Using Competitive Analysis to Determine a Content Strategy

A competitive analysis should be an integral part of any content marketing strategy. In fact, it’s a good first step to set the stage for your own planning. 

Knowing where you stand among other brands in your field means you can cater every campaign, blog post, video upload, and newsletter to a specific goal–whether increasing traffic or building a brand identity. 

But, how can you interpret and apply this data? Is there a trick?

Let’s explore eight ways to conduct and leverage a thorough competitor analysis to your advantage. 

What Is a Competitive Analysis?

Like customer experience analytics, performing a competitive analysis opens a window to uncharted territory. Essentially, collecting data about different products, marketing strategies, and promotions cycling through the industry landscape can help you determine which content avenues are prime targets. Fine-tuning your strategy based on competitors’ weaknesses also offers you an edge in areas where they fall short.

Below is a list of benefits a competitive analysis can bring to your brand:

• Discovering new or niche markets
• Developing a brand image
• Monitoring your growth
• Differentiating yourself from competitors
• Better reaching customer demands and needs

How Often Should I Conduct a Competitor Analysis?

Generally speaking, conducting a competitor analysis once quarterly is advisable. This way, you can tailor your content marketing strategy to meet specific goals while staying ahead of emerging trends. In any case, you should make competitive research a priority, especially when venturing into a new endeavor (e.g., brand or product launch). 

8 Tips for Leveraging Competitor Analysis for Content Creation

A marketing competition analysis doesn’t need to be complicated. Instead, focus on creating a general “to-do” list to follow each time you return to the data. The obvious first step is to know your playing field–who are you stacking up against? 

From there, you can develop a plan that covers every angle, from competitors’ customer service models to their marketing outreach. By the end of your research, you’ll feel equipped to create content that satisfies (and exceeds) audience needs, distinguishes your brand, and sets you up for long-term success.

1. Identify Your Competitors

Of course, you must determine your biggest competitors before collecting any data. However, you should first examine your own values, objectives, and services to identify the specific area to target. 

For instance, you wouldn’t look for competitors by Googling, “wilderness activities in X” if you own an outdoor adventurist club in location Y. Instead, look for other businesses in your immediate periphery that most resemble your brand.

Compile a list of top businesses with similar ideologies, offerings, and audiences. Use them as the basis of your competitive analysis for the quarter.

2. Examine Competitor Values & Ethics

What solutions do your competitors offer customers? What is their vision and how do they carry themselves in the industry? How does their brand help their audience and the world beyond?

Now, how do your business ethics compare to theirs? Examining the “why” (e.g., We help customers grow beautiful gardens…) and “how” (e.g., …by providing organic, handcrafted soil) behind their brand can provide insight into how your mission matches (better yet, surpasses) their principles.

Remember, people want to connect with brands who share their morals and values. If you own tree conservations, your brand vision may need a bit of reworking if you fail to mention how you better the environment through your actions. This could be an opportunity to issue a “rebranding” announcement, boasting an eloquently written statement about your efforts to restore forests. 

Here, you’ve gained customer attention and differentiated your business from others with a solid, grounded mission statement that accurately reflects your ethical standing.

3. Look at Customer Engagement

Check out how competitors interact with their customers. Are they generally friendly, involved, and interested, or aloof, disingenuous, and distant? Do they have a testimonial page on their website? What is the overarching theme of their online presence–positive or negative?

Spending time delving deep into their social media, open complaints, and Google reviews can be eye-opening in terms of your current stance in the marketplace. Crafting a warm, welcoming brand image can be the stark difference customers crave in their online interactions. Find the common pitfalls in your competitors’ approaches and match them with authenticity and empathy.

4. Remember, SWOT!

What Is SWOT?

No, it’s not the sound your hand makes when you shoo a fly.

SWOT is an excellent aid to competitive analysis. Allow this exercise of identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to guide you in capitalizing on plump, ripe prospective markets. 

Ask yourself a set of questions:

• Where do my competitors succeed? What aspects of their brand gain more attention than mine? Should I incorporate some of their tactics into my marketing strategy?
• How does their branding rank next to mine? Do they have a robust, comprehensible Buyer’s Journey? What weaknesses do I see in their social media posts, newsletters, or website design?
• Should I follow suit in some of their new product or service ventures? Have they identified a new audience to target? Where else have they grown? 
• How can their current efforts impact my ability to succeed? Do their marketing efforts reach more people than mine? What other things should I keep an eye on?

Using your answers, you can gauge where your content strategy can improve. Perhaps you should up your social media game a tad–post an extra short-form video here and there. Or, your website may need an entire overhaul, maybe even the inclusion of an FAQ page or blog. 

