Understanding your rivals is not just an advantage; it’s a necessity because advertising is a fierce industry.
Competitor analysis serves as your strategic compass, giving you crucial insights that help shape campaigns to resonate with audiences and distinctly stand out in the saturated market.
Whether you're introducing a new product or seeking to expand your market presence, conducting a thorough competitor analysis can be the key to success.
However, without employing the right methods, you may end up with strategies that fall short of your goals.
But worry not; in this blog post, we will cover all about it, including:
- What is competitor analysis in advertising
- The benefits of competitor analysis
- A comprehensive guide on how to perform a competitive analysis
- Real-life case studies
P.S. Want to surpass your competitors? The key is to engage your target audience effectively, and UGC videos are a powerful tool for achieving that. At inBeat Agency, we help you connect with authentic content creators who deliver tangible results. Our research-backed, data-driven strategies ensure your promotional campaigns perform at their best. Schedule a FREE strategy call now to discuss your marketing needs!
TL;DR:
- Competitor Analysis is Essential: Understanding rivals is crucial in the competitive advertising industry, serving as a strategic guide and providing insights to shape standout campaigns.
- Benefits of Competitor Analysis: Identifying untapped niches, refining strategies, establishing benchmarks, filling business gaps, spotting market trends, understanding customer behavior, and enhancing creativity.
- Steps to Perform Competitor Analysis: Includes identifying competitors, researching their content strategy, monitoring their PPC and SEO efforts, tracking their reach on social media, focusing on the 4 P's (Product, Price, Promotion, Place), and running a SWOT analysis.
- Real-Life Applications: Case studies from Subway, Procter & Gamble, and Uber demonstrate how effective competitor analysis can lead to market differentiation and sustained leadership.
- Partnering with inBeat Agency: inBeat offers strategic help with UGC videos, influencer marketing, and competitive analysis to enhance promotional campaigns and competitive positioning.
What Is Competitor Analysis in Advertising?
Competitor analysis in advertising is a strategic approach to understanding and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your business rivals.
Basically, you’ll be gathering and analyzing data about your competitors' advertising campaigns, marketing strategies, and overall market presence.
The point is to gain valuable insights into what makes their campaigns successful, identify opportunities for improvement, and develop more effective strategies for your own advertising efforts.
Moreover, it also helps you understand your business’s competitive advantage, identify market gaps, and refine your marketing efforts to better target potential customers.
7 Major Benefits of Competitor Analysis
Now, let’s explore how competitor analysis can drive your brand’s success:
- Discover new opportunities: It helps identify untapped market niches or customer needs that competitors may have overlooked. This can lead to the development of new products or services through which you can get a competitive edge in the market.
- Improved strategies: As a business owner, you can refine your approaches by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. This could involve:
- Enhancing digital marketing efforts
- Adopting more effective SEO strategies
- Repositioning advertising campaigns to better target potential audiences.
- Establishment of benchmarks: Analyzing key performance indicators and business metrics of competitors allows setting benchmarks for your own performance. This helps measure growth and efficiency in a quantifiable way, which guides more informed decisions.
- Fill gaps in your business: Competitor analysis can highlight gaps in your product offerings or services that may be limiting your market share. Addressing them can lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and ROI.
- Identify market trends: Keeping an eye on your competition helps you recognize emerging market trends early. This way, your brand can adapt quicker to market shifts, which is crucial for maintaining relevance in rapidly changing dynamics.
- Understanding of customer behavior: Competitor analysis includes examining how competitors address customer needs and preferences. It is valuable for enhancing your own customer service and tailoring marketing messages to better meet the expectations of your target audience.
- Enhanced creativity: Observing and analyzing competitors’ content and campaigns can inspire creativity in your own team. It encourages innovation in marketing tactics and product development. Furthermore, 80% of individuals recognize that creativity is essential for economic expansion.
How to Perform Competitor Analysis in Advertising? 7 Essential Steps
You can gain valuable insights and stay ahead in the competitive advertising industry by carefully examining your competitors' tactics.
