Which tools can help you analyse your competition?

Competition analysis is the activity undertaken by each company with a high market position. Monitoring the achievements of current and potential competitors of our business will help us learn more about the strategy, plans and goals of a competitive company. A well-conducted analysis will help to discover both the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors – both in terms of product portfolio and customer service. Competition analysis will also help us determine our position in the arena of players.

Thanks to this type of activities, we can find out what techniques and methods are used by those companies that achieve the highest positions in Google and which are talked about the most often among Internet users. We also become aware of dynamic changes in trends and the need to adapt our strategies.

HOW TO START MARKET AND COMPETITION RESEARCH?

When choosing a competitive strategy, you already know that your goal is to stand out in comparison with other players in your industry. For that to be possible, you need to get to know them better, first of all analyzing the activities and their effectiveness. Determining the benchmark might be the most problematic. It is the company that is your biggest rival and has the highest position in the area in which you operate. It does not always have to be a world leader in business. If you run a local company or a company with a specific reach, e.g. focused on one province or Poland, a company with a similar profile will be the benchmark.

When it comes to websites and the desire to reach the highest possible position in Google, your competitive strategy should focus on the website that is the highest in the search results. Focus on website statistics, i.e. the effects of SEO activities, i.e. all those that are carried out in the area of the competitor’s website. You should also check the website traffic, especially the effectiveness of SEM activities, including sponsored links. In the case of keywords, the most important thing is their quality, i.e. the accurate fit. However, to reach the highest positions in Google, you should also constantly expand the range of key phrases.

HOW TO CHECK WEBSITE STATISTICS?

Once we identify our competition and benchmark, we need to find an answer to the following question: How to check website statistics? We will need specific analytical tools for these activities. They include Senuto with which we can compare the keywords that our website, as well as that of the competition, is positioned on. Another proposal is Semstorm which provides the option to see the volumes of keywords used by the competition as well as check the website traffic. Senuto offers 3 main areas, i.e. visibility analysis, position monitoring and a database of key phrases. Semstorm additionally offers the audit and the option to manage content marketing.

Another tool is Similarweb with which you can discover the sources of traffic on the websites of your competitors. Those tools present mainly organic traffic, i.e. that covering all website users, not end customers. Therefore, you should treat the data generated by the tools as guidelines and assistance while realizing that they are to some extent an approximation.

SEO analysis and competition research are important from the point of view of every business owner who conducts their marketing activities on the Internet. At the same time, one cannot forget about the increasing availability of industry information, up-to-date statistics and reports which are a valuable source of information about the competition in a slightly wider perspective than just the SEO analysis.

TOOLS USEFUL FOR COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

The information about our competition should come from many sources, let’s not limit ourselves to just one which significantly simplifies the image of our competition. Competitive research should be systematic as well as multi-faceted. You can find such information and data on the Inforia portal.

It is an IT tool that provides information on media monitoring. With advanced technologies, it supports research which makes it possible to scrutinize the activities, positions and results of your competitors. Inforia is a very extensive tool that contains all the information on the issues whose monitoring was requested. Thanks to the statistical analysis, it is possible to automatically generate reports on the collected data. Access to all data makes your competitive strategy more effective. We have a chance to focus on the aspects that are crucial for the high position of our competitors. In addition, you can identify a niche that you can fill by developing the right marketing strategy.

(NON)STANDARD METHODS OF COMPETITIVE RESEARCH

Your competitive strategy should set you apart and give you an advantage over other players in the industry. PRESS-SERVICE Monitoring Mediów specialists focus to a large extent on communication with clients as well as on developing individual strategies, based on the uniqueness of each company, especially its strengths. The market and competitive research is done with highly effective methods that may not always be used for other competitive companies. That only confirms that our competitive strategy is generating the desired benefits. We rely on our own experience.

We strive to identify the strengths and weaknesses of communication as that allows us to determine what needs strengthening and what needs improvement. That is why we always start with an audit, we analyze communications from various sources, including the Internet, radio and social media. We focus our activities on reaching the information oriented towards the marketing activities of the competition. Thanks to this, we know what topics are most often discussed in a given industry and a specific area and which journalists or media are most interested in it. Data are also collected through white intelligence, i.e. from publicly available sources such as the mass media as well as data and documents provided by governmental offices and enterprises. Competitive research is also carried out through Infobrokering which consists of monitoring both competition and its social, political and business environment. By employing all these unusual activities, we obtain valuable information about the competition for the client, also providing data such as their advertising expenditure which allows us to determine the market potential of brands.

Competitive analysis is a very complex process which requires action in many areas. However, obtaining that data makes it possible to manage the company’s potential much better, use it where it is the most effective for others and in areas which the competition has not yet reached.