Why Brand Competition Analysis Is Important When Developing Your Brand
The economic and business landscape is incredibly competitive, there you must know what your competitors are doing through brand competition analysis.
Hi Trish Davies, here to focus on brand competition analysis so that you can keep ahead of the game. I don’t need to tell you that business is very competitive and there are millions of businesses started each year. Therefore, the playing field is getting more crowded which means more competition.
Obviously not all businesses will be direct competition to you. However even a small percentage of those start-ups will be who you go toe to toe with. That can be locally, nationally, and internationally depending on what your positioning is.
What I am going to share with you applies to all businesses. You could be a traditional brick and mortar business, service related, ecommerce, digital marketing, coaching, or consulting. It doesn’t matter because what I am going to share with you applies to you in some way, shape, or form.
You must find out how your competitors are branding and positioning themselves and their products. Here’s how to do it.
Brand Competition Analysis Strategies
Check Out Local Retailers
If your competitors sell physical products that you can see at a local retailer, then go check them out. This will give you an up close and personal look at how the competitor packages the product. You’ll also want to pay attention to the text on the packaging, as this will give you an idea of how the competitor positions their product.
Browse Your Competitors Virtual Shelves
If you can’t get your hands on a tangible product, then your next step is to view the competitor’s virtual storefront and virtual shelves. They likely have their products right on their websites. If not, you’ll probably find them in other marketplaces like eBay, iTunes, or Amazon.
Visit Competitors’ Websites
Your next stop is to visit the competitors’ sites. This is where you’re likely to get the most information about their branding and positioning. Take note of the following:
The competitor’s business name. Some of your competitors may create business names that are meant to help their overall branding image. For example, Microsoft empowers every person and every organisation to achieve more. That evokes the evokes feelings of exploration, curiosity and, of course, discovery.
The competitor’s product names. If your product has multiple products, browse them all and take note of the names. What sorts of feelings do these names evoke?
Secondly, take note of the branding strategy. Does the competitor brand individual products based on the overall company brand? Do they brand individual products separately, or does the company employ a hybrid strategy? This is where they combine the company and product brands?
What Are your Competitors Aesthetics?
The competitor’s logo. The logo can give you a lot of information about the company’s brand images.
You should look at the font style (if any), the colours and the graphics (if applicable). Again, ask yourself what feeling the brand conveys and how the brand represents the company. For example, is logo bold and confident, or does the logo convey more of a warm and loving feeling?
The competitor’s slogan. Usually, you’ll find the slogan right beneath or next to the logo. The slogan is typically one concise statement that sums up what the company or product can do for the consumer. Also, why the consumer should choose to buy that particular product or do business with that particular company. In other words, the slogan is often the company’s unique selling position.
The competitor’s web design. Next, take note of the overall design of your competitor’s site. Look at the colours, the graphics and where they’re placed. Take note of the overall feeling you get when you look at the design.
Again, think about what sort of feeling the design evokes. Also think about how you’d describe the design. Is it artistic? Professional? Clean? What other words come to mind when you look at it?
The competitor’s web copy. Next, read the text on your competitor’s sites, especially the sales pages for specific products. Ask yourself what?
- Is the competitor’s unique selling position for that product?
- Emotions is the competitor trying to evoke?
- Benefits does the consumer enjoy while using the product?
- Benefits and emotions do consumers report when they use the product? To determine this, you’ll need to read the customer testimonials.
Join The Competitors’ Communities
Finally, the last step you need to take is to examine any communities or publications where your competitor regularly shares content. This includes the competitor’s mailing list, blog, or any social media pages he has, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
The way your competitors have designed these communities will give you some idea of their branding. However, you’ll also begin to better understand their brand image and positioning by reading their content.
All of what I talked about for the last few minutes of course rests on the assumption that your competitors are very aware of their own branding image. If you run across a competitor who doesn’t seem that conscientious, then you don’t need to spend too much time studying their brand image.
Your Next Step
What I have shared with you is the process to go through when doing your brand competition analysis. During this process you will determine what your competitors are doing well and the areas where they fall down on. The next point I want to make is crucial.
You will be in possession of important data, information, strategy on your competitors. Look at your competitors who are successful and model what they are doing, do not copy!
Modelling is following a proven formula; you don’t need to reinvent the wheel if something is working. Then take that overall model and make it unique to you, add your twist, add your story to stand out from the crowd.
In other words, do it better than what they are doing so you become the leader in your industry. This is what I teach people to do within Build Your AU which you can learn more about here.
Brand competition analysis is crucial when starting out, you must know who you are up against. Don’t start half cocked and unprepared as you must develop a strategy to knock your competition right out of the park.
Helping you build your authenticity, authority, and audience.
Trish Davies
Build Your AU
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