What do you have that the competition doesn’t?? Part 3, Competitive Analysis By Becky Amble ?2022
Becky Amble, MBA
Strategy | Top & Bottom-Line Growth | Artificial Intelligence | Best-Selling Author |
Yea! We are finally ready to check out the competition. They are various ways you can do this including a website analysis, LinkedIn Biz Page, possibly social media, literature you have collected or downloaded, trade shows, trade publications and more.
Go to the website
Let’s keep it simple and go to each competing company’s website and get some info. Do this first and fill in blanks from other sources if you need to. Take the easy way and get something done.
Keep your original questions in mind
Remember the questions that you used in the first two parts of this when you did internal analysis and external analysis? Well keep those in mind. Here they are again to refresh your memory.
1.????What makes our company different or unique in what we do/sell?
2.????What makes our products or services different or unique? (If you offer a product and follow up with service aspects, do two questions. One for each: What makes our product different or unique? What makes our service different or unique? In this case it is mostly service after the sale.)
3.????What do we do better than anybody else in the marketplace?
Fill in the data
The first few columns are simple pieces of info: name, location/address, type of ownership, age of company. Then you get to the good stuff:?differentiation, services, brands/products, reviews. When you look at reviews, providing there are some, look for the key words that people use. Write those down.
The most important part is to identify how the competing firms differentiate. Positioning is a bit trickier concept so I lumped them together for now. Take a look at the website. What do they say they do that is different, unique, better from other companies? Fill that in on the form. Add more rows and adjust for your business.
Analyze the data
Your last step it to take the info that you gathered and compare thst to what your company says. Are you all saying the same things? Are there clear differences? And you need to also take a look at what customers said matters to them. It is most important that you have that in your messaging, sales language, etc. It is worth checking to see if any of the competition are hitting the right messages.
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Make changes
Now you are armed with great information. Again, the most important point is to know what customers care most about. What did they say was most important? Obviously, this is where actual customer interviews are ideal. If you did this through your role-play method, use what you came up with.
Craft your messages
Ready, set, write. Craft your messages using what you learned. What words did customers use, or you get in your role-playing internally? What do they care about? Create new messages to reflect and build on this info. If all you need to do is some tweaking, do that.
As you have seen, it is an iterative process. It takes steps. Do each step and check it off your list. Then do the next and before you know it, you’ll be armed with information you can use to do a much better job of hitting your target [as in your target market]. You are ready to write any messaging for your website, blog, social media, content and more. Incorporate what you learned and keep listening to customers and adjust as needed. Hit the bullseye with your messages!?
Photo credit: Kampus Productions
Becky Amble has spent over 25 years leading organizations to grow and increase profits through cutting-edge marketing strategies, market information and future trends. She has worked as a general manager and Vice President in corporate America and been a consultant and factional marketing resource for Fortune 50 companies to micro businesses.?She has successfully navigated in over 30 different industries in the B2B space from med tech to professional service firms.?She is a bestselling author of over 10 books and numerous articles.?She continues to help her businesses grow by identifying market needs demographic trends and results-oriented business strategies.
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The Alternative Board (TAB) St. Paul | Owner and Peer Group Facilitator | Surrounding Small Business Owners With Other Successful Small Business Owners
2 年Well crafted Becky Amble, MBA, CDMP, CAL. This article spells out competitive analysis in a simple and easy way. It's a time consuming process, but well worth the time. Thanks Becky!
Jazz Ventures Partner Senior Executive Consultant positioning companies right for funding. Mind Health & Wellness Coach/Speaker
2 年The best way to do each of your steps is to bring you in to do them right!
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2 年Amazing Insights Becky Amble, MBA, CDMP, CAL! A clear cut guide to analyse and position your brand.
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2 年I really appreciate how you have laid out the steps and what to do from there! Thank you so much for sharing a valuable tool to get a leg up on the competition!
I help COMMITTED clients & teams PREPARE for & REALIZE life-long ADVENTURE.
2 年I found the following passage insightful Becky Amble, MBA, CDMP, CAL. Thanks for that. “Your last step it to take the info that you gathered and compare that to what your company says. Are you all saying the same things? Are there clear differences? And you need to also take a look at what customers said matters to them. It is most important that you have that in your messaging, sales language, etc. It is worth checking to see if any of the competition are hitting the right messages.” Now that’s marketing messages on TARGET!