Everyone loves competing, especially if it is healthy. Similarly, even in businesses, there is always ongoing competition, and staying ahead is a highly effective way to grow your business. Understanding the intricacies of your competitors is essential to discover strategies that can surpass their performance and effectively engage and persuade customers. For a business owner, it is important to keep a check on the competitive analysis. In other words, it is essential to identify competitors in your industry and research their different marketing strategies.

Now, let's explore the process of analysing a competitor, which enables you to leverage the unique selling points (USPs) of your business and gain a crucial competitive advantage.

Competitive analysis in digital marketing

Competitive analysis in digital marketing involves conducting research on competitors to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. It involves examining the marketing strategies, pricing tactics, product development approaches, and distribution methods employed by companies to gain valuable insights. This will help keep you on top and increase brand awareness, customer engagement, and, most importantly, revenue.

Why should you do a competitive analysis in digital marketing?

Competitive analysis can vary from person to person. It depends on what you want to discover. Let's say you are running an e-commerce business and want to improve your product offerings. You would assess your competitors' product selection, pricing, and features by conducting a competitive analysis. This examination would enable you to identify gaps in the market and understand which products are in high demand. Armed with this information, you can adjust your own product strategy, pricing, and features to meet the needs of your target audience better and gain a competitive edge.

Conducting an analysis can benefit you in many ways.

• Help you gain valuable insights into market trends, customer preferences, and emerging opportunities, which will help you make informed business decisions.
• Studying competitors' products and services allows you to identify areas for innovation and develop unique selling propositions that set you apart in the market.
• It helps you refine your own customer engagement strategies and build stronger relationships with your target audience.
• Create a benchmark to assess your performance compared to others.                             

Types of competitive analysis

Depending on your company and specific needs, various types of competitive analysis can be conducted. Each type focuses on a specific area or niche that you aim to analyse and enhance, with the objective of achieving targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) such as leads, revenue, and brand awareness. Let us look at the three main types:

1. PPC competitor analysis
Performing a PPC competitor analysis entails identifying the keywords or phrases that your competitors are targeting in their paid advertising campaigns. The primary objective is to develop PPC campaigns that yield superior results compared to your competition.

To achieve this, you can examine the types of ads your competitors are running and the platforms or networks they use for costly keywords or concentrate on conversion-oriented phrases. Assess whether their PPC efforts primarily focus on brand awareness.

2. SEO competitor analysis 
Conducting an SEO competitor analysis allows you to identify the keywords that your competitors are ranking for. This analysis provides insights into their areas of focus and assists in formulating strategies to compete in the keyword battle. You can use techniques like comparing website performance, identifying keyword gaps, or analysing backlinks and determining their sources.

3. Social media competitor analysis 

Social media is the most powerful tool for driving customer engagement. Performing a social media competitor analysis enables you to gain insights into the social networks your competitors are on, their follower count, and target demographics. This analysis provides valuable information for shaping your own social media strategy. You can look at the post frequency, what they post, and the post content.

If you put these strategies at the heart of your business, you can become a successful digital marketing strategist.

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