitors, increase sales, be disruptive, enter new markets and invest with more certainty. As Competitor Analysis and Market Intelligence consultants, we offer Strategic Intelligence. Competitive Intelligence and background checking.

We are Octopus the global Competitive Intelligence service company.