Before we begin with a competitive analysis, we need to first quantify exactly who your major competitors will be. This requires looking at a variety of spaces. For example, you might have certain competitors who are your main competition in brick and mortar stores, but your online competitors might differ. Similarly, your competition might differ from one geographic location to the next. We look at all of these different types of competitors and determine the ones that compete most closely with your organisation. We examine the market share for your niche which will be highly personalised for your business. We then create a list of your most important competitors.

Next, we want to take the domains of these main competitors and compare them to your own. We run a competitive analysis that will let us see the keywords that these domains rank for, and how those rankings compare to your own. We look to uncover any keywords that your competitor ranks for, that you do not. We check the query volume for these keywords and use this to begin creating a list of words that we want to target. We use specialist software to get an analysis of how your site compares overall to the other domain. We can then compare the performance of different types of content as well as the keywords where one site ranks but the other does not.

We also want to examine the market share of your competitors, to see how much of the digital conversation they control. This will not only help us see areas where your business needs to focus, but we will also be able to track your progress as you begin optimising to overtake particular competitors. We also examine how your competition positions themselves within the market. For example, to see if they promote themselves as a more affordable or more user-friendly option. We also want to examine how their site is set up, including details such as the quality of the pictures they offer, how their visuals help buyers, and how they handle details such as customer service and shipping. If they outperform you, then these areas will give us a good place to start considering improvements.

As a part of your competitive analysis, we also want to consider carefully how customers themselves regard the competition. We look at the reviews they have received on different sites within your industry to see what actual customers did like, and did not like, about this particular competitor. This will provide you with greater insight regarding the preferences and interests of these potential consumers. You can then use this information to guide your own marketing campaigns.

In the current digital environment and the importance placed on social media, a competitive analysis should also include looking carefully at the social media profiles of your main competitors. We look at the content they post and how people respond to it. You can use this information to then improve your own social media performance, as you see what customers will engage with and what topics spark their interest. Building a strong digital presence requires organisations to also closely examine what their competitors do online. By running a competitive analysis, you can gain insight into what customers want to see, but also where your own marketing strategy needs to improve.

Consumers are constantly monitoring the online offerings of competing businesses. Even if they are loyal to your business, they are still comparing it to others. Online competitive analysis allows you to view your business as customers may see it, revealing its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the potential opportunities and threats to its existence. This is exactly the information that is needed to perform your SWOT analysis. Using the profiles of your company and its competitors, it is important to identify the following: - Strengths: What does your company do well? What do you provide that the competition does not? - Weaknesses: Are there areas where competitors perform better than your company? - Opportunities: Are there emerging trends or changes in competing companies that could benefit your company over the long term? - Threats: Which trends or competitive activities could cause a disruption to your business? The SWOT analysis will identify areas that may need to be improved, as well as areas that can be leveraged in future marketing and branding efforts. The final step is to draw actionable insights and turn this research into action. Based on what has been learned, there will be a need to adjust your digital marketing strategy. This could mean tweaking your content approach, optimising your website, or doubling down on specific advertising channels.