A Guide On How To Conduct A Competitor Analysis

Did you know that 50% of small businesses don’t have a marketing strategy?

This scares us. But we get it; marketing projects have a way of becoming more complicated than business owners would like. But they don’t have to be. 

Conducting a competitive analysis can be written off by businesses. But it’s such a valuable tool that can be done easily with clear action items.

Here’s our guide to conducting the best competitor analysis ever! 

Know Who Your Competitors Actually Are

Sometimes we can start something with such a strong vision that it makes it challenging for us to see it any other way. We see this frequently with founders. 

If your marketing strategy is checking all the boxes but lacking in return, it could be because you’re not targeting the right audience. Knowing who your competitors actually are is dependent on knowing your audience. 

There are a lot of tools and resources out there. For example, Alexa and SEMRush will show you who your competitors are in terms of search. If there’s a disconnect, it’s time to do some audiences research. 

Key Factors for Conducting a Competitor Analysis

Once you know for certain that your audience is accurate and are able to identify who your true competitors are you’re ready to conduct a competitor analysis. You’ll want to analyze 5 to 10 of your top competitors. 

Here’s a simple cheat sheet to use:

Once you run through this template with each competitor, analyze the similarities and differences between them. The key here is to develop some actionable takeaways and to clearly see how your business stands-out. 

Why You Need to Do a Competitive Analysis 

We don’t think it’s good to get obsessive about what your competitors are doing. You can waste a lot of valuable time and energy that could be better spent on building your brand-up. 

But, checking-in with your competitors yearly or to source ideas for a new campaign is honestly something everything type of business could benefit from. Following this simple template can help you see shortcomings in your own strategies and generate ideas you might not have considered otherwise. 

Conducting a competitor analysis can also help keep your brand in check. If you get too disconnected you run the risk of missing important audience and market trends.