Your competitors’ marketing reveals a lot if you know where to look. 

It is tempting to think that you know your competitors business quite well. After all, you would have to be living on another planet not to notice their most public actions and the effects they have on your business. Still, there is a difference between what has come to your attention and being aware of the majority of marketing activity that is taking place at a given time. 

For this 360 degree picture, try a more intentional, but fairly simple, competitive marketing audit. At least once a year and preferably quarterly, set aside two hours to conduct a full review. 

These 4 steps will get you started and work well in most industries. Add in your own steps to customize the audit. 

Step 1: Spend Time Observing 

This is the foundation of the competitive marketing audit. Good places to start are your competitors’: 

• Social media presence
• Ads
• Website and search ranking
• Blogs
• Newsletters
• Word of Mouth

If there is a physical location, stop by and observe any on-site communications. Also, find out about any community activities they are promoting.

Note: Some marketing tactics are leading indicators of change. Others are laggards. Social media, with its regular posting demands and instant feedback, may be the first area signaling upcoming change. Others, like the website with its relative difficulty of implementing change, are often a laggard.

Step 2: Ask Yourself Questions About What You See Your Competitors Doing

Make a list of questions such as: 

• What platforms do they post on? 
• What are the main messages they are getting across? 
• What keywords are they focusing on?
• Is their target audience changing over time? 
• Do they appear to be spending more resources on marketing?

Then ask yourself “why” after each question. 

One of the biggest questions is, “Am I differentiated enough from my competitor that my customer can distinguish between us? If not, despite your best efforts, it may be hard to establish your space in the customers’ mind. Securing this space is of paramount importance, as it is the beginning of a loyal customer and the life time value they bring to your business. 

Step 3: Put Yourself in The Competitors’ Shoes

If this was my business, with the strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities that I’m observing, what would be my next move? You’d be surprised how often you can anticipate the next move a competitor will make and how helpful that can be to your business planning. 

In one of his famous blogs, “How Starbucks Brought Coffee to China“, Neal Patel, the Search Engine Optimization guru, cites Starbuck’s successful entrance into the Chinese market as an example of using competitive data to make decisions for marketing (and overall) strategy. 

Step 4: Employ Software to Help

Software is available to help you with the steps in an audit. The software ranges from simple to complex. Even the complex, if you have the time or inclination to learn, may be free for accessing just basic features. 

Here are a few user friendly and free types of software to get your started:

• Use a social media app that has a tool for for social listening. You can set it up to gather intel about what others are saying about your competitors as well as your own company. 
• Google their company name to see what is being written about them. 
• Google different keywords to see what the competitor is ranking for. 
• Keep an ongoing spreadsheet of results, so that you can refer back to earlier audit results when needed. 

That’s all it takes to turn on the faucet of data about competitors’ marketing. As with most of our recommendations for small businesses, start with the readily available basic steps. Once you incorporate those into your routine, you can add more sophisticated methods or ask someone on your staff to take over the activity for you.  

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At Small Biz Brands, we believe strategy is the foundation of business success. If you would like help, either with collecting data from a competitive marketing audit or the next steps needed to put your findings into action, contact us.