How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

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Competitive Analysis: Definition

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A competitive analysis can be defined as a strategy where you can identify major competitors and research their products, sales, marketing strategy, and more. By analyzing your competition on an ongoing basis, you can get to know their behavior, which will give you the opportunity to anticipate their actions and always manage to stay one step ahead.

Conducting a competitive analysis can also help you spot new market trends, identify shifts, and come up with successful tactics on time. Some companies might think that keeping an eye on their competitor’s social media accounts or blogs is enough, but this is far from the truth. To stay one step ahead, you need to have a strategy to effectively monitor your competitors and their actions. 

Why Conduct a Competitive Analysis?

Conducting a competitive analysis will help you discover your brand’s differentiators. This will give you the opportunity to stand out and to give people a reason to select your product or service over your multiple competitors. 

By performing a regular analysis you can understand your competition and you can develop the right approach for you. Some of the benefits of conducting competitive analysis are:

• Identifying gaps and shifts in the market
• Identifying strengths and differentiators
• Analyzing and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your competition
• Discovering your competitive advantage
• Uncovering possible new needs and market trends
• Developing the right strategy to sell more

In other words, competitive research is a key aspect of your success because it enables you to identify crucial information on time. Once you’ve discovered this information you can develop strategies to make the most out of your advantages. 

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

1. Identify your competitors. Identifying your competitors will allow you to understand and to keep track of your competition. Only by identifying them will you be able to capitalize on their weaknesses and maximize your strengths.  This is where you’ll gather key information such as your competition’s objectives, mission, company size, strategies, and revenue. Utilizing competitive intelligence tools can streamline this process, providing you with valuable insights and data to make informed decisions in your market strategy.

2. Categorize your competitors. There will be several different levels for your competition, and you will want to categorize and arrange them from primary to secondary and tertiary competitors. This way, you’ll know exactly at which ones you need to keep a closer look at and those that while not as important or threatening as the first category, you still need to keep on your radar. Primary competition refers to your direct competitors; businesses that are targeting your same audience or offer a similar product. Secondary competition refers to those companies that are currently offering a high or low-end version of your product or service to your audience or a different audience. Finally, tertiary competition refers to businesses that are somewhat related to yours, or that offer a partially related catalog. 

      As you identify and categorize your competition, it's recommended that you document relevant information such as:

• Name,
• Location, 
• Mission statement and vision,
• Product offering, 
• Strengths and weaknesses 

3. Identify your competitor’s market positioning. It’s crucial to analyze your competitor’s position strategy to understand what they are selling and how they are selling it. Gathering information such as what is differentiating their product, what makes their product unique, and what they highlight the most on their website, can help you get a feel at your competition and it will also give you ideas to excel at your market position.

4. Compare your product offerings. Now that you’ve gathered information, it’s time to turn your attention to your offerings. This will help you break down your product or service overview, positioning, and pricing, and opposed to your competitor’s overview, position, and pricing. Comparing features, strengths, and weaknesses will help you highlight where you are thriving and understand where you need to improve, and even make quick changes. 

Use the Right Tools to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

When it comes to managing your competition, you always have to stay one step ahead. Conducting a competitive analysis will help you gather the most relevant information so that you can study it and take action. But, as you may already know, keeping track of different details and key aspects can be difficult when you don’t have the right tools. 

Luckily, there are specialized tools that can help you manage, store, and visualize crucial data to your company. Project management software such as Instagantt will enable you to manage information and keep track of the most important details. You can quickly create Gantt charts to store, update, manage, and share relevant information that will allow you to perform your competitive analyses in the most effective way possible. 

The goal for you and your business should be to always be one step ahead. Conducting regular competitive analyses will serve as a fundamental factor when you’re creating the strategies that will help you stay on top of your competition. And Instagantt can truly help accomplish this.

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Competitive Analysis Example

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