Below, we share some important steps that our experts at inBeat Agency use to conduct thorough competitor analysis:
1. Determine Your Competitors
The first and most important step is to clearly identify who your competitors are.
This foundational step defines the scope of your analysis and also helps in aligning your strategic focus.
Let’s learn a few tips on how to identify your competitors:
- Market segmentation: Break down your market into segments (demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral) to identify who you are directly competing against in each category. You can use Google Analytics to gain insights into these segments, helping you understand who your customers are and how they interact with your site. While Google Analytics doesn't identify your competitors directly, the information gathered can inform your competitive analysis efforts.
- Customer feedback: Engage directly with your customers to understand their perceptions and preferences about what other brands or products they consider when choosing services in your category. Tools like Typeform or Qualtrics can be used to design and distribute targeted surveys like these.
- Reports and publications: Access industry reports and trade publications to gain a comprehensive overview of your sector. These documents detail major current and up-and-coming players, which provide insights into who is actively engaging with similar target markets. For this purpose, platforms like Statista are quite valuable.
Pro Tip: We advise using social media listening tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social. These are awesome tools to monitor mentions of your competitors across various social media channels in real-time. Plus, you can also uncover less obvious competitors and provide immediate data on market activity.
2. Research their Content Strategy
Understanding your competitors’ content strategies helps you sleuth out what engages their audience and differentiates their brand.
That’s how you get insights into their communication style, the types of content they prioritize, and the platforms they leverage most effectively.
To do so, you can follow the below tips:
- Analyze content types: Look at the variety of content your competitors produce, including blog posts, videos, infographics, and social media posts. Then, evaluate which formats seem to perform best in terms of engagement and reach. You can use tools like BuzzSumo to see the most shared content types and topics among your competitors.
- Content frequency and timing: Track how often your competitors post and the timing of their content releases. This can reveal insights into their content calendar and how they manage audience engagement throughout different times or events. Tools like SEMrush can provide analytics on this factor and its correlation with web traffic and engagement spikes.
- Engagement analysis: Measure the engagement level of competitors’ content by looking at likes, shares, comments, and other interactions. This metric is critical to understanding what resonates with their audience. Social Blade is useful for tracking this across multiple social platforms.
Pro Tip: inBeat experts use AI-driven content analysis tools like Ahrefs, which can provide deeper insights into the SEO effectiveness and topic authority of competitors’ content. This way, it is easier for us to identify gaps in their strategies and potential areas to capitalize on.
For example, Soylent is one of our clients. To craft an effective UGC strategy for it, we first analyzed the content of some of its competitors e.g., Kate Farms.
3. Monitor the PPC and SEO Efforts of Your Competitors
Monitoring the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics of your competitors is essential for developing a more informed approach to capturing and converting online traffic.
Moreover, it reveals tactical advantages and areas for strategic enhancement in your own campaigns.
For effective monitoring of both factors, you can follow the below strategies:
- Track keyword usage: Identify the keywords your competitors are targeting in their PPC campaigns and SEO efforts. Assess both the commonalities and unique approaches in their keyword strategies to refine and differentiate your own for achieving better search engine visibility and ad placements. For instance, tools like Ahrefs allow you to visualize:
- Keywords that drive traffic to your competitors' sites.
- Their rankings.
- The volume of search traffic associated with those keywords.
- Examine Ad copy and SEO content: Carefully review the ad copy in your competitors' PPC campaigns as well as the content on their SEO-optimized web pages. Tools like SpyFu serve as an excellent resource for this. The examination should focus on the following:
- The language used in the copies and content.
- Calls to action (CTAs).
- Overall messaging strategy that attracts clicks and converts visitors into customers.
- Analyze backlink profiles: The backlink profiles of your competitors can provide deep insights into their domain authority and the effectiveness of their content marketing efforts. Look at the sources of their backlinks to understand the quality and breadth of their external connections. Ahrefs or Ahrefs alternatives like Majestic or SEMRush can be used to review the number and quality of backlinks pointing to your competitors' websites.
