Competitor analysis is an integral part of a marketer’s work, thanks to which you can not only identify the strengths and weaknesses of your brand, but also understand what needs to be improved and be inspired by new ideas. In this article, a content marketing agency from Dubai will share with you how to analyze competitors’ advertising and use the data obtained.
Why analysis is necessary
Competitor analysis is practically the first stage of cooperation with a new brand. But why do marketers need this analysis?
- Find out the strengths and weaknesses of the brand;
- See what tools competitors use and what works best, and compare with the results of your project;
- See new ideas for promotion and advertising in order to implement something similar for yourself;
- Think over a promotion strategy that will distinguish the brand from competitors.
We have sorted out the reasons for the analysis, let’s move on to the essence of the article.
Where to find your competitors
For fruitful work, you first need to study the market and competitors, and here are a couple of ways to do this:
Social networks and browser search
The most obvious way and the easiest to search. You can start typing keywords and phrases like “Women’s clothing” and select suitable accounts.
Ratings
There are now many ratings on the Internet that divide brands by class and quality, so you will reduce the time for sorting brands and will have lists of competitors.
Special services
Also, one of the simple ways is to use search services that automatically select competitors’ sites. One of such sites: SimilarWeb.
The data obtained after this analysis is best presented in the form of a table, divide competitors by segments and distinctive features.
In the course of assembling competitors, analyze: what strategy your competitors are promoting, study their product, product categories, offers and USP, which products are bestsellers, brand positioning and their advantageous offers.
Positioning
Look at how competitors position themselves, what they base their brand on, and how they attract audiences and customers.
Pay attention to the design of competitors’ websites and social networks, and how they communicate with their audience. Such an analysis can help identify the weaknesses of your brand and understand what should be added.
Prices and promotions
Another important stage of analysis, in which you need to analyze the pricing policy of competitors, their promotions and discounts. You should determine the average price of direct competitors, but also look at the composition of clothing, because perhaps the price of competitors will be lower, due to the low quality of the composition of the goods.
What is worth analyzing:
- Sales, promotions and discounts – permanent and seasonal;
- Loyalty system (birthday discounts, cumulative system, welcome discount, etc.);
- Offers (free delivery, fitting, etc.).
Thanks to this analysis, you will find out whether your prices are too high or too low, whether the brand loyalty system is fully organized or something should be added, and also learn and add new offers.
It would not be superfluous to study the additional services and lead magnets offered by competitors. This will help your business expand the list of existing services and come up with something unique that will distinguish it from others.
Examples of additional services:
- Free delivery with fitting;
- Free audit of the site or advertising campaigns;
- Guides and lessons (for clothing brands, these can be lookbooks);
- 24/7 manager support, etc.
Site analysis
The site is the main source of applications, if the site is convenient and comfortable for users, then this helps to increase loyalty clients, so working with the site and improving it never stands still. It is also important to study the structure of the site from competitors, and here is what you should pay attention to:
Site map and customer path
Look at how the site and its sections are structured, whether the navigation is clear, and how many touches the client has to go through before placing an order. The customer path should be as simple and short as possible so that the user does not have any difficulties with the design. Compare the results with your site, and analyze what needs to be added or improved.
Visuals and design of the main page
Study which sections are located on the main page, which banners are used to attract the attention of customers, and which promotions are highlighted.
Registration and delivery
This point is extremely important for customers and for the successful completion of their order. It is worth calculating how many steps it takes to pay (again, to the point about whether this is a short path, and whether it can be shortened), and whether it is convenient to place an order and delivery. Also, the terms of delivery and payment should be in a section of the site where the information will be easily accessible and understandable.
In our experience, it will be a plus to implement the “Quick purchase” and “Payment in installments” buttons on the site.
Frequently asked questions
A section that must be present on the site, where the most popular and frequently asked questions and answers to them will be noted. This point should also be easily accessible in the site navigation.
Working with feedback
See if competitors have feedback widgets on their sites. Check its functionality, how communication takes place, in what format and how the client is involved in the purchase.
Reviews
Customer reviews are often added to the site, analyze this page and compare it with yours if it is present. If not, I recommend adding it along with real reviews, ratings, and brand awards (if any).
Website design
Of course, an important component of a website is its design and layout. Study in detail the colors, fonts, and design elements that competitors use, what corporate style they adhere to, and how the site adapts to different devices. Customers will be able to recognize the brand and remember it by the corporate design.
Website search engine optimization — SEO
SEO analysis of competitors will indicate what keys and queries brands use and what exactly helps them reach the top of search results and gain a large amount of traffic. With the help of this analysis, you can also find out how customers found the brand, how much time they spend on the site, and what exactly they are interested in.
Let’s take a closer look:
Semantics
Thanks to the semantic core, you can collect information on key queries of competitors and implement it in your use, of course, it is important to filter it before that. Carefully selected semantics will bring a large amount of traffic. Analyze the keys and queries through special services (like SimilarWeb), and then conduct a comparative analysis of their semantic results and yours, you should add the most relevant data.
Traffic sources
This stage is important to analyze competitors to understand where their traffic comes from (SimilarWeb has this function). With its help, you will see in percentage terms where a large share of customers comes from. This can be an email newsletter, social networks, search queries, etc.
Contextual advertising of competitors
To improve the performance of your advertising, it is important to analyze the contextual advertising of competitors: key queries, settings, visual part, design of creatives, headings and texts, offers, etc.
Analyze what products your direct competitors use in advertising, what calls to action are used.
Of course, only through your own experience can you make sure what works best for you, so you need to test your own creatives, and not copy directly from others. This analysis helps to increase your visibility, and be aware of what is currently being actively used.
Keywords and queries
Collect and analyze the keys and queries that competitors use (you can use Serpstat, SimilarWeb, etc.). This can be done using special platforms, where the frequency of requests, the links used, the keys and requests themselves will be indicated, and it will also clearly show which ads competitors use. This method can help find new ideas for your ads, and will give you ideas about what can be improved and added.
Advertising creatives
What you should pay attention to when analyzing competitors’ advertising creatives:
- What photos are used for creatives;
- What headings and text are used, what is the call and offers in them;
- Quick links, their number and the pages to which they lead;
- Advertisement formats;
- Landing page to which the creative leads.
Through such analysis, you can create tests and hypotheses for your own launches and test them, measure the result, and then optimize and scale.
Sales Funnel Stages
A well-designed sales funnel is important in high-quality advertising, and of course, creatives from contextual advertising are no exception: study how the client gets to this advertisement, from which sites, where the advertisement directs and leads him, how the landing page is designed. Study the strategy used, and adapt its improved version for your advertising.
Conclusions
Comparative analysis of competitors will help to make many hypotheses and promotion strategies that will need to be tested. It will also be useful to keep up with your direct competitors and optimize your work.
In its work, WGG content marketing agency always analyzes its clients’ competitors as often and in detail as possible, because it is this kind of analysis that helps to identify growth points and moments for improving advertising.
