How can you balance competitor insights with your brand voice and values?

2 Research your competitors

Once you have a solid grasp of your brand identity, you can start researching your competitors. You can use tools like SEMrush, BuzzSumo, or SimilarWeb to analyze their content performance, keywords, topics, formats, channels, and audience engagement. You can also review their websites, blogs, social media profiles, newsletters, and other content assets to get a sense of their brand voice and values. The goal of competitor analysis is not to copy or mimic your competitors, but to learn from them. You want to find out what they are doing well, what they are missing, and what you can do better.

3 Find your content gaps and opportunities

Based on your competitor analysis, you can identify your content gaps and opportunities. Content gaps are the areas where your competitors are not addressing the needs, pain points, or interests of your audience. Content opportunities are the areas where you can offer something different, better, or more valuable than your competitors. For example, you might find a content gap in a specific keyword, topic, or format that your competitors are not covering, or a content opportunity in a unique angle, perspective, or solution that you can provide. By filling your content gaps and seizing your content opportunities, you can create content that stands out and attracts your audience.

4 Align your content with your brand voice and values

When you create content based on your content gaps and opportunities, you need to align it with your brand voice and values. This means that you need to use the tone, style, and personality that match your brand identity, and that you need to convey the message, purpose, and value that resonate with your audience. You also need to avoid copying or imitating your competitors' content, as this can harm your credibility, authenticity, and differentiation. Instead, you need to use your own voice and values to express your unique point of view, expertise, and value proposition.

5 Test and optimize your content

Finally, you need to test and optimize your content to ensure that it is effective and engaging. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, or Mailchimp to measure your content performance, such as traffic, conversions, bounce rate, dwell time, shares, and feedback. You can also use tools like Grammarly, Hemingway, or CoSchedule to improve your content quality, readability, and SEO. By testing and optimizing your content, you can find out what works and what doesn't, and what you can improve or change. You can also use your data and feedback to refine your brand voice and values, and to adjust your content strategy accordingly.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?