Pro Tip: Implement automated monitoring tools like Ahrefs Alerts to receive real-time notifications about new content or ads published by your competitors. This continuous monitoring helps keep your strategies adaptive and responsive.
Let’s take an example of Gucci. The backlinks profile of one of its competitors, Chanel, looks like this:
4. Track Competitors Reach on Different Social Media Platforms
It is important to monitor the reach of your competitors on social media platforms to evaluate their digital footprint and influence.
In addition, you can also monitor their brand visibility, audience engagement, and the effectiveness of their content across different channels through this step.
Let’s understand how this can be done effectively:
- Assess follower counts and growth trends: Begin by examining the number of followers your competitors have on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Also, note the growth trends over time to understand how quickly they are acquiring new followers and what’s driving these surges.
- Monitor share of voice: Evaluate the share of voice your competitors hold on social media platforms using tools like Brandwatch. This involves analyzing the volume and sentiment of mentions they receive relative to others in the industry. With these details, you can get insights into their market influence and brand perception.
- Review content performance: Lastly, identify which types of content are performing best for your competitors in terms of reach, such as videos, blog links, photo updates, or user-generated content. When you know what kind garners the most interaction, you can refine your content strategy accordingly.
Pro Tip: At inBeat, we often use advanced competitive benchmarking tools such as Quintly to directly compare the social media performance of our clients against that of their competitors. These tools provide detailed insights into their relative standing in terms of reach, engagement, and content effectiveness, through which we pinpoint areas for strategic enhancements.
5. Focus on their 4 P’s (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place)
Delving into the 4 P's of your competitors offers a granular look at their operational tactics and marketing approaches.
This focused analysis helps pinpoint exactly how they position themselves in the market across their product offerings, pricing strategies, promotional activities, and distribution channels.
Such insights are pivotal for crafting strategies that effectively counteract their moves and enhance your own market position.
So now let’s learn how to analyze the 4 P’s:
- Product analysis: Investigate the range, features, and unique aspects of your competitors' products. Understanding these can help you identify product enhancements or innovations that could differentiate your offerings in the market. Trustpilot and other consumer review platforms provide real-world feedback that you can analyze for this purpose.
- Price evaluation: Look at how your competitors structure their pricing and employ discounts or bundles. This insight can guide your own pricing strategy to ensure it is competitive yet profitable. Platforms like Prisync can track competitors' pricing history so you can understand their pricing patterns and define yours effectively.
- Promotion tactics: Delve into your competitors' promotional approaches to uncover the themes that dominate their campaigns. These elements can serve as a blueprint for enhancing your promotional tactics so they are captivating enough and strategically positioned to enhance your market presence. Tools like Adbeat can offer deep insights into where and how your competitors allocate their advertising budgets.
- Place strategies: Analyze the distribution channels used by competitors to reach their audience. This information can help you expand or optimize your own marketing to better meet customer accessibility and convenience. You can use Google Maps and industry databases to identify potential new locations or e-commerce platforms that could increase your market reach.
Pro Tip: Our expert team at inBeat implements a continuous competitor tracking system using automated tools like Google Alerts. This system keeps us updated on competitors' activities of our clients across the 4 P's in real-time.
For instance, Unroll.me is one of our clients.
While crafting the UGC campaign for it, we thoroughly assessed what customers have to say about its competitors’ SaneBox services.
This helped us identify and address unique features of its products to attract more leads.
6. Check Their Website For Events and Sponsors
Checking your competitors' websites for events and sponsorships can provide valuable insights into their marketing strategies and brand positioning.
Some important points to consider are:
- Event participation: Identify the events your competitors are participating in, such as industry conferences, trade shows, and webinars. Tracking these events can indicate their areas of focus and networking strategies.
- Sponsorships: Look for details about sponsorships on their website. This can reveal which organizations or events they are supporting. Moreover, it will also highlight their brand values and target audience.
- Collaborations and partnerships: Pay attention to any partnerships or collaborations announced on their website. This can give you insights into their marketing tactics and how they engage with their audience.
