How is the analysis of competitors in marketing

Competitor analysis is an important part of marketing planning, which helps to understand the state of the market and determine the strategy of their behavior in the market.

The first thing you need to pay attention to when analyzing competitors is consumer behavior. Note that they praise what they prefer. Then proceed to the analysis of competitors directly: who is their target segment, what niches do they occupy (if their products are niche).

Pay attention to their sites and criticism on social networks: if they have serious flaws, they will be criticized. Pay attention to the announcements of new products, to the news feed on the site.

If you produce something, you should pay attention to the vacancies of your competitors: if they are recruiting specialists in a certain narrow field, that means they plan to develop something, this information can be used to analyze the new products that they release. An important aspect is also the quality control of the competitor's production, the strengths and weaknesses of its implementation.

It is worth identifying all the strengths, and think about each item, and what your company can answer. If in some respects the competitor is very strong - it may be worthwhile to direct efforts to something else, because it will be very difficult to catch up with him in this characteristic. But you can choose a different path: release a niche product or focus on something else.

An important characteristic when analyzing competitors is where the company is represented. If a company is poorly represented in a certain region, it may make sense to concentrate efforts in this region and occupy the market.

Marketer Porter identifies five forces, the analysis of which may be useful. These are competitors, consumers, substitute products for your products, the market (how difficult it is to enter it, what is the current situation, what are the features of the law), suppliers. If there are few suppliers, they can dictate their terms to both you and the market.

There can be many competitors. A detailed analysis of the activities of each is impossible, and not necessary. It makes sense to combine competitors in groups with the same target audience, and then look at direct competitors.

Determine which characteristics are key to your industry. For example, if you have a backpack store, the key characteristics are the age and gender of the person for whom you are buying the backpack, as well as the scope of use of the backpack. For schoolchildren, one backpack model is needed, for sports - another, and for tourism - a third. Analyze strategic partners.

When choosing a strategy, you need to pay attention to the advantages that you have, as well as your goal. If you want to capture a narrow segment and trade in niche products - the goal will be one. If you want to capture a large segment of the market - the strategy should be different.

Take the time and energy to analyze your competitors - this is a key step in choosing a marketing strategy.