Analyzing Competitor Research & Why it’s Important
Competitor analysis is absolutely VITAL to understand and thoroughly research for ANY small business owner.
Here are five reasons why it is important:
1 - Identifying Market Opportunities
Competitor analysis helps us understand our industry landscape and hone in on that untapped market opportunity. By researching our competitors' products, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies, and target audience, we can identify gaps in our market niche and come up with unique angles that set our business apart from the competition.
2 - Customer/Client Preferences
Analyzing our competitors' customer base and their preferences is like a cheatsheet for knowing what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Our competition can provide an ample amount of insight into what works and what doesn't in the industry. By studying our customers' choices, we can tweak and perfect our angle for products, services, and marketing strategies to solve their problems more effectively, thereby gaining a SUPER competitive advantage.
3 - Contrast & Compare
Studying our competition allows us to compare apples to oranges and oranges to kumquats. It’s our business performance vs theirs. By contrasting & comparing sales, market share, profitability, and customer relationships & outcomes, we can gauge where we might fall in our market niche. Analyzing ours business puts our methods and tactics under a microscope to clearly see areas where we may be falling behind, areas where you excel, and areas that we might just be average in performance. THIS allows us to make necessary adjustments and improvements that MATTER.
4 - Trends & Struggles
By grading and studying our competitors, we become informed about the latest industry trends, top of the line tech that we SHOULD be using, and tackling those evolving customer demands. This knowledge allows for the heads-up on future challenges and preps us for adapting our business strategy accordingly. It also helps identify early signs of disruption, and allows for the action/reaction to proactively respond and leap frog OVER our competition.
5 - Strategy & Action
Think of competitor analysis as needing glasses for 5 years straight and finally getting to put those frames on. INFORMATION IS POWER, is what they say. Whoever they is, is CORRECT! By understanding our competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and market position, we can make informed, responsible choices for our business. Including but not limited to pricing products, developing products, the way we advertise and capture leads, and even scaleability for our business. With that kind of information at our disposal, our actions become LESS high-risk. We can make BETTER MONEY MOVES. All of that uncertainty sort of fades away just like our vision issues did when we put on our rhetorical glasses.
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Competitor analysis is EMPOWERING for small business owners and allows us to be better at what we do. Choosing not to dive into our competition is like not choosing to take the shopping list you made to the grocery store with you. Understanding what is MISSING from our customer bases choices can ONLY help us solve their problems better. When Uhtred son of Uhtred, rightful ruler of Bebbanburg went to take on the king of Essex, he didn’t just storm the castle with his entire army and no plan. Strategy will always help us with the element of surprise, uniqueness, and separates us from the competition like none other. Create yourself an evergreen brand by being informed and staying informed on your competition.
Thank you so much for reading!
Hanna Black, Copywriter & Blogger, SBC.
