To be more successful, companies need to understand what their competitors are doing on the web. This will help you know what the table stakes are for your type of business on the web. In addition, you can borrow their good ideas and put them to work for you.
As a general rule, you are going to want to try to match the quantity and quality of web presence that your competitors have. In an ideal world, you’ll want to do better than them in some way.
For instance, if your top competitor has a kick-ass Facebook page that is fun to follow and engage with, you’ve probably got to do something equally cool or you may lose business in that channel.
Or if your competitor has a great website that reels in leads and new customers with clever promotions, then you may need to figure out a way to get similar traction.
Not only do you want to compare individual properties with each other (website vs website, Facebook page vs Facebook page), you also want to understand their overall web channel strategy. What channels are they using and in what way? What social media platforms are they active on? Which ones seems to be delivering the most traction? This type of information can help you figure out what your own web channel strategy should be.
It is also fair game to learn from your competitors, especially if you are just starting out. Of course, you don’t want to copy anything too directly, but it makes perfect sense to take ideas and concepts that seem to work well for them and adapt them to your own situation. For instance, if they’ve figured out an effective way to organize their web content, then maybe that could work for you, too.
If you are building (or rebuilding) your website, we always encourage our clients to review their competitors’ websites and flag what they think work and doesn’t work for them. Your competitors sites are the most direct analogs to your own, so they can offer valuable lessons for making your own site successful.
It is also important to see exactly how your competitors are pitching their product or service. Are they emphasizing price? Are they focusing on certain features? Etc.
This will help you shape your own messaging and content strategy to ensure you are telling a better story than theirs or to dispel false information, etc. For instance, if they make a negative point about your product, then you may want to rebut that point on your site. Or if they claim they are better at something (“We are 50% more effective at ___”), but in reality you are just as good or better than them, then you should make that point clearly on your site.
Please contact us to see how we can help you be more successful by analyzing what your competitors are doing.