Imagine you're a detective, uncovering the secrets of your competitors to make your business stronger. Whether you're a business owner, marketer, start-up founder, or product developer, understanding your competitors is vital.
Competitive analysis (also called competitor or competition analysis), is the process of looking closely at other brands in your industry to understand their products, branding, sales tactics, and marketing strategies. Read our blogpost and see how you can conduct such an analysis and beat your competitors!
Why do a competitive analysis?
By conducting a competitor analysis, you gain several important benefits:
You can learn the industry standards and work to not just meet them but go beyond them. You might uncover niche markets that others have overlooked. This analysis helps you set your products and services apart, ensuring you're meeting your customers' needs and solving their problems more effectively than others. It also allows you to distinguish your brand and make your marketing stand out. Lastly, it provides a way to measure how your business is growing in relation to others.
It helps businesses:
- Identify market opportunities
- Improve their marketing strategy
- Stay ahead of industry trends
- Optimize product offerings
- Enhance customer experience
The best steps to conduct competitor analysis:
# 1. Find your competitors
Start by listing your direct and indirect competitors. For example, if you use LiveWebinar, your competitors may be other webinar platforms or businesses hosting webinars in your industry. Look for:
- Direct competitors: Businesses targeting the same audience with similar webinar content.
- Indirect competitors: Companies using different formats (like podcasts or live streams) to engage a similar audience.
From your research, compile a list of five to ten competitors whose products or services closely resemble yours. Gather information from their websites, social media accounts, and other publicly available sources for deeper analysis.
#2. Analyze business structures
Understanding how your competitors operate can provide insight into their stability and potential for growth. Review each competitor’s website and social media to determine:
- Company size – How many employees and leaders do they have?
- Years in business – How long have they been in operation?
- Hiring trends – What job openings do they list? What skills are they expanding into?
Tip: If your competitors are publicly traded, check their annual reports for revenue, liabilities, and key performance metrics.
#3. Assess value propositions
A value proposition is a concise statement explaining why customers should choose a product or service. To analyze competitors’ value propositions, check their:
- Website copy (especially "About" or "What We Do" sections).
- Taglines and slogans on homepages and social media.
Ask yourself:
What customer pain points do they address?
What benefits do they emphasize?
What proof (data, testimonials, case studies) do they provide?
What pricing structures do they use, and how do customers react?
#4. Check marketing strategies
Understanding how competitors market their brand helps you refine your own marketing strategy.
Here are the questions you may ask:
Do they partner with industry influencers?
Do they use ambassadors or referral programs as affiliate partners?
Do they use SEO, email, social media, or content marketing?
Do they focus on blogs, videos, ebooks, or whitepapers?
Do they run paid digital ads or traditional media campaigns?
#5. Analyze brand identities
A strong brand identity helps a company stand out. Assess competitors' branding by asking:
How would you describe their brand personality?
What values do they communicate?
What emotions do their visuals evoke?
What language, tone, and style do they use?
#6. Map out the customer journey
Study how competitors attract, engage, and convert customers by following their customer journey:
- Subscribe to their email lists and follow them on social media.
- Make a purchase or sign up for their service.
- Analyze their onboarding process, customer support, and upsell strategies.
Ask yourself:
What makes their journey seamless?
What calls to action guide customers forward?
Are there any pain points that create friction?
#7. Examine audience engagement
Customer feedback reveals how competitors are perceived. Explore:
- Social media interactions – How do customers engage with their content?
- Product reviews – What praise and complaints do customers share.
How can webinars help in competitive analysis?
Webinars can be a great resource for competitor analysis, offering several key benefits.
First of all:
- Attend competitors' webinars to understand the topics they prioritize and how they present their expertise. This helps you gauge their focus areas and positioning.
- Observe how competitors interact with their audience. This reveals popular topics, customer interests, and common questions that you can leverage in your own strategy.
- Analyze how they promote their webinars, including the channels and messaging used, to gain insights into their marketing strategies.
- Webinars often feature new products or services. Watching these can keep you informed about their latest developments and unique selling points.
Secondly, you can organize webinars or online conferences and get to know the market better.
- Take advantage of Q&A sessions or networking opportunities to connect with potential partners and industry influencers.
- Review post-webinar feedback to learn what resonates with the audience, which can inform your own business and marketing strategies.
- Using webinars in this way allows you to gather information that can help you better understand and position yourself against the competition.
Final Thoughts
A well-executed competitive analysis can transform your strategy and help you attract more attendees. By understanding your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, you can improve your content marketing strategy, refine your email marketing strategy.
Ready to take your business to the next level? Start your competitive analysis today and make data-driven decisions that set you apart in the industry! For and maximum engagement use platforms like LiveWebinar – sign up for a free account and see the new possibilities that are open for you.