As a business it's crucial to keep an eye on your competitors' activities. Understanding their tactics, strategies, and performance can provide you with valuable insights that can inform your own approach.
1. Why You Should be Tracking Competitors
Competitor monitoring, also referred to as competitor intelligence, is a strategic approach that involves tracking your competitors' activities and performance. It provides you with a wealth of information that can inform your own strategies and tactics.
1.1 Insight into Market Trends
By monitoring your competitors, you can gain insight into current market trends and consumer behavior. By understanding these trends, you can anticipate changes in the market and adjust your strategies accordingly.
1.2 Identification of Opportunities and Threats
Competitor monitoring allows you to identify opportunities and threats in the market. This can help you to seize new opportunities and mitigate potential risks, ensuring that your business remains competitive.
1.3 Benchmarking Your Performance
Tracking your competitors' performance provides a benchmark against which you can measure your own success. This can help you to identify areas where you are outperforming your competitors and areas where you could improve.
2. Who You Should be Tracking
When it comes to competitor monitoring, it's essential to identify who your key competitors are. These can be direct competitors, who offer similar products or services to yours, or indirect competitors, who may offer different products or services but target the same audience.
2.1 Direct Competitors
Your direct competitors are those businesses that offer the same or similar products or services as you do and target the same market. They are the businesses your customers are most likely to turn to if they choose not to purchase from you.
2.2 Indirect Competitors
While indirect competitors may not offer the same products or services as you, they serve the same market and satisfy the same customer needs. They may provide alternatives to your offerings and can impact your market share.
2.3 Emerging Competitors
Emerging competitors are new businesses that have recently entered the market. They may not have a significant market share yet, but they could potentially disrupt the market in the future.
3. Tools for Competitor Monitoring
There are various tools available that can aid in competitor monitoring. These tools can help you track competitor metrics, analyze their content, and gain insights into their strategies.
3.1 Social Media Monitoring Tools
Tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social, Inc. allow you to monitor your competitors' social media activity. You can track their posts, engagement rates, follower growth, and more. LinkedIn also provides a small competitor tracking functionality.
3.2 SEO Tools
SEO tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs can help you uncover the keywords your competitors are ranking for. This can provide insights into their SEO strategies and help you optimize your own.
3.3 Review Monitoring Tools
Platforms like Yelp and Google Reviews allow you to monitor your competitors' customer reviews. This can provide insights into their strengths and weaknesses from a customer perspective. Meta recommendations can also be useful depending on location.
4. Applying Competitor Insights
After analyzing your competitors, it's time to apply these insights to your own strategies. This can involve tweaking your social media strategy, adjusting your pricing, or enhancing your customer service.
4.1 Social Media Strategy
By understanding your competitors' social media strategies, you can optimize your own. This can involve posting more frequently, engaging with your audience more, or experimenting with different types of content.
4.2 Pricing Strategy
If your competitors are offering similar products or services at lower prices, you may need to reconsider your pricing strategy. This could involve offering discounts, bundling products, or highlighting the added value of your offerings.
4.3 Customer Service
If your competitors are excelling in customer service, you may need to step up your game. This could involve offering faster responses, providing more personalized service, or improving your after-sales support.
5. Continual Monitoring
Competitor monitoring is not a one-time task. It's important to continually monitor your competitors to stay up-to-date with changes in the market.
5.1 Regular Updates
Make sure to regularly update your competitor monitoring to reflect changes in the market. This could involve adding new competitors, updating metrics, or revising your strategies.
5.2 Real-Time Alerts
Set up real-time alerts to stay informed about your competitors' activities. Tools like Google Alerts or Mention can help you stay on top of any new developments.
5.3 Periodic Reviews
Periodically review your competitor monitoring to ensure it's still relevant and useful. This can involve checking the accuracy of your data, reviewing your analysis, or updating your strategies.
Conclusion
In today's competitive business landscape, keeping a close eye on your competitors is key to staying ahead. By effectively monitoring your competitors, you can gain valuable insights, identify opportunities, and make data-driven decisions that help your business succeed.
Chat to me about how I can help you craft a competitor monitoring strategy simone.bonnett@thesocialmanagers.com