Competitive Analysis and Positioning
A competitive analysis is a tool used to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. It helps you understand the market landscape and identify opportunities and threats.
Key Takeaways
- Competitive analysis helps identify opportunities and learn from competitors.
- SEO competitive analysis reveals valuable digital marketing insights.
- Benchmarking shows how you compare against competitors.
- Customer segmentation helps target and meet customer needs.
- Competitive positioning defines your product’s place in the market.
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The Importance of Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis in SEO is a critical tool that helps you evaluate the SEO efforts of your competitors, learn from their mistakes, and uncover digital marketing opportunities.
How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis in SEO
- Identify Competitors: Determine who your online competitors are.
- Analyze Popular Content: Find out what content is most popular on your competitors’ websites.
- Evaluate Valuable Links: Determine which links are most valuable for your competitors.
- Discover Targeted Keywords: Identify which keywords your competitors are ranking for and targeting the most.
Competitive analysis in SEO helps you understand and learn from the efforts of your competitors.
Industry and Competitive Benchmarking
Benchmarking tools show how you compare against your competition, helping you strengthen your social strategy.
How to Conduct Industry and Competitive Benchmarking
- Industry Benchmarking: Compare your brand against your industry’s average performance to identify what’s working and find ways to improve.
- Competitive Analysis: Examine what your closest competitors are doing to drive important metrics like engagement and audience growth.
Industry and competitive benchmarking help you understand how you compare against your competition.
Segmentation and Customer Segments
Understanding who your ideal customers are, where those customers are, and what they need is crucial in B2B sales.
How to Segment Your Customers
- Problem Team: Identify the key people who are emotionally impacted by the problem you hope to solve.
- Solution Team: Identify all the people who will benefit from the solution. Some of these people may not even realize the impact the problem is having, yet they have significant influence or buying authority within the process.
Understanding who your ideal customers are, where those customers are, and what they need is crucial in B2B sales.
Targeting, Messaging, and Frequency
Your approach to selling can significantly increase the likelihood of someone saying yes to working with you. This approach can be broken down into targeting, messaging, and frequency.
Understanding Targeting, Messaging, and Frequency
- Targeting: Focuses on who you’re talking to. The better you understand who is most likely to want your help, the easier it is to target people like them for your conversations.
- Messaging: This is the language you use to communicate your solution to the client’s needs. As you get to know your target client better, your message will change and evolve.
- Frequency: This is how many times you get your message in front of the target. Increasing your frequency can help keep you top of the mind for the client.
Competitive Positioning
Competitive positioning is understanding your business, product, and service’s place in the market relative to all of your competitors.
How to Conduct Competitive Positioning
- Identify Your Relationship with Competitors: Understand how your product or service stands out among competitors.
- Determine How to Differentiate Your Product: Decide how to infuse this type of positioning into both marketing and product.
- Visualize with Perceptual Maps: Create perceptual maps that represent the market’s perception of your product.
Competitive positioning is crucial for understanding how your business, product, or service fits into the market.
Start with a Brand Positioning Statement
Before creating awareness and putting your company, products, or services in the marketing spotlight, it’s important to understand and communicate what your brand is about and your purpose for existing.
How to Craft a Brand Positioning Statement
- Identify What Makes Your Brand Unique: Determine what makes your brand different from any other brand.
- Understand Your Audience: Know how your audience views your brand and what they think about it.
- Determine Why Someone Would Be Attracted to Your Brand: Understand why someone would be drawn to what your company does or the products you offer.
Crafting a brand positioning statement involves identifying what makes your brand unique, understanding your audience, and determining why someone would be attracted to your brand.
In the next guide, we will explore growth strategies and digital marketing. You will learn about innovative approaches to drive business growth and effectively use digital marketing channels.