What are the most common mistakes to avoid when segmenting and profiling competitors?

It’s more important to segment based on consumer needs rather than competitors. By creating a product for a certain set of consumers, you may end up creating a space or category of your own with no direct competitors. This would put you ahead of anyone in the game.

Avoid limiting your analysis to just product features. Consider broader dimensions such as customer service, market positioning, brand perception, and technological innovation. Understanding these aspects can provide a more holistic view of competitive dynamics and reveal opportunities for differentiation.

When we're sizing up our competitors, it's easy to get stuck just looking at what they're offering right now. But we need to dig deeper and understand why customers choose them over us, and what makes us stand out. Asking which is our value proposition, keeping our focus on what customers want, thinking ahead, and being open to new ideas is key. In today's fast-changing world, we've got to stay ahead of shifts in how people buy and use products. Take Kodak for example—they missed the boat on digital photography and paid the price. And with trends like sustainability, new products like menstrual cups can shake up traditional markets. So, staying alert to new competition is vital for staying in the game

Product features are only one part of vendor competencies. There are other aspects like product support, partner ecosystem, compliance, and platform/integration capabilities which are often the real drivers of adoption. This applies more when navigating up market segments in terms business size and ticket volumes. Small vendors often build simpler versions of larger apps and market it as a giant-killers. But they fail to understand that customers aren’t just looking for ease of use or affordability sometimes but a whole suite of support-related services which they may not possess. Achieving product market fit requires a detailed study of those you’re competing against on these regards and position yourself against the ‘right’ competition.

When segmenting and profiling competitors, avoid solely focusing on direct rivals and neglecting smaller players; instead, consider the broader competitive landscape. Don't rely only on quantitative data; qualitative insights like customer feedback and industry trends provide valuable context. Update competitor profiles regularly to keep pace with evolving strategies, and be wary of underestimating new entrants or non-traditional competitors. Pay attention to digital presence for insights into online strategies and customer sentiment, and analyze pricing strategies to understand market positioning. Lastly, don't forget to incorporate customer feedback into your analysis to identify competitor strengths and weaknesses effectively.

Staying ahead in competitive analysis requires more than assumptions and outdated data. Regular, thorough research is crucial. Relying on assumptions risks bias and inaccuracy, while outdated data blinds you to the dynamic shifts in markets. Profiling competitors demands real-time insights to accurately gauge their strengths, weaknesses, and potential threats. Avoid the pitfall of stagnant analysis; embrace the power of up-to-date research for a sharper competitive edge.

Research is very important when it comes to profiling. Many business fail because of improper/poor industry and user research. When it comes to competitors, you have to be a detective, the public data will not be helpful for decision making.

Caer en el error de basar el perfilado de competidores en suposiciones y datos obsoletos es un camino seguro hacia estrategias desfasadas. En un mundo donde el mercado evoluciona a un ritmo vertiginoso, apoyarse en información desactualizada o suposiciones sin fundamento puede desviar significativamente nuestra comprensión del panorama competitivo. La realidad es que los competidores se transforman, innovan y cambian sus estrategias constantemente. Por lo tanto, una visión precisa y actualizada es crucial. La inteligencia competitiva no es un ejercicio de una sola vez, sino un proceso continuo que requiere verificación y actualización constante.

la fraicheur de la Data est un élément capital dans le processus décisionnel. une étude basée sur des données obsolètes ne peut conduire qu'à des décisions biaisées. Négliger les tendances du marché par manque de connaissance ou d'informations peut causer la décroissance d'une marque ou d'un produit.

In addition to applying assumptions or using outdated data, another mistake is using too few data sources. The best competitive intel is well-rounded, combining third party, aggregate data, external media, public sentiment, and, if possible, feedback from former employees or customers.

It's also important to consider both direct and indirect competitors when analyzing the competitive landscape. Direct competitor offer the same or similar products or services, while indirect competitors may offer alternative products or services that satisfy the same customer needs. Ignoring indirect competitors can lead to a narrow understanding of your market position and potential threats to your business.

In my experience, one of the mistakes we tend to make is keeping our competitor basket confined to our present circumstances. For a business that intends to grow and scale, one mustn’t look only toward competitors of today, but also at those that will be competition 5 years from now. It must be a key part of every company’s 5-year strategy.

Every brand has a unique selling proposition. Stick to it when profiling competitions. What makes you stand out is where your segmentation should lie and research only a handful of competitions within that USP to stay ahead of the competition.

Ao segmentar demais você gera uma análise nebulosa e irrelevante, enquanto segmentar muito pouco limita a vis?o e ignora potenciais amea?as. Equilíbrio é tudo quando falamos em análises eficazes.

