How To Do Competitor Analysis In Digital Marketing Platforms?

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Woah…Competitor Analysis In Digital Marketing Platforms?

Well, I am sure like me there are many of you who after reading these two words only may find these are all jargon that is too confusing to follow and feel ……..why do I need to know about this?

Maybe not now, but in today’s so-called ‘digital era’ we all may have to be familiarised with the same as one may be able to use it for say their “entrepreneurial venture”………” optimizing their blogs”…or even simply… be well equipped to decipher the sales and marketing gimmicks and to do online shopping more intelligently !!!

So are you interested to gather information on the same???

and have been scouring the web for some simple answers rather than heavy technology paraphernalia…to enlighten your knowledge bulb ..??

Rest assured you have reached the right destination!!!!!!!

In this blog, we will unravel together the mysteries of ‘Competitor analysis’ and ‘digital marketing’  and how they blend together to perform a ‘Competitive analysis in Digital marketing’…….

So take a cup of your favorite Tea/coffee and let’s begin the journey to make some sense of out of the above jargon…!!

In today’s times if one is not familiar with terms like ‘Google, ’Amazon’, ‘web’,‘Internet’, ‘Wifi’, ‘Mobile data’ then mostly they  have to be a new born baby!!  As nowadays before a child can even start to learn their name they know how to operate a Mobile…in most cases much better than their parents!!!!!

This very situation is tapped to the maximum by marketing gurus with their widely diversified Digital marketing strategies.

As most of the Customer base is now available ‘online’, one needs to have a clear approach to understand their Digital marketing needs and in turn essential to eventually do a competitor analysis in digital marketing.

Do you want to master the essential disciplines in digital marketing? Check out the Digital Marketing Specialist course now!

Now first things first……What is Marketing?

“Marketing” is the term given to actions like advertising, door to door sales/delivery, word of mouth. These actions help you in selling, promoting, your products or services to the customers/clients effectively & thereby helping in increasing your sales and profits.

The main aim here is to capture the attention of the customer base and be able to retain them and keep them interested in your products/services so that they always remain loyal and satisfied with your brand/services in turn effective customer retention.

However, the traditional methods of marketing may not be the only sales driving force for companies these days.

You may ask why? so here are some facts to ponder on…..

# 51% of shoppers surveyed say they use Google to research a purchase that they are planning to make online (Think with Google 2019)

#Almost 59% of shoppers surveyed said that being able to shop on mobile is more important when deciding which product to buy and also from where (Think with Google, 2019)

Some of us may agree to the above facts as most of us have used the same excuse and done most of our shopping ‘online’ even groceries on our mobile since the last few months thanks to ……..ahem.. the ‘Covid-19’ pandemic.

Anyways moving on……

The need to undertake such online marketing activities revolve more around the internet or ‘online channels like Social media, Google, Bing, Amazon etc

This leads us to the next big question.. …so……

What is this Digital Marketing?

If some of you already concluded the answer…..kuddos…to them….….!! for others like me…:) the marketing of Products/services done through any of the online channels like Internet/Social media and electronic devices like Mobile phones, Television, electronic billboards, etc is broadly termed as ‘Digital Marketing’. 

Few examples maybe social media like Facebook/Google etc, email, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), etc.

With ‘online shopping’ getting to be one of the most preferred and common amongst the general customer base,  Digital marketing analysis may be regarded as one of the most essential tools of modern marketing.

Apart from tapping ‘online’ customers for what else should we choose Digital Marketing?

# Digital marketing is considered more cost-effective as compared to the traditional methods of print marketing (Magazine/Newspaper) and advertising on TV and radio.

# Digital marketing campaigns are easier to be set up, run, easily monitored .

# As most marketing methods are now data-driven the results of Digital Marketing analysis are more trackable and measurable as compared to that of non-digital marketing and advertising.

So how many types of Digital Marketing are there?

A simple search in Google will show you that there are loads of different types of digital marketing (and I mean a lot!!!), but according to leading digital marketing expert Neil Patel, all digital marketing can be categorized into 11 categories.

1. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
2. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
3. PPC (Pay-per-click)
4. SMM (Social Media Marketing)
5. Content Marketing
6. Email Marketing
7. Influencer / Affiliate Marketing
8. Viral Marketing
9. Radio Advertising
10. Television Advertising
11. Mobile Advertising

So far all good?… oh so on your second cuppa….great!………so let’s move on to the next set of the topic of this blog….“Competitor Analysis”

Again lets start with as simple as…….

What is the Competition ? Who are the competitors?

Any business will surely have some competition in the market for their product or service.

They would also be trying to attract your customer base/be in the same geographical area or others by offering a similar product at a more attractive price.

