How can competitive analysis help you overcome organizational inertia and resistance?

As a counterpoint, not all gaps are opportunities. Just because a competitor is doing something, doesn't mean it's working for them.

Your Competitive Analysis should give an insight into your competitors missteps into potential new markets. You should know your markets by utilizing your five senses in your daily activities. Competitive Analyst is use to confirm for those that have a pulse of their markets. It’s also use to confirm those that are not.

For my new clients, I look at a minimum of 4, preferably 5 direct competitors. It can be a similar business in a different market, or a different business in the same market, targeting the same avatar. I also make sure my clients self-identify their competition. Last but not least, always look at what the analysis is not telling you! ;) For example, I look at all platforms. If none of the competitors are active on Pinterest, my curiosity is peaked and I'll go to Pinterest to see if there is an opportunity to slay it! I also include the website, not just the social media sites as part of my competitors analysis.

In my experience competitive analysis is critical but often resisted, even sometimes by those who would benefit the most from an objective analysis. Look, as the saying goes, no one wants to tell you your baby is ugly, but sometimes that's what a solid competitive analysis will say. We're all guilty of being oblivious to even our obvious flaws at times, and that can really hurt success. Whatever tools you use, inside resources or an external comp analysis firm you engage with, understanding where you are relative to the companies your sales team is fighting to compete with and filling the important gaps can make all the difference.

Take a broader way of competitors when benchmarking. Even looking to other industries. If you are a startup creating something new, you may need reference points outside of your immediate circle of peers in order to find inspiration or understand what best in class means.

Need a tool to do this? no! But if you do want a tool to benchmark, I highly recommend Socialinsider.io as a tool to benchmark yourself, or your client against their industry and competition!

By checking out your competition, it is also easy to discern what NOT to do! ;) Learn from their mistakes, as well as their best practices.

Anyone remember arguing with your parents about something and using the line "but everyone is doing it!!"? That holds true in a competitive market. Everyone copies everyone else to some degree or another, and that basically creates varying flavors of the same thing. Just because your competitor is found to offer a feature, or is selling at a certain price point, don't assume that they are right and you're missing the boat. Balance any competitive analysis with a map against your overall strategy and then decide how to move forward.

Keeping an eye on your competition is not a once-and-done activity! You need to keep tabs on them and look at their online active, website and more. TIP: Google alerts for your direct competitor's names can help you with social listening!