How to conduct a competitor analysis handout. Extract from the How To Market My Small business Course: https://www.injust5.com/downloads/market-small-business-course/ Explanatory video for this resource at: https://www.injust5.com/2016/06/25/competitor-analysis-small-business-free-handouts-video/

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COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
Module 1 – Identify
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HOWTO
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+ WHAT IS A COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
+ WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
+ HOW TO UNDERTAKE A COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
+ WHAT TO DO NEXT
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+ A competitor analysis is researching your competitors and
understanding their:
+ Products, services and offerings
+ Strengths and weaknesses
+ Customers
+ Marketing activities.
The purpose is to better understand what you are
competing against and how to best compete.
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What is a competitor analysis?
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+ It’s important you know what your competitors are doing because:
+ It can provide information about opportunities and gaps in the market
+ It can give you ideas on how to better compete
+ It can inform your own products, services and offerings
+ It can also provide insight into your own customers and how to target them.
+ It is critical you monitor your competitors when you are first starting
up but also on a regular and ongoing basis
+ It will influence your marketing choices and strategy and can also be
used to inform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats) analysis of your own business – which we will do in the next
section of this module
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Why it’s important
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+ To undertake a competitor analysis you want to get as much
information as possible from a variety of sources
+ You’re looking for information about economic and industry trends,
customer requirements, products and services
+ You can collect competitor data first-hand by visiting their store or
reviewing their website and publications they may produce
+ Review advertisements in local and trade publications, their flyers and
brochures, look at their social media sites or blog if they have one
+ Google them to see if they are mentioned on other review sites or in
forums
+ If you can, speak to their customers and ask why they chose them
+ You may consider hiring a commercial market research agency or even
buy their products and services to compare them with your own.
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Undertaking a Competitor Analysis
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+ In our Marketing 101 section we talked about how publicly listed
companies must publish statements about their performance in annual
reports
+ Other companies may promote their achievements on their website or in
marketing materials to increase their credibility
+ Industry associations often collate benchmark data relating to performance
across an entire industry.
+ You may also obtain anecdotal feedback from other people or
observations on how your competitor is performing and use this to inform
your marketing opportunity.
+ For example, if you are a hairdressing salon, you may notice a competitor
has started offering discounts to university students.
+ You could consider a marketing opportunity that offers the same or a
further discount, or you could use this information to target a completely
different market such as discounts for seniors.
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Competitor’s performance
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+ Choose 3-5 of your major competitors and consider the following factors:
+ Location
+ Products and services
+ Pricing
+ Quality
+ Reputation
+ Sales
+ Appearance
+ Marketing activities
+ Success factors
+ What they do badly
+ Customer service
+ Communication methods
+ Online and Social Media presence
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Factors to consider
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+ Go to your HOWTOMARKETING™ Master Marketing Strategy Excel
Workbook (found at the bottom of each module page)
+ Go to the sheet on the bottom left that says ‘Identify – Competitor
Analysis’
+ Fill out each of the cells based on the information you find – follow
the prompt questions in red
+ Write a couple of sentences in each cell
+ You will find a sample Competitor Analysis already completed in the
SAMPLE Master Marketing Strategy Excel Workbook
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Competitor analysis tool
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+ Insert competitor's name and location
+ Describe their products/services briefly
+ Are they the market leaders? Do they have a significant share of the
market? Do they only have share of a specific market segment?
+ What do you think is their unique selling point?
+ What marketing strategies do they use? What social media? Where do
they advertise? How do they communicate with their customers?
+ What do you think are the main contributing factors to their success
+ What factors can negatively affect their business?
+ What makes them a competitor for your business?
+ How will you challenge their strengths and leverage off their
weaknesses? How can you best compete with them?
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The questions
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+ Use the Competitor Analysis to inform your business strategy and
make changes to your operations, products and services if needed
+ Use it in the next Section when you undertake a SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis on your own business
+ This will then inform your overall marketing strategy
+ I recommend that you DON’T skip these steps even if you have been
in business a while
+ Often marketing your business falls down when you didn’t take the
time to fully get to know what you are dealing with internally and
externally and lay a strong foundation and knowledge base
+ The physical exercise of getting these ideas down on paper (or on
screen) can make a huge difference and put issues and solutions in
perspective
+ Involve other people you trust in the process as well
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What next?
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+ WHAT IS A COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
+ WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
+ HOW TO UNDERTAKE A COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
+ WHAT TO DO NEXT
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RECAP – In this section
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