Get to know your competition
Help you understand your market
Learn competition’s strengths and weaknesses
The three kinds of competitors
Direct competitors
Direct competitors are typically the most dangerous, since they’re essentially a carbon copy of your business in many ways. Your direct competitors offer the same products and services as your company, and they also have the same target customer. You can even take it a step further and say that your direct competitors also have the same goals and work on a similar business model.
Indirect competitors
Your indirect competitors offer the same products and services as your company, but they likely have a different business model, or different business goals. A good example of an indirect competitor would be a mom-and-pop candle shop competing with Yankee Candle. This competition can still be dangerous, but if you focus on your target audience and your personal business goals, indirect competitors won’t stand in your way.
Replacement competitors
Replacement competitors offer products or services that could potentially replace the products and services you offer. So, if your products or services fail, and your customers want to try something different to accomplish their goal, they could rely on your replacement competitors. A good example of this would be a book store versus a video game store. The book store is at risk of losing customers to a company that offers the latest and greatest video games.
Why is digital marketing competitor analysis
important for your business?
1. It helps you get to know your competition
Conducting a competitor analysis for digital marketing is critical because it enables you to identify your competition. If you have a brick and mortar location, you may already know some of your local competitors, but they aren’t your only competitors online.
2. It helps you better understand your market
When you conduct a digital marketing competitor analysis, you can better understand your market. Not only can you identify direct competitors, but you can also identify indirect competitors that might be taking sales from your business.
3. You learn your competition’s strengths and weaknesses
Just knowing your competition isn’t enough to help you drive better results. You need to know more about your competition, so you can create a strategy that helps you outperform them.
When you conduct a competitor analysis, you can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. You’ll want to look at important components like pricing, product quality, and customer satisfaction.