Competitive Analysis: A Quick Guide for B2B Brands

• admin
• Aug, 26 2021

Competition isn’t bad!

In fact, the competitors are one of the best sources of learning. From the marketing and sales POV, you can observe their strengths and weaknesses, and how they maximize their results. Relevant competitive analysis can navigate your own strategies and give you a headstart.

But that said, competitive analysis isn’t easy in itself. Identifying and evaluating the strategies of competitors is a challenge owing to the lack of sufficient data points; this is especially true in B2B.

With the right approach though, you can successfully complete a competitive analysis and extract the most value from the data.

To help you get started, here are 6 steps to competitive analysis for B2B brands:

1. Identify the top competitors

A common mistake many B2B brands make is selecting any random competitor that they come across. Don’t make this mistake.

Competitive analysis should ideally be done of competitors who are at the top in the industry and are a leading name; someone who’s successful in a true sense.

It is they, who will provide you with key insights as opposed to someone at the bottom of the rung.

2. Do SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis is very powerful.

Determine key areas that are relevant to your business, like marketing strategy, pricing strategy, customer experience and more. Then analyze your competitors in these key areas with the focus on Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats.

Finding out what’s working well for your competitors, what are the challenges they are facing and so forth, can subsequently help you establish your strategies.

3. Find out the technologies they have invested in

Their PPC campaigns are always on point. Are they using any dedicated PPC tools?

Their website seems highly optimized for SEO. Are they using any optimization tools?

Find out which technologies are enabling their growth and success. Then pick and choose the suitable technologies as per your needs and invest in them. If these technologies have helped your close competitors, they can help you too.

4. Audit their social media game

This is very simple and straightforward. It’s also a critical part of social media marketing.

As is evident now, social media marketing has gotten a lot more challenging in recent times, courtesy of the demise of organic reach, higher competition, and human’s shrinking attention span.

Competitive analysis here can be incredibly helpful.

So, do audit the social media game of your competitors. See the kind of posts they publish, how many times a day they publish, which platforms they are more active on, and so forth. Steer your social media marketing efforts accordingly.

5. Analyze their website

Which CMS are they using? What’s the loading speed of their website? What kind of CTAs do they have on the site? What’s the color scheme of their website? What type of keywords their website is optimized with? What kind of content have they published on the website?

Do an intensive analysis of your competitors’ websites. Find out all the details. And let these data points be your benchmark to outline strategies and track results.

6. Invest in the right tools

Competitive analysis is a sophisticated process. While you can do it manually and with free tools, that analysis could be very limited and inefficient.

You need the right tools by your side to dig deep into your competitors and uncover the key insights.

Some of the common competitive analysis frameworks are Porter’s five forces model, perceptual mapping template, and many more.

With a set of advanced tools, you can work around these frameworks to achieve the desired results.

Final Words

Competitive analysis can help you fine-tune your own strategies and products. It can establish brand benchmarks. In all, it can bring your business limitless opportunities.

This is why, while as challenging as competitive analysis could be, it’s also worth pursuing owing to all the benefits.

Names like DAT-A-CCURATE, one of the top lead generation companies, can help with data enrichment solutions, enabling clients to gather competitors’ relevant data and craft a more distinct brand presence. From email drip campaigns to appointment setting lead generation, we deploy different strategies to get you the data you need for optimum conversion.

Know more about our services, we are just a ping away. DAT-A-CCURATE is trusted by B2B brands when it comes to reliable lead generation companies.

Onboard with our team, stride forward confidently to create better strategies and drive higher conversions.

Assumptions are bad, competition isn’t. By taking the right approach, competitors can help your business thrive and grow.