“Don’t copy your competitors.”
“Don’t care about what your competitors are doing.”
While such advice is generally noble, they fall frail in the marketing landscape where competitive analysis is almost essential.
Not only do you look at your competitors but also gain insights from their plans, actions, and strategies, which you then tailor to use in your own business.
Competitive analysis can help you avoid basic mistakes, achieve a market edge, and accelerate business growth.
But then comes the most important question: how can B2B brands do competitive analysis?
The answer isn’t as simple and straightforward. Because the process may vary from one business to another based on the industry, as well as other macro and micro factors. So, there’s no one template that you can implement.
However, to get you started on the right track, here are a few steps and tips for B2B brands on doing competitive analysis:
Not everyone in the industry is your competitor.
You need to pick a few names that are your close (and successful) competitors; competitors who are doing a great job at scaling; someone who you can actually learn from.
This is one of the most basic and obvious steps.
Once you have a list of top competitors, visit their website and take note. Go into as much detail as possible, including finding their website loading time, average word count on every page, the color scheme of their CTA buttons, and more. Such little details can help you make improvements to your own website.
Audit their social media game.
Again, be as detail-oriented as possible. Cover everything from the size of their bio to the frequency of their social media posts to the time they publish content. Check out the type of display picture and the cover picture they have.
If these things have worked out for them, they can work for you as well. You can implement their social media strategy in your own case.
From their website and social media presence, you can gain a lot of insights into the sales funnel of your competitors.
Like, how they are trying to generate leads, what lead magnets they are offering, and what are their primary and secondary value propositions.
Furthermore, you can get into their sales funnel yourself to check out their drip campaigns and nurturing process.
Such insights can help you optimize your own sales funnel.
Don’t just do all the work and not take proper notes.
Every intel you’re gaining about your competitors, in whichever way, make sure you’re compiling it in a centralized place. This will be your one source of truth about your competitors that will navigate your marketing strategy.
Competitive analysis isn’t a one-off task. It’s an ongoing process. After all, your competitors are evolving and so will their marketing and sales strategy.
So, make this process a recurring part of your marketing strategy.
Regularly analyze your competitors and gain newer insights.
Competitive analysis isn’t easy. It requires the right set of tools, and there’s a lot more involved in it. For instance, analyzing the ad campaigns of competitors is an important component and it’s challenging if you don’t have access to the right tools.
This is why it’s a good idea to get timely help from third-party experts that can save you time and future expenses on competitive analysis.
Names like DAT-A-CCURATE® are among the top lead generation companies that specialize in B2B competitive analysis. We have a large team of experts that work with data. We leverage advanced inbound and outbound tactics, right from online surveys to conducting call interviews, to gather high-quality, actionable data for our clients. Not just that but also offering B2B lead generation service, we help clients craft a perfect strategy that helps them capture qualified leads and close more deals.
Connect with us today and get help with competitive analysis, as well as B2B lead generation from top experts.
Final Words
Competitive analysis will take time and effort. But given just how critical it is and the pivotal role it can play for your business growth, it’s an investment worth making.
The above-mentioned are a few tips and steps to competitive analysis for B2B brands. Get started on the right track and tap on the power of data to achieve all your business goals.