Detailed competitor analyses reveal strengths and weaknesses. (Photo: © Marcel de Grijs/123RF.com)
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September 16, 2021
Crafts 4.0: How successful is your online marketing compared to your competitors? A detailed competitor analysis provides the answer, revealing all strengths and weaknesses.
But how do you conduct such an analysis? And how can the results be used to gain a competitive edge? The internet is now the most important medium for acquiring new customers : According to a study by DigitasLBi AG, around 87 percent of consumers researched products online before making purchasing decisions in 2020 , while 82 percent used online reviews . The job market is also increasingly shifting online: Companies across all sectors published almost half of all job postings in online job boards in 2020 , according to an analysis by the German Federal Association of Personnel Service Providers.
The online visibility of your business therefore has a direct impact on your success – in search engines , job boards , and social media . Online competitor analysis is a promising strategy for optimizing marketing measures . This involves answering many questions, such as: Which search terms are competitors using ? What social media activities are competitors using ? And how do other businesses gain an advantage with online ads and Google rankings ? Only those who actively monitor the online activities of their main competitors can optimize their own strategy so that more customers and skilled workers find their business online in the future.
An online competitive analysis helps to illuminate the current market environment and identify the most important competitors – both locally and nationally. Only those who truly know their competition can analyze their strategies. The key question is always: Where are competitors better positioned than your own business? To find out, tradespeople should carefully examine their competitors' online marketing activities : Which keywords do other businesses use to be found on Google? What Google rankings do they achieve? Do competitors run supplementary online ads to rank even higher than the actual search results for specific keywords? And on which social networks are competitors active – and which target groups are they addressing there?
Most questions can be answered with a little research on your own; even more detailed answers can be obtained with specialized online services and tools , many of which are available free of charge on the internet (see table below). In this way, businesses can find out, for example, technical details or visitor numbers for any website . The number of high-quality "backlinks" is also important – these are links from external websites to your own or to competitors' homepages.
Craft policy
Operations management
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After analyzing the competitors, the most important work begins: Using the insights gained, companies can optimize their own online marketing to gain a competitive edge . For example, if a competitor is particularly strong in a specific industry area, you can try to outdo them – or specialize in another important topic that the competition hasn't yet dominated. In this way, companies can easily turn competitors' weaknesses into their own strengths.
Those who don't want to monitor the competition themselves can outsource this task: Strato and Pylot , for example, offer paid services that regularly compile and present important facts about selected competitors. This allows you to automatically monitor competitors' online activities and compare them with your own successes.
In principle, competitive analysis is worthwhile not only for large businesses, but especially for small businesses : This way, tradespeople regularly receive new inspiration and can perfect their own marketing measures in order to be one crucial step ahead of the competition.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your own company? How and where are you already successfully using online marketing? Where do you have room to improve? Which target customer groups do you want to reach? What are the means? Are you receiving enough applications from trainees and skilled workers for job postings?
What do you want to achieve with competitor analysis? For example: identify competitors, analyze strengths and weaknesses, compare online marketing measures and/or successes, achieve greater online visibility for customers and/or job postings.
Which online areas of your competitors do you want to analyze? For example: keywords used in search engines, website traffic, current online advertising measures, and social media usage.
What resources and tools do you want to use? For example, online services, full-service providers, or your own research.
Use the results of your online competitor analysis to specifically increase your online visibility. Depending on your goals, you can, for example, initiate measures to rank higher in search engines or to position your own online job postings ahead of your competitors.
Repeat the online competitor analysis regularly to respond to new market situations, seasonal effects or changes in competitors' strategies.
When conducting online competitor analyses, always consider all legal requirements, such as the GDPR, copyright law and the Telemedia Act.
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