A competitor analysis (or competitor benchmark report) is an assessment of competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. I’m quite sure that this is something you have completed at some stage, but in my experience only about 5% of tech companies have completed and continue to do competitor analyses in full.
Your analysis should be a live document that is part of your marketing plan and strategy.
Frequency
The competitor report is something that should be updated at least quarterly and should include more than what features your competitors offer and at what price. To do it properly, you need to do review, in depth, your biggest competitor websites and any other collateral you can find on them. Only when you do that will you really learn where there gaps are and how you can take advantage of these gaps.
Here’s some of the areas that need to be covered in a competitor analysis:
Competitor analysis contents
- Company size
- Finance
- Positioning
- Target market – segment and size
- Target countries and regions
- Job positions
- Sales/dealer channels used
- Social media channels used
- Software integration partners
- Product price
- Product features
- Features they have and you don’t
- USP or Unique Selling Proposition
- CVP (Customer Value Proposition)
Here’s a link to an excellent template from a Boston-based company covering what should you include in a competitor analysis across five areas.
Update 17 November 2020
Monitor your competitors’ marketing activities
Here’s a link to a template I have created to analyse your competitors’ marketing activities. My customers and mentees have found this hugely helpful. It tends to inspires their own marketing activities. I, of course, use it myself all the time when working with new clients.
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