Pack your binoculars and a notebook. It’s time to set on a mission to enter your competitor’s lair and unveil their marketing secrets.
You don’t literally need to sneak into their lair, there are a lot of tools available online that you can use to do so. It is perfectly legal and ethical.
So, find the briefing for your mission below. It will help you understand the key points you should be focussing on when you are monitoring and analysing your competitors.
- Content
If you look at what your competitors are publishing, you can pick up a lot of knowledge about content marketing. You’ll learn how successful your competitors are at publishing content. When you read their articles, you can tell what kinds of content their readers enjoy and what kind of content they typically produce. If you keep an eye on these activities, you’ll be able to identify any content gaps and figure out how to fill them. Join their mailing lists and keep up with all of their posts.
- Traffic
The increased traffic to websites and apps is a key factor in increased revenue for online businesses and organisations. You can tell that your competitors are succeeding if you see that they have more visitors when you search for them. Using various tools, such as SimilarWeb, you can evaluate the traffic of other websites. These tools can assist in locating the source of traffic, and investing in the blogs, directories, and other sources that have brought traffic to your competitors is a smart move.
Here’s a side note: Don’t steal their content. Only use it as an inspiration for your Marketing strategy.
- Design
How frequently have you opened a book with an understated cover? Most likely never. When we read, the way it has been presented is the very first thing that grabs our attention. In many cases, the way that content is presented rather than the quality of the writing is what makes it go viral. So, examine the content of your rivals, paying close attention to the pieces that have been performing particularly well. If you can, look at the profiles of their designers to learn what design software they employ.
Again, don’t steal their design ideas or templates. There are accounts on social media acting as the “Social Media Police” to expose these practices.
- SEO and Backlinking
You can learn which websites are sending visitors to your rivals by using basic SEO tools. Planning which websites to approach for backlinks is now possible. There seems to be no justification for them not to backlink to the website of your business if they have already agreed to do so for one of your competitors. Similar to this, you will be able to ascertain the keywords that they are utilising so that you can compete directly with them.
- Customer Base
Competitors selling similar products to you will be aiming for the customer base most likely to purchase that product. If your sales are declining, take a cue from their clientele and aim for the same market to increase sales and expand your clientele. How can I locate their clientele? Simple: Everyone enjoys boasting about their clients. Examine the names of their clients on their website, case studies, customer, and media mentions. To find satisfied and unhappy customers, search their social media profiles. If your competitor is losing customers, you can determine why this is happening and take advantage of it. Once you find out that there is a loophole in their marketing, you can use that to your advantage and acquire their lost customers.
- Customer Service
Your business must satisfy all of your customers’ needs because they are the only source of revenue. Learn how your competitors’ customers are treated and what complaints they have so that you can remember them and not make the same mistakes in your services to keep your customers happy.
Now that you are clear with the brief, we hope you know what you need to watch out for. If you need any assistance in competition research and analysis, you can contact us and we would be more than happy to help you.
We are a digital marketing agency based in Mumbai and we help you choose and execute the right digital marketing practices with our expertise. We keep a watch on your competitors and suggest you solutions that best suit your business.
