Do you know your competitors? – Get to know them through a competitive analysis and position your business above them

Do you know your competitors well enough to know what makes your business unique? To know what is your competitive advantage? Thanks to the Internet you can learn a lot about your online competitors, and fast than ever. An internet competitor analysis, also known as competitive analysis, helps you to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. Furthermore, it will help you to detect the opportunities and threats they form to your company.

There are two types of competitors: the direct and the indirect one. The first is the one that offers the same products or services to the same market as does your company, the second is the one that offers the same products or services but to a distinct market. Information about both of them provides you an insight into your position on the market and allows you to find out how your company can be unique and can benefit your customers.

First of all, you should identify your direct and indirect competitors. During this first step, you could create a list with your top 5 direct competitors and another for your indirect competitors. Per company you should list their offering and how they are marketing it, because this will help you improve your own offering. Furthermore, you could investigate their strengths and weaknesses, because understanding those can help you to make the products and services offered by your company stand out.

After identifying the competition, understanding the companies and their approach taken in the market is the next step. The most obvious way to do this is to research them by checking their website. Business intelligence tools can help you digging deeper into your competition and understanding their strengths and weaknesses by collecting information in the area of the business. It helps you to collect information about your customer’s needs, their decision making process, and to get insight into economic, technological, and cultural trends. Business intelligence analyzes the industry you’re in as a whole, thus not only your customers.

Because lack of understanding your competitor’s online activities will most probably result in lost opportunities, doing a competitive analysis is highly recommended. It can help you define a “killer strategy” that positions your business above the competition.