The best ways how to analyse competitors and why?
Competitors analysis is the initial testing point for any business idea. It also helps to quickly and cost-effectively obtainuseful information that will later be very useful for business.
As a result of the analysis of competitors, it becomes known:
But how do you get answers to these questions?
Will our "rivals" share the knowledge that will help us take a larger share of their market? Sounds crazy, so let’s find out!
Let’s start with different types of competitions: Direct competitors (analogues) — they make a similar product and solvethe same audience problem. These competitors are the most valuable for borrowing hypotheses which work.
Indirect competitors (substitutes) — solve similar problems for a similar target audience, but using distinct products. Theirvalue is slightly lower, but it is easier to negotiate a cooperation with them. With the help of indirect competitors, you can take a broader look at possible solutions to a customer’s problems.
Implicit competitors (alternatives) — share the same market audience, but solve distinct problems using/selling distinct products. In fact, this is a competition for the customer, but using different methods. By analysing implicit competitors, we get a deeper understanding of our target audience and their needs.
How to find competitors?
How to analyze them?
How to get competitors interest in talking to you? I would say only by generating value to them, like:
Tools for competitors' analysis
Adbeat. Gives complete information about competitors' advertising campaigns: ads, sites, budget.
Topvisor. Allows you to view data on competitor sites in the desired search engine, region and keywords.
Similarweb.com. Shows statistics of site page views and data about the target audience. Screaming Frog SEO Spider. Itwill tell you how the content on the site is SEO-optimised (meta tags, subheadings).
Smart SEO Auditor. It will give detailed information about all the SEO parameters of the site.
Spy On Web. Shows a complete list of sites owned by the competitor site owner. Fanpage Karma. It helps to analyse subscribers and content in various social networks of a competitor.
Antidogs. It will show in which social networks and how many subscribers have been cheated.
Marketing Grader. It will show not only the SEO parameters of the site, but also queries, page loading speed, and the amount of traffic.
The Wayback Machine. An archive that stores screenshots of site pages in the past. Here you can track the history of the development of the site.
WooRank. Checks optimization and KPI, gives information about key queries, traffic and target audience.
aTrends. Provides comprehensive information about competitors' advertising campaigns. yourscan. Collects brandreviews in social networks. feedspy. Analyzes the content in the social networks of competitors.
OnWebChange. Notifies you about changes on competitors' websites. visual ping. Tracks changes on specific pages of the site.
Contour-Focus. Shows counterparties and allows you to conduct financial analysis. Megaindex. Conducts a full site audit in automatic mode.
Owler. Sort competitors by industry, income, and more. and seeks potential clients by sector.
Website traffic analysis services 5 services for analyzing competitor websites and their attendance: Serpstat. Ahrefs.Alexa.com. Semrush. PR-CY.
As a result of the analysis of competitors, it becomes known:
- Is it worth further testing this hypothesis
- How improve your product and add some important elements
- Get insight on efficiency of different marketing and advertisement channels
- Define most useful sales technics
- Best way to deal with customers
- Choose best company structure for your product success
- How to avoid most regular errors in product and operations
But how do you get answers to these questions?
Will our "rivals" share the knowledge that will help us take a larger share of their market? Sounds crazy, so let’s find out!
Let’s start with different types of competitions: Direct competitors (analogues) — they make a similar product and solvethe same audience problem. These competitors are the most valuable for borrowing hypotheses which work.
Indirect competitors (substitutes) — solve similar problems for a similar target audience, but using distinct products. Theirvalue is slightly lower, but it is easier to negotiate a cooperation with them. With the help of indirect competitors, you can take a broader look at possible solutions to a customer’s problems.
Implicit competitors (alternatives) — share the same market audience, but solve distinct problems using/selling distinct products. In fact, this is a competition for the customer, but using different methods. By analysing implicit competitors, we get a deeper understanding of our target audience and their needs.
How to find competitors?
- The simplest is using a search engine like Google, DuckDuckGo or Yandex, simply by entering product/market key queries.
- In services for semantics analysis. For example, Semrush, Spywords, Mutagen. Here you will find competitors who do not pay attention to SEO, and therefore do not appear on the first pages of search engines.
- During Customer development. Interviewing your potential customers. They will tell where they buy and what is good or not so.
- In industry’s ratings and tops. However, it is worth choosing independent resources.
- At interviews with experts in your niche. They will not only talk about the existence of a particular competitor, but also share their personal opinion, which is also very valuable.
- In a dialogue with competitors: they are doing the same analysis. Make contact, show how you can provide value and get mutual data.
- In stores, catalogs and marketplaces, if you have a physical product.
How to analyze them?
- Study information on the company’s official sources: website, social networks, mobile applications. This is the easiest way, but it only allows you to find out what they want customers to see.
- Study information about the company in ratings, industry web-sites, sites with reviews, on YouTube. So you can quickly find out customer reviews on the company and its products.
- Use marketing analytics services: Semrush, Similarweb, Be1. These services will let you know marketing metrics, promotion methods, creatives, keywords, and more.
- Communicate with competitors' customers. These are ideal respondents for problem interviews. They will share notonly the shortcomings of competitors, but also where they do better than you do. Use the answers to improve your own product.
- Communicate with employees or partners of your competitors. They can tell you about the company’s inner workings, development history, and tested hypotheses. Think about how you can attract their interest, what to give in response to the information provided (create value for them), or how to find the right approach.
- Chat with experts in your niche. You can get both an expert assessment and a complete analysis of competitors on a turnkey basis.
How to get competitors interest in talking to you? I would say only by generating value to them, like:
- Suggest a collaboration. For example, attracting customers to their business or buying their products in bulk. This will be an explanation of your high interest in details.
- Offer a constant exchange of information useful to both parties. Competitors can go for mutual cooperation so that both companies become stronger against other competitors.
- Offer financial rewards for help. There is a hypothesis that founders are happy to earning income from consulting, not just from the main business.
- Find former employees who were dissatisfied with working at your competitor’s company. They can share insights with you.
Tools for competitors' analysis
Adbeat. Gives complete information about competitors' advertising campaigns: ads, sites, budget.
Topvisor. Allows you to view data on competitor sites in the desired search engine, region and keywords.
Similarweb.com. Shows statistics of site page views and data about the target audience. Screaming Frog SEO Spider. Itwill tell you how the content on the site is SEO-optimised (meta tags, subheadings).
Smart SEO Auditor. It will give detailed information about all the SEO parameters of the site.
Spy On Web. Shows a complete list of sites owned by the competitor site owner. Fanpage Karma. It helps to analyse subscribers and content in various social networks of a competitor.
Antidogs. It will show in which social networks and how many subscribers have been cheated.
Marketing Grader. It will show not only the SEO parameters of the site, but also queries, page loading speed, and the amount of traffic.
The Wayback Machine. An archive that stores screenshots of site pages in the past. Here you can track the history of the development of the site.
WooRank. Checks optimization and KPI, gives information about key queries, traffic and target audience.
aTrends. Provides comprehensive information about competitors' advertising campaigns. yourscan. Collects brandreviews in social networks. feedspy. Analyzes the content in the social networks of competitors.
OnWebChange. Notifies you about changes on competitors' websites. visual ping. Tracks changes on specific pages of the site.
Contour-Focus. Shows counterparties and allows you to conduct financial analysis. Megaindex. Conducts a full site audit in automatic mode.
Owler. Sort competitors by industry, income, and more. and seeks potential clients by sector.
Website traffic analysis services 5 services for analyzing competitor websites and their attendance: Serpstat. Ahrefs.Alexa.com. Semrush. PR-CY.