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Competitor Analysis

Every business needs to know where they stand and how to keep up with the others in the same market. That’s where competitor analysis comes in. 

 

But how does that work? It only takes 5 steps. 

 

1. Market and Competitor Landscape  

 

This overview provides you with who is in the area, what they are doing, market trends, who is more of a national brand, and whom your brand doesn’t need to worry about. We ask questions like… 

  • How many similar brands are in the area? 

  • Is there a similar national brand that started in a similar place? How did they achieve success? 

 

Take Coca-Cola as a national example. It’s rivaled by Pepsi Co., Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Heineken. The landscape would consist of how many restaurants sell Coca-Cola products over others and other similar questions. 

 

2. Social Media Analysis 

 

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, and more are all great ways to get the word out about the brand. But it’s how you use them that matters. We look at the following things in each of the top competitors and pull out their best practices. 

  • Qualitative Facebook Analysis  

  • Twitter Analytics 

  • Instagram Analytics 

  • Google Analytics, etc. 

 

Let’s continue with Coca-Cola as an example. Their Instagram has 2.7M followers and posts often and to multiple different platforms. These are the kinds of things we are looking at. 

 

3. Determine Key Channels 

 

We ask the question: What are the main ways competitors are communicating with the shared audiences? By using information about the target audiences, we are able to figure out how the competitors are talking with shared audiences. 

 

For example, Coca-Cola targets younger generations made clear by their youthful advertising and young brand voice online. Therefore, the key channels revolve around what is popular for Gen Z and Millennials. Today, it would be platforms like Instagram or Twitter. 

 

4. Identify 2-3 Major Competitors 

 

Looking at 2-3 local competitors narrows down the market and allows us to find more niche data to the local marketplace. This is a plus because knowing more about specific threats and trends in the area allows you to cater directly to those audiences. We tell you… 

  • Who the biggest threats are. 

  • Where to emulate and steer away from things they are doing. 

  • How their business can impact your brand. 

 

For Coca-Cola, we’d ask these things about Anheuser-Busch InBev and Pepsi Co. 

 

5.Conduct a SWOT Analysis  

 

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are something that we can control for a brand. However, opportunities and threats are uncontrolled but still a very valuable thing to look at. For each, we ask questions like… 

 

  • Strengths 

  • What is the brand doing that helps it grow? 

  • What USP (Unique Selling Propositions) does the brand offer that can be capitalized on? 

  • Weaknesses 

  • What could the brand improve on? 

  • Where does the brand have fewer resources than others? 

  • Opportunities 

  • Where is there an opportunity for growth? 

  • What trends could be taken advantage of? 

  • Threats 

  • What threats could harm the brand? 

  • What are competitors doing that the brand should be doing too? 

 

This analysis for Coca-Cola provides them with a wholistic view of everything their business is doing. Strengths would be strong brand identity and a threat would be excess competition since there are so many emerging soda brands right now. 

 

 

All of these things together create a competitor landscape and help you focus on areas where your brand can improve and where your brand already excels. 

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