Therefore, to have sustained success it is hence very essential that we are aware of our competition and also have our ‘googly eyes’ on them (just to be prepared…not stalking…!!)…. so as to be a step ahead ……always…

 But then you may wonder competition was always there right….??…..so why is it being given so much importance now?!!!…

If only one could wind back time to make life as easy and simple as it used to be. If you don’t agree with me then you most definitely may not belong to the ’70s or 80’s generation like me!

Let’s take an example-

Who does not remember the ‘Amul’ girl?

Before this revolution of so called “Digital era” a simple task of getting your groceries used to be  just a simple trip to your local ‘kirana’ or grocery stores .

where if one had to buy say ……..a toothpaste the only puzzling thought used to be to having to choose  between having a 50 mg or 100 mg of  any one /two brand of toothpaste and be done with it.

The same routine may now be too taxing as one is having umpteen brands to choose from.!!!!

But then does it mean brands like ‘Colgate’ which have been around since 1987 is not a leading toothpaste anymore with its hordes of competitors? …

Nope, it may still very well be one of the leading brands ….How?…Maybe mostly due to its ever  continuing evolution of its strong marketing strategy to easily gel with the changing times and choices of customers as well as a  comprehensive competitor Analysis.

Okay……finally let’s get the bull by the horns….

What is competitor analysis?

Now that we have covered as who are ‘Competitors’ its not always as easy as it sounds to ‘follow’ your competitors to understand and maybe gauge their next move as it requires detailed research and observation so that we can stay ahead in the game….

Hence the need arises for us to be able to use all the data that we gather about them to our own use.

So….then…what shall we do?…….. Voila….!! Is it a man…an airplane..noooooo…its….‘Competitor analysis’ to the rescue!!…

So what can we do with Competitor analysis?

• Apart from identifying the key competitors a ‘competitor analysis’ also assesses their tactics to determine their strengths and weaknesses.
• It also aids in comparing them with those of your own product or service.
• Ensure that you are on the right track towards achieving your set our goals and targets.
• Narrow down on your marketing strategies and swap them for more optimal ones for better results at a lesser cost
• Understand your untapped customer base
• It can influence the marketing channels/tactics  that you may have left unexplored in the past
• You can learn exceptional ways to position your brand/service to set it apart from the competitors
• ‘Competition Analysis’ will also help you to retrace your steps to try out methods that you had not chosen before as it didn’t give better results.
• It usually involves a SWOT analysis to help you define a competitive marketing strategy.

Hence a competitive analysis is a critical part of a company’s marketing plan , however one should not get carried away and make exact replica’s…meaning start copying our competitors plans and strategies but utilize them smartly to leverage them for our gain.

In today’s fast-paced world, almost all of the established or SSE companies may it be in FMCG, Retail, Education or any other domain needs to rely at some point of time on Digital Marketing as well as a well thought of ‘competitor analysis in digital marketing’ to achieve success and stay afloat.  

Okay so what big deal….we can do a ‘competitive analysis in digital marketing’ once and be done with it right?…..

Nope that is where you can get wrong. You need to have an ongoing competitive analysis in digital marketing …

Why ongoing competitive analysis in digital marketing?

Newton’s third law that for every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction applies with digital marketing as well.

With the change in times, the buying trends in the market and consumer choice also vary, and proportionately there will be a change in the overall position of your competitors as well.

• Primary competitors may become secondary, OR
• New competitors may get added, OR
• Competitors may start a new product line which may affect your target market

Hence it will be a good plan to keep those ‘googly eyes’ on your competitor’s moves on a regular basis.

This will give you insights on:

• You can understand which digital channels are working best for your competitors and compare the same with your product/service channel data and review
• Help you to understand the competitive landscape and have your finger on the seasonal changes in trends and demands
• You can try new unexplored channels based on your competitor’s performance. This will also save you valuable money!
• Get to understand what is working for you and what is not…..as  simple as that
• You can get clarity on new products and services to develop
• Understand the Market trends
• Identify what makes each of your competitor ‘unique’
• Find out your competitors’ strengths and weakness
• You can understand the behavior and approach of your competitors and stay one step ahead of them
• You can offer better products and services to your customers!!!

Experts suggest at least a monthly and quarterly digital marketing analysis ‘so that you can periodically review your goals/objectives and strategies and maximize your success.

Now that we have covered all the basic terminologies let us move on to the HOW??

How to do a competitive analysis in Digital marketing?

To obtain an in-depth competitive analysis, it usually requires professional help.

The primary reason being that digital marketing analysis requires various tools and methodologies  to analyse, comprehend and in turn present your data and your competitor’s data in an understandable form so as to provide tangible results.

However, I have tried below to provide a snapshot of generally what all goes in to be able to get a comprehensive competitive analysis in digital marketing.

Where to start?

STEP ONE

# According to Statista 4.57 million people are on some type of social media.

Firstly, you need to understand and collect relevant consumer data from our competitor’s digital print for your reference.