With increasingly larger category of products coming into the market, it is important to identify the right set of characteristics that define your own product and select competitors basis few key aspects which can lead to relevant insights beneficial for the growth of your product. While too many could lead to confusion and always have a tendency to skew your data, too few could make you miss out on key aspects that your product may not be possessing. Products that have the right balance of competitors can help generate meaningful and logical insights without skewing the data. It also helps in gathering knowledge of attributes that is just right for your product while few others which might be beneficial to be added in the long run.

Onestly, You can analyze your competitors endlessly. It is crucial to be clear about the purpose of your current competitor analysis. It will follow what exactly we should research and from which competitors, so that the data collected will benefit the company. In my experience, clearly stating the purpose of competitor analysis makes it easier to set tasks for the staff (product managers or marketers). This saves time in the process (you don't have to spend a lot of time explaining the task and controlling the execution) and improves the quality of the final result. When a performer knows "WHY", they understand more quickly how to effectively handle the task, where and what information should be collected and how to interpret it.

Segmentar e tra?ar o perfil dos concorrentes deve ser encarado como uma ferramenta estratégica, projetada para fornecer insights relevantes que apoiam decis?es de negócios. Isso implica em compreender n?o apenas quem s?o os concorrentes e como eles se posicionam no mercado, mas também em identificar suas for?as, fraquezas, estratégias e objetivos. Esse entendimento profundo permite que as empresas desenvolvam estratégias mais eficazes para explorar as vulnerabilidades dos concorrentes, diferenciar-se no mercado, antecipar movimentos competitivos e identificar oportunidades para crescimento e inova??o.

While large competitors may dominate the market, niche competitors can still impact specific segments significantly. Pay attention to niche players that cater to specialized customer needs or emerging trends

When segmenting competitors, we need to divide them into two primary groups to facilitate measuring KPIs later on: - Market leaders - Close competitors This segmentation serves the purpose of understanding the market better, narrowing our objectives, and establishing clear long-term goals. Analyzing market leaders enables us to identify trends and develop campaigns based on these insights. Close competitor analysis is necessary for setting KPIs and devising countermeasures. Therefore, organizing competitors in this fashion fosters thorough competitor analysis, assisting in the development of plans, budget projections, and countermeasures, encompassing new product introductions and associated campaigns.

You have to be clear on what you want to achieve out of the analysis and how/where you want to use this analysis. Only then you will be able to consider the right attributes for segmentation and profiling.

Working with paid advertising, we should monitor auction insights to understand who our competitors are. It's better to do this at least once a month. After analyzing and segmenting, we should correct our ad and website copies, extensions, and bid strategies.

From my experience as a marketer, data has always been a reference for profiling and segmenting. I suggest that we need to test the current strategy with the target audience following the trend. Continue to enhance campaigns in real time. Because there's so much information targeting everyone at the tip of their fingers every minute.

I have a saying "Strategy is easy, implementation is difficult." If you really think about it. that's also why everyone has a business idea, but most people fail in business. When you have done your competitor analysis and you have a profile on each of your competitors, staying up-to-date with what they do is key, so you can update your data and your strategy.

Obtaining data on your competition and not applying it is like never opening a free gift. You have something in hand that can help you gain an advantage in the marketplace, but it’s going unutilized. The longer you allow this to happen, the more you will lose the ability to compete. Not only should this type of data be collected on an on-going basis, but it should also be monitored regularly, with any findings applied immediately. Part of your marketing team should be dedicated to this task full-time so that your marketing efforts pay off by staying competitive in the marketplace.

le PDCA, principe vieux de l'amélioration continue en management, met en lumière cette dynamique d'intégrer les résultats dans le processus continu de segmentation.

Companies often go into their segmentations with pre-conceived notions of who their audiences are. They rely on their own customer databases or only survey people who they think are using their category or brand, not realizing there is another segment out there that is still an important group. These are ghost segments. And they are important to identify and account for because they can represent a tremendous opportunity if they are marketed to, or otherwise introduced into the brand’s ecosystem.

The truth is always out there! In my experience, primary data helps 1. Conversations with existing customers would reveal what was their consideration set of vendors and why they chose you. 2. Conversations with sales / pre-sales team would reveal who are the vendors we compete with in our active pipeline If you plot the intersection of above, you have your priority 1 competitors. The rest based on secondary research or other data sources could be your next priority. You are better off focusing on your priority 1 competitors to build your strategy & pitch around your differentiated value

This is my tip?? Many years ago, I was a young direct marketing consultant working with a very experienced one, who have done hundreds of projects across all industries across the world. Each time I have asked him for his benchmark for customer behavior for my of my clients, he advised me to “Test”. One day I have asked him why do I have to “test” while he has the experience & the knowledge??? He replied: “My experience & knowledge taught me, that the customers of different company’s behave differently” This is my tip??

Ensuring competitor analysis aligns with strategic business objectives is key to actionable insights. It guides product development, customer experience, and market expansion strategies. This approach transforms data into a strategic asset, keeping businesses competitive.

Neglecting Customer Feedback. Disregarding customer feedback about competitors can overlook valuable insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and overall market perception.