{"id":139,"date":"2024-02-01T18:41:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T18:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editorialservicesconsultant.wordpress.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2024-01-30T19:17:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T19:17:10","slug":"competitor-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecontentconsultancy.com\/competitor-research\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the objective of competitor research?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Firstly, let’s expel the myth that competitors are ‘evil’ or that competitor research is spying! The objective of competitor research is always about knowledge building. Knowing your competitors is simply part of knowing your overall market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By doing competitor research, you are able to analyse what you find out and then developing your own <\/span>ideas. Copying someone else never works, as you\u2019ll only ever by second best (at best!) to the original. However, it is still important to do for your small business and for your marketing activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitors = sellers in your market<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You market is where you business sits within a profession or industry. It is very much about who your ‘buyers’ are …but just like an actual market…it’s also about your fellow stall holder, aka your competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can be direct competitors<\/strong> selling the same or very similar things to you (which includes products and services). They can also be indirect competitors <\/strong>selling quite different things but vying for a similar spend from similar customers (or target audience). For example, a bookkeeper and a virtual assistant are often indirect competitors in the world of small business owners. The spend is likely to come under similar scrutiny when we decide what to spend our money on. Equally, in the corner shop, both the producer of a magazine and a box of chocolate become competitors, as they vie for that all important \u00a35 you have in your pocket when you are deciding what to treat yourself to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 objectives for competitor research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Competitor research is a fundamental part of running a small business. You need to know what other businesses similar to yours are doing. It will help you grow and enhance your knowledge of your profession and area of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three objectives that you can look to gain specifically when doing competitor research<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitor research objective 1 – identity who is doing SEO well and being really visible locally<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Google your competitors<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The first port of call for most research is good old Google. If you don\u2019t know your direct competitor\u2019s names, the first thing you will need to do is put into a search engine your profession and location, e.g. If you are a hairdresser, search ‘Hairdresser in Hampshire’. You can also do the same on a social media platform. This should identify local direct competitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial search results actually tell you a lot of things about your competitors without even visiting their webpage. For example, which company is at the top of the list? Who appears in the Google Map\/Google Business section? What is their proximity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others in the list, what do you think it is about their site that makes them top of the list? Is it a good use of keywords and search engine optimisation (SEO)? Have they paid for the listing? If so, why are they doing that? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitor research objective 2 – learn from competitors, what they offer and their marketing activity, especially big brands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now, take a look at the website of some of your competitors. To find more national (or international, if relevant) and bigger competitors<\/strong>, you can widen your search by removing location from your search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at any array of competitor content. It’s not about copying marketing ideas remember, this is just about finding out about their business through what they say publicly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is ok to have gut reactions to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n