How to do that?

• List  your competitors on the basis of their weaknesses and strengths
• Follow it with the USP (or unique selling point) of each and every competitor
• Use the data points to figure out their ‘Strength’, ‘Weakness’, ‘Opportunities’ and ‘Threats’ related to your product/service(SWOT)

STEP TWO

Secondly, you need to research the marketing campaigns and social media activities that your competitors are relying on.

How to do that?

Social media Activities

• Visit their websites to get an idea on their products/content/reviews
• Check on their general presence on social media channels.
• How many followers/fans do they have?
• If they have a presence in social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc
• How are they interacting with their customers?
• Are they regularly providing content and information?
• How authentic is the content provided
• What is the general feedback of the customers as in reviews/comments-Negative or positive

Marketing campaigns

• The online and offline marketing campaigns that the competitors are actively promoting
• Make a note of how they are positioning or promoting their products online
• Closely delve on the strategy used
• Gather ideas from the recent adverts of your competitors
• Check on the online marketing strategies being used in terms of email marketing/pay per click etc
• Understand how optimally the competitors are utilizing their content marketing by selecting a few to review as taking in totality may turn out to be too cumbersome.
• Check them on accuracy/grammar/spellings
• Try to understand the team or person behind the content
• Understand what  print marketing methods  are used like posters/brochures/billboards etc

Desktop/Mobile engagement

Earlier the primary access to the worldwide web or internet used to be via desktops. Then slowly laptops eased into the picture.

However, nothing would have surpassed the access to online activity through the advent of Mobile phones with mobile searches overtaking desktop searches on Google, way back in 2015.

By October 2016, mobile traffic overtook desktop traffic worldwide for the first time ever with 51.3% of all traffic from mobile.

According to the data collected by Parse.ly network the above figure has now exceeded, with a whopping 73% of online traffic now coming from mobile devices.

You need to capitalize on this increasing surge in mobile traffic by gathering from your competitor’s data on their strategy !!!

Finally, review and collaborate the findings with your own goals and way forward to formulate a successful plan of action!

STEP THREE

Thirdly, score the competitor’s website  and explore its Search Engine Optimization( SEO) strategies

How to do that?

• Identity the ‘keywords’ being used to highlight the products/service
• Check their visibility on Google
• Check the customer reviews/testimonials
• Review the method of projection of the data. Images/Pictures used
• Titles and headings used to highlight the content in a more catchy way
• Check the URL’S
• Visit the internal links provided
• Try your hands on the ease of use of the website
• The tracking tools and technologies being used
• How the competitors and managing the customer visits and converting the data leads and conversion to sales

STEP FOUR

Fourthly, study your competitor’s annual sales report and collect information that may of your use

What to collect?

• Total sales volume
• Sales tactics
• revenue increases
• overall market share.

STEP FIVE

Fifthly, you can capitalize on the understanding of the geographic data of your competitors for analysis

How to do that?

• By using the  Analytics map is a geographic map of the world that depicts your website visits and other indicators, such as use of mobile devices to access your website.
• The data is displayed per countries/regions/cities.
• Use it to analyse the distribution of data around the globe and to localize the geographic areas that generate most of your website traffic as well as that of your competitors to understand the target areas.

Phew….hang in there we are almost done.

Conclusion

With all the hard work done all you have to do now is to collate the data collected through the competitive analysis in Digital marketing and understand how your brand/service is performing.

Check on the growth areas that need improvement and devise improved strategies to stay ahead of your competitors now and forever!!!

Just be smart and stay sharp…..(if only it was that easy…..well hope it will be now after reading this blog  ?)

Let’s summarize

# Understand and list out who your key competitors are-Direct/Indirect as well as future competitors

# list the products /services that your competitors are offering

#Research on the pricing and what ‘add on’ or USP that they are offering on those products

#Research on your competitors marketing strategies and sales tactics

# Understand the content strategy of your competitors

# Analyse on how the competitors are marketing this content

# Research on your competitors social media presence

# Lastly perform a SWOT analysis to figure out our competitors strength, Weakness, opportunities and threats.

If you are still reading….. thanks!!!…. for staying with me while taking this journey into how to do competitive analysis in digital marketing.

I do hope this journey with me was able to give you some insight into the same.

I do hope that given the opportunity, next time there is a conversation on the so-called jargon like Digital Marketing…or competition analysis….most of you readers will be all prepared and gladly delve right into it!!!!

FAQ

• What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies on the Internet or any other digital medium. Like Mobile. Digital marketing is also generally known as ‘online marketing’, ‘internet marketing’, or ‘web marketing’.

• What is competition analysis?

Competition analysis is understanding who your competitors are as well as knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses.

• What are the digital tools used in Digital marketing Analysis?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email Marketing, Website Analytics, etc are some of the tools used in Digital Marketing.

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