Competitor Research to Help You Stand Out
Product competitor analysis involves gathering information about your competitors’ products, strategies, and market position.
This process helps you understand how your own products stack up against the competition and identifies areas for improvement or differentiation.
Here are some steps to conduct effective product competitor analysis:
Identifying your competitors:
Start by identifying the main competitors in your market.
Look for companies that offer similar products or target the same customer segment.
Analyse both direct competitors (those offering the same type of product) and indirect competitors (those offering alternative solutions).
Defining your competitor analysis goals
Clarify what you want to learn from your competitor research.
This could include understanding their product features, pricing strategies, marketing tactics, customer reviews, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.
Having clear goals will help you focus your research efforts.
Studying their products
Examine your competitors’ products in detail.
Analyse their features, functionalities, and design. Pay attention to any unique selling points or key differentiators they emphasise.
Identify areas where their products excel and areas where they fall short.
Analysing pricing strategies
Investigate your competitors’ pricing models.
Determine how they position their products in terms of price, whether they offer any discounts or promotions, and how their pricing compares to yours.
This information will help you evaluate your own pricing strategy and identify opportunities to differentiate or adjust your pricing.
Evaluating marketing and branding efforts
Explore your competitors’ marketing and branding strategies.
Look at their websites, social media presence, advertising campaigns, and content marketing.
Assess their messaging, target audience, and the overall brand image they project – Take note any unique selling propositions or marketing tactics they employ.
Gathering customer feedback and reviews
Check online review platforms, forums, and social media channels to understand how customers perceive your competitors’ products.
Look for common complaints or praises to identify areas where your product can stand out or address customers’ pain points better.
This research can also provide insights into customer expectations and preferences.
Monitoring industry trends and news
Stay updated on the latest industry news and trends related to your competitors.
Subscribe to relevant newsletters, follow industry influencers, and join industry forums or communities.
This information will give you a broader perspective on market dynamics and potential opportunities or threats.
SWOT analysis
Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) for each of your key competitors.
Identify their unique strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities they’re capitalizing on, and potential threats they pose to your business.
This analysis will help you understand your competitive landscape and inform your own product strategy.
SEO website crawl
By crawling your competitors’ websites, you can analyse their keyword usage and content strategy.
Look for the keywords they are targeting, the structure of their content, and the topics they cover.
This information can help you identify new keyword opportunities and develop a content strategy to compete effectively.
A website crawl can also help you uncover the backlinks pointing to your competitors’ websites.
Analysing these can guide your own link building efforts and help you identify potential opportunities for acquiring high-quality backlinks.
Remember, website crawling should be done ethically and responsibly, respecting the privacy and terms of service of the websites you crawl.
There are various SEO tools available that can help you conduct website crawls and gather the necessary data for analysis, some examples include Screaming Frog and Semrush.
Drawing insights and taking action
After gathering all the necessary information, analyse your findings and draw actionable insights.
Identify areas where your product can differentiate itself or improve to gain a competitive advantage.
Use this knowledge to refine your product development, marketing, and overall business strategy.
Ongoing Competitor Analysis
Remember, competitor analysis is an ongoing process.
Continuously monitor your competitors and adapt your strategies accordingly to stay ahead in the market.
(Last Updated: 19 June, 2023)
