If you’re looking to expand your business, you can’t afford to miss out on an opportunity. When there’s a new market that opens up, your competitors could get there first — but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are countless resources you can leverage to find out where your competitors are marketing their business. Here are some tips for finding out where your competitors market their businesses, and how you can outdo them.
Finding where your competition markets their business.
To help you find out where your competitors are marketing their business, digital marketing agencies use competitor analysis tools. Some tools are free, and some come at a cost. Free tools like Google Analytics can Google AdWords (if you’re running pay-per-click campaigns) can show you who’s eating up your market share. Paid tools, on the other hand, can offer specific and valuable insights that free tools exclude.
When you spy on your competition with competitor analysis tools, you unlock the data you need to make better business decisions. They allow you to refine your marketing messages and anticipate market changes. These tools are most often used by digital marketing agencies who have experience gathering and analyzing data on your behalf.
Still, there are many more ways to where and how your competitors are marketing online. There are even ways to find your competitor’s online marketing spend. Among them are simple online searches, browsing online directories, searching Google My Business, and social media networks. Read on to learn more.
Spy on your competition with Google
Conducting competitor research is part of the foundation for any strong business strategy. It will help you understand what your competitors are doing and how well they’re doing it. Competitor research can also help you identify opportunities to grow your business. Still, it can be hard to know where to start.
When in doubt, start where your audience starts: Google. You can use Google or Bing to find other brands that are like your own. You can find out a lot about your competition simply by searching online. A few examples are:
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- Type “[Brand Name] review” into Google or Bing search field
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- Search “competitor name” + “review”
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- Enter keywords that describe the industry or niche you’re interested in exploring.
It’s helpful to look at their websites and social media profiles, as well as the reviews they’ve received from customers. This will help you understand what people like about these brands and what they don’t like so much.
Online directories.
Online directories are a great place to search when you want to find out where your competitors are marketing their business. You can use online directories to find contact information, as well as the websites and social media accounts that your competitors use.
Some marketing channels just won’t work for your business, and that’s ok. You can use online directories to see how much exposure your competition gets on each platform they use and narrow your focus. By focusing on the top-performing channels used by your competitors, you decide how best to reach customers, without spreading your efforts too thin.
Google My Business.
Google My Business is a free service that helps you get your business listed in Google Maps. It’s a great resource for customers who want to know the location of your store or office. It’s also an easy way to find out where your competitors are marketing their business. You can add your business name, address, hours of operation and more. You can also add photos and videos to help people find you at the right time and place. It is also a platform that allows your customers to leave reviews.
It’s no surprise that Google My Business has become a favorite tool used by consumers. So, it’s very likely that your competitors are already using it to market their business. You can see how active your competitors are on Google My Business just by searching their name and location. This will allow you to see any reviews they’ve received, updates they’ve shared, and their basic business information.
Social Media Networks
Social media is a great way to connect with your customers, and it can be used as an invaluable resource for marketing research. You can use social media to see what your customers are saying to drive traffic to their website and learn more about your competition. Beyond that, you can use social media to see what your customers actually want.
To start off, take a look at the social media accounts of the competitors in your space. See what they are posting about their company and how often they post updates. Are they posting consistently? Do they have a lot of followers? What type of content are they sharing? What is their social media management strategy? This will give you an idea of what kind of strategy works best for them, which you can then use as inspiration when crafting your own posts on Facebook and other sites.
Analyze your competition’s content, and your own.
Once you’ve scoured the internet to find out where your competitors are marketing their business, it’s time for competitive analysis. Ask yourself:
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- What are my competitors doing well? Where do they fall short?
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- What do I do well? How is my business better?
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- What strategies can I take from the competition? What’s worth my time?
These are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself when analyzing your competition’s content. Once you have these answers, it will be easier to tailor your own content around them and make it more relevant for the people your target audience.
Once you’ve explored all there is to explore about the competition, it’s time to evaluate your own messaging and business strategy. By performing a simple SWOT analysis, you can explore your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This SWOT analysis will come complete with data about your competitors and real input from customers.
The more you know about where your competitors market their businesses, the more you can stand out.
If you don’t know your enemy, you won’t know how to win the battle. That’s why knowing where your competition is marketing is so important to your business. You need to know who else is marketing to your target audience is, what they’re doing, and how they’re promoting their businesses and products. With this information at your disposal, you can make a plan to kill the competition. Once and for all.
Analyze your competition’s content, and your own.
Once you’ve scoured the internet to find out where your competitors are marketing their business, it’s time for competitive analysis. Ask yourself:
- What are my competitors doing well? Where do they fall short?
- What do I do well? How is my business better?
- What strategies can I take from the competition? What’s worth my time?
These are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself when analyzing your competition’s content. Once you have these answers, it will be easier to tailor your own content around them and make it more relevant for the people your target audience.
Once you’ve explored all there is to explore about the competition, it’s time to evaluate your own messaging and business strategy. By performing a simple SWOT analysis, you can explore your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This SWOT analysis will come complete with data about your competitors and real input from customers.
Use Our Free Competitor Analysis Template
The more you know about where your competitors market their businesses, the more you can stand out.
If you don’t know your enemy, you won’t know how to win the battle. That’s why knowing where your competition is marketing is so important to your business. You need to know who else is marketing to your target audience is, what they’re doing, and how they’re promoting their businesses and products. With this information at your disposal, you can make a plan to kill the competition. Once and for all.
