Competitive environment analysis pdf

How to analyse competitive environment. What is competitive environment analysis. Competitive environment analysis example.

How would you analyze competitive environment. How would you analyse competitive environment.

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Strateg Manag J 16:171–174CrossRef Google Scholar Page 2 8138 Accesses 1 Citations Competitive analysis involves identifying your direct and indirect competitors using research to reveal their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own. In this guide, we’ll outline how to do a competitive analysis and explain how you can use this marketing
strategy to improve your business.Whether you’re running a business or playing in a football game, understanding your competition is crucial for success. While you may not be scoring touchdowns in the office, your goal is to score business deals with clients or win customers with your products. The method of preparation for athletes and business
owners is similar—once you understand your strengths and weaknesses versus your competitors’, you can level up. In this guide, we’ll outline the steps for a competitive analysis and explain how you can use this marketing strategy to improve your business. With our free competitor analysis template, you can identify who you’re up against and create
a more insightful business plan.What is a competitive analysis?Competitive analysis involves identifying your direct and indirect competitors using research to reveal their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own. Direct competitors market the same product to the same audience as you, while indirect competitors market the same product to
a different audience. After identifying your competitors, you can use the information you gather to see where you stand in the market landscape. Create a competitive analysis templateWhat to include in a competitive analysisThe purpose of this type of analysis is to get a competitive advantage in the market and improve your business strategy.
Without a competitive analysis, it’s difficult to know what others are doing to win clients or customers in your target market. A competitive analysis report may include:A description of your company’s target marketDetails about your product or service versus the competitors’Current and projected market share, sales, and revenuesPricing
comparisonMarketing and social media strategy analysisDifferences in customer ratingsYou’ll compare each detail of your product or service versus the competition to assess strategy efficacy. By comparing success metrics across companies, you can make data-driven decisions.Read: What is a key performance indicator (KPI)?How to do a competitive
analysisFollow these five steps to create your competitive analysis report and get a broad view of where you fit in the market. This process can help you analyze a handful of competitors at one time and better approach your target customers.1. Create a competitor overviewIn step one, select between five and 10 competitors to compare against your
company. The competitors you choose should have similar product or service offerings and a similar business model to you. You should also choose a mix of both direct and indirect competitors so you can see how new markets might affect your company. Choosing both startup and seasoned competitors will further diversify your analysis.Tip: To find
competitors in your industry, use Google or Amazon to search for your product or service.
The top results that emerge are likely your competitors. If you’re a startup or you serve a niche market, you may need to dive deeper into the rankings to find your direct competitors.2. Conduct market researchOnce you know the competitors you want to analyze, you’ll begin in-depth market research. This will be a mixture of primary and secondary
research. Primary research comes directly from customers or the product itself, while secondary research is information that’s already compiled. Then, keep track of the data you collect in a user research template.Primary market research may include: Purchasing competitors’ products or servicesInterviewing customersConducting online surveys of
customers Holding in-person focus groupsSecondary market research may include:Examining competitors’ websitesAssessing the current economic situationIdentifying technological developments Reading company recordsTip: Search engine analysis tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can help you examine competitors’ websites and obtain crucial SEO
information such as the keywords they’re targeting, the number of backlinks they have, and the overall health of their website. 3. Compare product featuresThe next step in your analysis involves a comparison of your product to your competitors’ products. This comparison should break down the products feature by feature. While every product has
its own unique features, most products will likely include:PriceService offeredAge of audience servedNumber of featuresStyle and designEase of useType and number of warrantiesCustomer support offeredProduct qualityTip: If your features table gets too long, abbreviate this step by listing the features you believe are of most importance to your
analysis.
Important features may include cost, product benefits, and ease of use.4. Compare product marketingThe next step in your analysis will look similar to the one before, except you’ll compare the marketing efforts of your competitors instead of the product features. Unlike the product features matrix you created, you’ll need to go deeper to unveil each
company’s marketing plan. Areas you’ll want to analyze include:Social mediaWebsite copyPaid adsPress releasesProduct copyAs you analyze the above, ask questions to dig deeper into each company’s marketing strategies. The questions you should ask will vary by industry, but may include:What story are they trying to tell?What value do they bring