You can also determine which untouched audiences could benefit from your services. Failing to connect with these demographics may hinder you from boosting traffic, customer engagement, and conversion rates. Adjusting your strategy accordingly not only benefits you but also consumers seeking to connect with brands that just get them.

5. Determine Competitors’ Marketing Strategies

Grab a coffee and set time aside for some in-depth market research.

Analyzing competitors’ content strategies may take a few sessions as you want to be thorough. The information you find can be pivotal in crafting your next move, especially if their services nearly mirror yours. 

Below are just a few marketing avenues to analyze:

• Email campaigns: Consider subscribing to a few of your competitors’ email newsletters. Examine how they carry themselves. What’s their tone? What type of content do they typically include (e.g., research data, promotions, blog posts)? 

• Social media accounts: How active are your competitors on social media and which platforms do they prefer? How do they interact with their followers? Find out what works best for them and use this information to build out your strategy. 

• Webinars: Educational videos are a great way to build expertise and credibility in your industry. Investigate their roster of webinars online. Look at their views and comments on YouTube. See what topics garner interest and which are duds.

• Ebooks: Like webinars, ebooks provide customers with a lot of valuable, usable information in one compact media. Ask yourself, “Am I investing enough time in long-form content based on my competitors’ performance?” 

• Paid newsletters: If you can, sign up for subscriber newsletters to see what the hubbub is about their paid marketing. What extras do subscribers receive for their money? Are you giving your audience enough??

• Blogs: Blogs may seem like a thing of the past, but they’re still as relevant today as ten, even fifteen years ago. People have historically flocked to blogs for advice about everything from vacation spots to DIY-ing an outdoor grow room. So, have your competitors launched into this avenue of content yet? Can you out-blog them? 

• Paid advertising: What ads are competitors boosting on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn? Which campaigns are performing best? With this data, you can formulate a paid advertising strategy based on their success (or missteps). 

6. Analyze Competitor Products, Promotions, & Prices

You’ve heard the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side.”

Well, pinpointing why your customers may hold this mindset about your competitors can help turn the narrative in your favor.

Analyze direct competitor catalogs and prices. Identify the gaps in your product or service line. How can you expand your inventory to boost attention and awareness? Should you extend into new service avenues? 

For example, perhaps a competitor landscaping company provides complementary maintenance once a month for newsletter subscribers. This simple symbol of appreciation has earned them a repertoire of loyal patrons. 

Revisit your business model to green-er-ize your pastures with content marketing. One solution could be posting a “Free Lawncare Weekend” giveaway on social media. Or, you could write a short-form blog about the additional services you provide in autumn to prepare for harsh winter storms.

Whatever the case, utilize competitor research to revamp your sales, promotional, and product marketing strategy to add some oomph to your brand.    

Additionally, ask yourself questions like:

• How often do my competitors discount their services?
• What areas have they expanded since opening? 
• Have they recently downsized a particular product line?
• Do they have a dedicated sales team?
• How do they advertise their services to the community?
• How do my prices compare to theirs?
• Has their annual revenue increased or decreased over the last few years? What caused any changes?

7. Continuously Monitor Results

As we mentioned earlier, performing a quarterly competition analysis is smart. In this way, you can always stay on top of industry trends and shifts that affect your brand. What was “in” last quarter may be old news today. 

For instance, remember when AI first hit the marketing world? No one quite expected automated chatbots and computer-generated images to become as massively influential as they are now. 

Let’s say you skimped on competitive research that month and missed the first big wave of AI outreach while competitors ate it up. Instead, you published a blog about how AI distracts kids, keeping them cooped up inside rather than engaging in outdoor activities–big uh oh! In turn, traffic that could have reached your kayaking brand went elsewhere into the ether… and some customers lost interest in you entirely.

Here’s just one reason why regular practice is a stepping stone to success. 

8. Don’t Forget Your OWN Areas for Improvement

The most critical tip to walk away with is this–never stop improving, growing, and bettering your brand. No business is perfect, or even near perfect. There is no limit to refinement, and customer needs are going to constantly change how you navigate the industry. 

Apply what you’ve learned from competitive analysis to your development strategy. Fill the holes in your marketing plan. Ask your customers what more they want from you. Believe in your mission–never lose sight of where you started and how far you’ve come.

In Conclusion

The content marketing world is never stagnant. Things are continuously fluctuating and you must stay vigilant to be relevant. Keep moving forward and building trust, loyalty, and support with competitive analysis. Pretty soon, you can take a step back, breathe deeply, and see the positive impact on both your brand and customers.

Photo courtesy of Joshoots. 

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