Business owners are doing their best to focus on the priorities to ensure that their businesses stay afloat. One of the challenges is trying to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to their competition. That is why each business owner needs to consider performing a thorough business competitive analysis.

This guide will discuss how you can look for your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses so you can be able to identify possible opportunities for better business. At the same time, you will have the data to refine your strategy so you continue operations and even create opportunities to grow. Let’s delve into this guide even further with the following list.

Identify Your Competitors

The most critical thing to do when performing a business competitive analysis is to identify your competitors. Without doing this, the entire thing would be pointless and so would this guide. There are two kinds of competitors to look for: your direct and indirect competitors. Your direct competitors are people who offer similar products or services.

Meanwhile, indirect competitors serve your same target audience. However, they offer completely different products and services compared to yours. You must do your due diligence and create a list of competitors. Make sure you’re putting this list together to categorize which competitor is direct or indirect so it makes things a little more organized.

Analyze What They Are Offering

Once you have a good idea of who your competitors are, it’s time to see what they offer. What are their products and services? What is their overall value proposition? And finally, what is the price of the products or services they’re offering?

What kind of features or benefits do they offer for those customers? Once you know all of this, you’ll have a few ideas to utilize to offer new products or services. It also gives you the chance to do things better compared to your competitors (who may be lacking something).

Evaluate Your Marketing and Branding Strategies

One thing that drives people to your business is a good marketing strategy. You want to take a look at what your competitors are doing in this regard. That’s because you need insights into the target audience and how your competitors are positioning themselves. So look for any advertising campaigns that they may have, as well as their website design, social media presence, and how they’re utilizing their content marketing strategy.

You’ll also want to know what their branding strategy is. What are the practices that are reflective of their branding? Compare those strategies to your own so you can be able to identify the areas where you can adjust your strategy or even make improvements. Remember that your brand is defined by your mission, vision, and values – so be sure to stick to them as much as possible.

Evaluate The Financial Performance

The financial performance of a business will give you a clear picture of how a business is doing in terms of success and stability. When analyzing your competitors, look for any publicly available financial statements. The important elements to look for are revenue, profit growth rates, and other relevant pieces of information. You can also compare this to how well you’re doing.

If you notice that your numbers are a concern, it is important to enlist the help of a business consultant. They might see things that you may not be seeing yourself – which could be the cause of sluggish financial performance. Once they can identify those problem issues, they will give you suggestions on how to improve.

Refer to Your Customer Feedback and Reviews

Your target market and even the customers themselves will be your best resource. Especially when it comes to the feedback and reviews you’ve been getting. When you look at these, they will provide you with valuable insights on how your business is doing in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. As you review customer feedback, look for any common issues and complaints.

On the other hand, look for any patterns of customer satisfaction. What were the key things that made them happy? Double down on these things whenever or wherever possible to improve a better experience.

Then do the same for your competitors. Find out what their customers are complaining about the most. At the same time, what were the common things that created a positive customer experience? From there, you can use this data to capitalize on what your competitors are falling short of.

For example, in a hospitality business customer feedback and reviews can be vital. Because you’re giving people a place to stay. They want something clean and comfortable for the duration of their stay. If your competitor is faced with common noise complaints, you can capitalize on this by offering quieter rooms.

Assess Operational Efficiency

Finally, one of the most overlooked aspects of a business is operational efficiency. Here, you can analyze how your competitors are doing regarding their day-to-day operations. By doing so, you’ll have a good idea of what their practices are for cost savings and improving overall productivity.

By doing this, you can be able to consider which measures will be useful for cost-savings. This includes the equipment and tools you use for everyday tasks. It will not only help you make a few upgrades where necessary but also get rid of any unnecessary items that may be a waste of money.

Final Thoughts

With these six things to consider, running a business competitive analysis will be easy. As a business owner, it is important to stay ahead of the curve while maintaining your priorities when it comes to running a business. So it never hurts to see what your competitors are doing to figure out how you can do better and stand out in the market.

Be sure to carefully follow this list of things to consider. If necessary, you can always enlist the help of a business consultant to help put together a solution on how to put yourself ahead of your competition.