to their customers?What’s their company mission?What’s their brand voice?Tip: You can identify your competitors’ target demographic in this step by referencing their customer base, either from their website or from testimonials. This information can help you build customer personas. When you can picture who your competitor actively targets, you
can better understand their marketing tactics. 5. Use a SWOT analysisCompetitive intelligence will make up a significant part of your competitor analysis framework, but once you’ve gathered your information, you can turn the focus back to your company. A SWOT analysis helps you identify your company’s strengths and weaknesses. It also helps
turn weaknesses into opportunities and assess threats you face based on your competition.During a SWOT analysis, ask yourself:What do we do well?What could we improve?Are there market gaps in our services?What new market trends are on the horizon?Tip: Your research from the previous steps in the competitive analysis will help you answer
these questions and fill in your SWOT analysis. You can visually present your findings in a SWOT matrix, which is a four-box chart divided by category.6. Identify your place in the market landscapeThe last step in your competitive analysis is to understand where you stand in the market landscape. To do this, you’ll create a graph with an X and Y axis.
The two axes should represent the most important factors for being competitive in your market. For example, the X-axis may represent customer satisfaction, while the Y-axis may represent presence in the market. You’ll then plot each competitor on the graph according to their (x,y) coordinates. You’ll also plot your company on this chart, which will
give you an idea of where you stand in relation to your competitors. This graph is included for informational purposes and does not represent Asana’s market landscape or any specific industry’s market landscape. Tip: In this example, you’ll see three companies that have a greater market presence and greater customer satisfaction than yours, while
two companies have a similar market presence but higher customer satisfaction. This data should jumpstart the problem-solving process because you now know which competitors are the biggest threats and you can see where you fall short. Competitive analysis exampleImagine you work at a marketing startup that provides SEO for dentists, which is
a niche industry and only has a few competitors. You decide to conduct a market analysis for your business. To do so, you would:Step 1: Use Google to compile a list of your competitors. Steps 2, 3, and 4: Use your competitors’ websites, as well as SEO analysis tools like Ahrefs, to deep-dive into the service offerings and marketing strategies of each
company. Step 5: Focusing back on your own company, you conduct a SWOT analysis to assess your own strategic goals and get a visual of your strengths and weaknesses. Step 6: Finally, you create a graph of the market landscape and conclude that there are two companies beating your company in customer satisfaction and market presence. After
compiling this information into a table like the one below, you consider a unique strategy.
To beat out your competitors, you can use localization. Instead of marketing to dentists nationwide like your competitors are doing, you decide to focus your marketing strategy on one region, state, or city. Once you’ve become the known SEO company for dentists in that city, you’ll branch out. You won’t know what conclusions you can draw from your
competitive analysis until you do the work and see the results. Whether you decide on a new pricing strategy, a way to level up your marketing, or a revamp of your product, understanding your competition can provide significant insight.Create a competitive analysis templateDrawbacks of competitive analysisThere are some drawbacks to competitive
analysis you should consider before moving forward with your report. While these drawbacks are minor, understanding them can make you an even better manager or business owner. Don’t forget to take actionYou don’t just want to gather the information from your competitive analysis—you also want to take action on that information. The data itself
will only show you where you fit into the market landscape. The key to competitive analysis is using it to problem solve and improve your company’s strategic plan.Be wary of confirmation biasConfirmation bias means interpreting information based on the beliefs you already hold. This is bad because it can cause you to hold on to false beliefs. To avoid
bias, you should rely on all the data available to back up your decisions. In the example above, the business owner may believe they’re the best in the SEO dental market at social media. Because of this belief, when they do market research for social media, they may only collect enough information to confirm their own bias—even if their competitors
are statistically better at social media. However, if they were to rely on all the data available, they could eliminate this bias.Update your analysis regularlyA competitive analysis report represents a snapshot of the market landscape as it currently stands. This report can help you gain enough information to make changes to your company, but you
shouldn’t refer to the document again unless you update the information regularly. Market trends are always changing, and although it’s tedious to update your report, doing so will ensure you get accurate insight into your competitors at all times. Boost your marketing strategy with competitive analysisLearning your competitors’ strengths and
weaknesses will make you a better marketer. If you don’t know the competition you’re up against, you can’t beat them. Using competitive analysis can boost your marketing strategy and allow you to capture your target audience faster.Competitive analysis must lead to action, which means following up on your findings with clear business goals and a
strong business plan. Once you do your competitive analysis, you can use the templates below to put your plan into action.Create a competitive analysis template