Why does my business need a competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is a way of establishing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, to provide you with an advantage. This is vital in your marketing plan, as it can help you identify what makes your products and services unique and how you differentiate from your competition. It’s a great way of discovering opportunities and threats, and how to overcome both.

How do I create a competitive analysis?

For each of your competitors, answer the following questions:

• Who are your competitors?
• What products or services are they selling?
• What is each competitor’s market share?
• What were their past strategies?
• What are their current strategies?
• Do they use social media to market their products or services? How?
• How else do they advertise themselves?
• What are their strengths?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What potential opportunities do they make available for you?
• How much of a threat are they to you?

Most business owners are already aware of their main competitors. But if you don’t know your current and potential competition, look at the market from your customer’s viewpoint and group your competitors by how much they contend for the buyer’s money. Or group your competitors by what their competitive strategies are.

A competitive analysis is really critical in creating your own marketing strategy By identifying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and what situations could be an opportunity or a threat for them (this is known as a SWOT analysis), you are one big step closer to formulating how to run your business.

It isn’t easy to identify exactly who your competitors are, and to be able to answer all the questions listed above. But with my marketing expertise, I can be a great help in creating your competitive analysis, making you one step closer to business success. Contact me.