Pro Tip: We recommend using tools like Eventbrite and Meetup to track the events your competitors are involved in. You can identify potential opportunities for your own brand to increase visibility and engagement by understanding your competitors' involvement in events and sponsorships,
7. Run SWOT Analysis
Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on your competitors is a strategic approach to understanding their position in the market and identifying ways to outperform them.
Let’s see how to conduct an effective SWOT analysis:
- Strengths: Look at what your competitors excel at. This could include a strong brand reputation, superior product quality, robust customer service, or advanced technology. Assess their market share and brand loyalty.
- Weaknesses: Identify areas where your competitors fall short. This could be poor customer reviews, limited product range, high prices, or outdated technology. Use platforms like Trustpilot or Yelp to read customer feedback and reviews, which can highlight recurring issues and areas of dissatisfaction.
- Opportunities: Look for gaps in the market that your competitors are not addressing. This could be unmet customer needs, new market segments, or emerging trends. Consider technological advancements or industry innovations that your competitors have not yet adopted.
- Threats: Identify external factors that could threaten your competitors' market position, such as regulatory changes, economic downturns, or new entrants in the market. Also, be aware of potential moves by other competitors that could pose a threat, like new product launches or aggressive marketing campaigns.
Pro Tip: Our professionals at inBeat use tools like SWOT Matrix and MindTools to structure and visualize your SWOT analysis.
For a real-world application, let’s consider a SWOT analysis of a competitor like Starbucks:
- Strengths: Strong global brand recognition, extensive product range, and high customer loyalty.
- Weaknesses: High pricing, dependence on the US market, limited healthy options.
- Opportunities: Expansion into emerging markets, introducing more health-conscious products, leveraging digital platforms for personalized marketing.
- Threats: Intense competition from local coffee shops, fluctuating coffee bean prices, changing consumer preferences towards healthier alternatives.
Real-life Case Studies
Now, let’s explore how various top companies have successfully leveraged competitive analysis to gain a significant advantage over their competitors.
1. Subway
Subway’s competitor analysis shaped its market strategy.
The brand emphasized differentiation to establish its name in the competitive fast food industry. Using insights from its competitors, the brand identified a gap in the market for healthier fast-food options.
Subway then focused on providing unique product attributes such as freshness, quality, and customizable offerings.
This approach set the brand apart from traditional fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, which primarily offer more generic, less health-focused menu options.
As a result, Subway has carved out a niche for itself as a leader in providing health-conscious fast food.
2. Procter and Gamble
Procter & Gamble (P&G) strategically uses competitive analysis to enhance its differentiation strategy and ensure its products are distinct in terms of quality and value.
This analysis guides its R&D investments and shapes marketing tactics, which allows the brand to innovate and highlight the superior qualities of its products over those of its competitors.
The result of this strategic approach is sustained market leadership and enhanced brand loyalty.
3. Uber
Uber conducted a competitive analysis of traditional taxi services and discovered that they often lacked upfront pricing transparency.
In response, it introduced clear, upfront pricing for various travel options before customers confirm their trips.
This innovation improved user convenience and trust and made customers choose Uber, even for short distances.
The introduction of this feature, along with other strategic decisions informed by competitor analysis, has significantly contributed to Uber's success. Currently, the brand boasts a market cap of hundreds of billions.
Streamline Your Marketing Tactics by Partnering with inBeat Agency
Competitive analysis is a crucial strategy that enables you to assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Through this analysis, you can determine your market positioning, identify differentiation opportunities, and anticipate competitors' strategies.
This empowers the refinement of strategies, innovation, and maintenance of a competitive edge in the industry.
Key Takeaways:
- Refine your advertising messages by understanding competitor branding strategies.
- Use insights on competitor channel effectiveness to enhance your media strategy.
- Analyze competitor spending to better distribute your advertising budget.
- Draw inspiration from competitors' creatives to inform and innovate your ad designs.
Want to leverage the effectiveness of paid media and influencer marketing to get a competitive edge? inBeat Agency can help! We let you collaborate with influencers of almost all niches at highly affordable rates with a guarantee of optimized performance. Our marketing efforts for your brand will drive conversions too.
