Every business is not operating in an isolated space. Every business is part of a larger global market, as well as smaller local markets that are home to many thousands (if it’s not millions) of companies that are similar to them.
So knowing who your competitors are, i.e. what they are up against, is crucial to run your business with the highest efficiency. If constant improvement is your objective as a company, then you must be aware of what your competitors are doing so that you can be better than them.
Competitive monitoring isn’t new. Companies have been tracking their competitors’ actions since the beginning of time. However, with the changing marketplace, the process of monitoring competitive activity has gotten more sophisticated.
As per Forbes, monitoring your competitors is a good way to find out how they’re able to outperform you in certain areas and how they achieve their goals.
In some instances, it can be a method to determine how you’re doing better than your competitors so that you can continue to improve.
This article will go over the concept of competitive monitoring and its significance, the methods to perform it, and various other questions to ask. In the end, you’ll have an idea of why and how you need to be watching your competitors. Let’s begin.
What Is The Term Competitive Monitoring?
Competitive monitoring is described as the constant monitoring of your competitor and also the business and market environment to gather information on competition, competitors’ offerings and products, as well as trends in the market.
The primary purpose of monitoring competitive markets is to determine your position in the market; however, it’s also a strategy that can be utilized to make strategic business decision-making.
The information gathered during the monitoring of competitive conditions that are analyzed and determined to be pertinent to be actionable is known as competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is (and ought to be) the primary basis for making strategic and tactical choices which give your business an edge in the market.
The competitive information gained from monitoring competitors can be utilized to conduct an analysis of competitive intelligence (or the competitive analysis), which will provide you with an extensive analysis of the competitor’s goods or services, the strengths, value proposition and strengths.
The Significance Of Competitors Monitoring Activity
Monitoring competitive dynamics is essential for every business, no matter if it’s small, medium, or large.
As we’ve mentioned, the analysis of data gathered during the process helps companies know their competitors’ product prices, marketing, and sales strategies. It can inform their business plans. Monitoring competitive regular activity can bring advantages such as:
Relevant and current business data: intelligence is only good if it’s updated. In order to be useful, the data should be gathered before competitors make moves, and that’s why periodic monitoring of your competitors is crucial.
A better understanding of market trends and threats: Competitive monitoring offers an overview of trends in the market and threats. It can help an organization prepare to anticipate its competitors’ actions, formulate counter-strategies, identify market opportunities that need to be explored and minimize or avoid the risk of losing money.
Increased business responsiveness: It is estimated by requesting the following question: “How long does it take for your organization to respond to a business inquiry?” For instance, “When did our opponent begin presenting this specific feature?” Nevertheless, it is not an aggressive system.
When you are using regular competitive intelligence, the issue would be, “We are aware that our rival is preparing to launch this feature. What could we be doing to stop this change?”
What Should You be Watching For?
Monitoring your prospects can provide you with an advantage over your competitors, but only unless you are aware of what you need to be monitoring for. What are the precise details that you need to be looking for? Here’s the solution:
Websites of competitors
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In terms of competitor monitoring, a competitor’s site is an untapped goldmine of data. The data collected from competitor’s websites has many details that provide you with an understanding of the most crucial areas they are in marketing strategy, investment and product strategy, sales strategies, and overall growth of their business.
There are also details about their top executives and investors, as well as events news such as their products, pricing, packaging, thought leadership and so on. It can give you an advantage.
In particular, knowing the people who run your company can help to determine what your competitors actually look like, i.e. the people who are driving their businesses.
When your sales staff is in contact with potential customers, knowing precisely how your competitor is positioned and what their pricing and features are, arm them with the data needed to conclude a competitive deal.
News mentions
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News mentions are an important aspect of monitoring competitive activity because knowing what’s being reported about your competition in the media can be a valuable source of information about your business.
News mentions can provide information such as market positioning and popularity, as well as direction changes in the C-suite, as well as product updates that can help guide your business strategy.
The press release page of a company can be a good indicator of what they wish their prospective customers to know about, which is why it’s an important source of information to keep track of. In addition, knowing about distinctions and awards that are given to your competitor is another way to know their strengths.
News can also help determine the angle and type of story they’re pitching to and which media outlets in order to see if they’re able to convince them to write about your company, too. Understanding how your competitors are positioning themselves will assist you in identifying an innovative angle to distinguish your company or brand.
Social media
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It is an important thing nowadays. Businesses post a great deal of content on social media to advertise upcoming events, ideas, product updates, employee updates, assistance, and so on.
It is recommended to keep an eye on the social media platforms that your competitors receive the most engagement from, the type of conversations they are engaging in, as well as the content they post on social media.
It will help to you develop your strategy for social media, identify the questions being asked in your industry, and get connected with people who have interesting insights on similar topics.
It provides an opportunity for information that allows you to examine the current and future actions of the company and how they interact with their clients and customers. It can help you understand the various elements of your overall strategy and help you make the next move with confidence.
Review Websites
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Review sites like Capterra and G2 are another source of data you must keep an eye on. Apart from assessing the satisfaction of your customers, it can help to learn what your competitors are getting from their customers about their services and products.
It will provide valuable insight into what your competition’s advantages and disadvantages are. It can be utilized to enhance your service or product.
Review sites also can reveal what past or present employees think of the company. No matter what the outcome, it can be utilized by sales staff to help position your business in front of customers by making their weaknesses appear as strengths.
Recruitment teams may also make use of this data to improve the image of your company’s values before potential employees.
Marketing Emails
What’s better than having your competitors know what’s happening at their company? By signing up for their marketing emails, you can be sure that you’ll have a constant stream of relevant data regarding the kind that they’re sharing and the events they’re scheduled to attend or sponsor, their latest news announcements, and webinars they’re hosting that can be attended to get more data.
Job Postings
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Your competitors’ hiring actions will tell you the details of what they are currently focusing on. The place of the job posting and the number of open positions and roles, along with the length of time the job posting has been up and running, can give you an insight into the direction and growth of your competitor and strategic goals for the future.
Examine the layout of the activity of job postings. For instance, If you see an increase in job advertisements for sales and product-related positions in a particular location, there is a good chance that your competitor is creating a new product and is close to launching it.
How Do You Monitor Your Competitors?
It’s the internet’s most reliable source of information for conducting competitive monitoring and gathering competitive intelligence. But suppose you attempt to collect competitive intelligence on your market and competitors by hand. In that case, you’ll soon find yourself needing help in the sea of data and overwhelmed by the variety of issues it presents.
In the event that you are able to remove some data by conducting a thorough internet search, this process can be extremely demanding. How can you guarantee that the details you gather are authentic and accurate? Not everything is accurate or true.
There is a chance that you will be a victim of outdated information and spend your time studying the wrong information or miss out on companies that are looking to enter your field. How can you comprehend whether you’ve skipped something?
For these reasons, you require market as well as competitor intelligence software or a tool that is able to determine your competition, gather accurate data, and analyze and
visualize that data to assist you in making informed and measurable decisions regarding the improvement of your business strategy.
A business should spend at least five percent of its time observing the competitor. It is the function of a Competitors intelligence tool. It handles analysis and gathering of intelligence to allow you to focus on using the data to assist your business in making more informed decisions.
Conclusion
Competitive monitoring is the beginning step to making your business competitively intelligent. You must make sure that you utilize the data you gather to the maximum extent possible, i.e. make use of it to develop an analysis of your competitors and share it with your most important users, include it in your marketing and sales enablement collateral, and then find other methods to translate the data into the right actions.
We expect that this post has provided you with some clarity on the subject of competitive monitoring. It can help you map your company’s path to success.
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