Terms

Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is the process of identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own business. This evaluation provides a clearer picture of the market landscape, helping you spot opportunities, understand industry trends, and make more informed strategic decisions to improve your own offerings.

Importance of Competitive Analysis

A thorough competitive analysis is vital for strategic planning. It helps you understand your market position by evaluating your rivals' strengths and weaknesses. This insight allows you to identify untapped opportunities and potential threats, enabling you to make informed, data-driven decisions.

Regular analysis helps you stay ahead of industry trends and adapt to market changes. It reveals how to best position your brand and differentiate your offerings. This process is key to refining your value proposition and achieving sustainable growth in a competitive landscape.

Steps in Conducting Competitive Analysis

This is how you can conduct a competitive analysis.

  1. Identify your competitors. Pinpoint direct, indirect, and emerging players in your market.
  2. Gather intelligence. Research their products, pricing, marketing strategies, and customer feedback to understand their approach.
  3. Analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Evaluate what they do well and where they fall short to spot opportunities.
  4. Define your unique position. Use your findings to differentiate your brand and capitalize on market gaps.

Competitive Analysis vs. Competitor Analysis

While often used interchangeably, these terms can describe analyses of different scopes and focuses.

  • Competitive Analysis: This is a broad, strategic review of the entire market landscape, including industry trends and potential threats. It provides a high-level view ideal for enterprises making major decisions like entering new markets, but can be resource-intensive.
  • Competitor Analysis: This is a more tactical examination of specific rivals, focusing on their products, pricing, and marketing. It offers actionable insights for direct comparison, which is often preferred by mid-market companies looking to gain an immediate edge.

Tools for Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis tools streamline the process of gathering and evaluating data on your rivals. These platforms automate data collection and provide structured frameworks, helping you uncover actionable insights to refine your strategy and gain a market edge.

  • SEO Platforms: Analyze competitor keywords, backlinks, and top-performing content.
  • Market Intelligence: Offer high-level data on market share, traffic sources, and audience demographics.
  • Social Monitoring: Track brand mentions, customer sentiment, and engagement across social channels.
  • Technology Analysis: Reveal the software, plugins, and analytics tools powering competitor websites.

Common Mistakes in Competitive Analysis

Avoid these common pitfalls to ensure your competitive analysis yields actionable insights.

  • Stagnation: treating analysis as a one-time event instead of an ongoing process.
  • Myopia: focusing only on direct competitors while ignoring indirect or emerging threats.
  • Imitation: simply copying rivals' strategies instead of innovating to find unique opportunities.

Frequently Asked Questions about Competitive Analysis

How often should I conduct a competitive analysis?

It should be an ongoing process. Perform a comprehensive review quarterly or semi-annually, but continuously monitor key rivals to adapt quickly to market changes and new threats.

Should I only focus on direct competitors?

No, that's a common mistake. Analyze direct, indirect, and emerging competitors. Indirect rivals solve the same customer problem differently, while new players can disrupt the market unexpectedly.

Is the goal of competitive analysis to copy what works?

Not at all. The goal is to identify market gaps and opportunities for differentiation. Use insights to innovate and strengthen your unique value proposition, not simply to imitate your rivals' strategies.

Other terms

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Buyer’s Remorse

Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret or anxiety that can arise after making a purchase, often questioning if it was the right decision.

Buyer’s Remorse

Cold Email

A cold email is an initial outreach sent to a potential customer with whom you've had no prior contact, aiming to introduce your business.

Cold Email

Smile and Dial

"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.

Smile and Dial

Buyer

Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.

Buyer

Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.

Programmatic Advertising

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Consumer

A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.

Consumer

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Intent Data

Intent data tracks a user's online behavior—like searches and site visits—to identify signals that they are ready to make a purchase.

Intent Data

System of Record

A System of Record (SoR) is the authoritative data source for a specific type of data. It acts as the single source of truth for an organization.

System of Record

B2B Intent Data Providers

Learn about B2B intent data providers, including evaluating intent data quality, leveraging intent data for growth, & B2B intent data: key providers comparison.

B2B Intent Data Providers

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Channel Partner

A channel partner is a company that works with a manufacturer or producer to market and sell their products, software, or services to customers.

Channel Partner

End of Day

End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.

End of Day

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)

Direct Sales

Direct sales involves selling products directly to consumers in a non-retail setting, such as at home, online, or person-to-person.

Direct Sales

Sales Enablement

Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Enablement

Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

Social Proof

ABM Orchestration

ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.

ABM Orchestration

Operational CRM

An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.

Operational CRM

API

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.

API

Buying Intent

Buying intent is the collection of online cues and behaviors that signal a prospect is actively researching and moving toward a purchase decision.

Buying Intent

Sales Dashboard

A sales dashboard is a visual tool that centralizes and displays key sales data, metrics, and KPIs to help teams track performance and goals.

Sales Dashboard

Objection Handling in Sales

Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.

Objection Handling in Sales

Responsive Design

Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.

Responsive Design

Buying Signal

A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.

Buying Signal

Firmographic Data

Firmographic data is information used to classify firms. It includes attributes like industry, employee count, location, and annual revenue.

Firmographic Data

Closed Won

Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.

Closed Won

Marketing Attribution Model

A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.

Marketing Attribution Model

Account Mapping

Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.

Account Mapping

Customer Centricity

Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.

Customer Centricity

Copyright Compliance

Copyright compliance is adhering to laws that protect creative works. It involves legally using content by obtaining permission or licenses.

Copyright Compliance

Microservices

Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.

Microservices

Integration Testing

Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.

Integration Testing

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

B2B Data Platform

Learn about B2B data platform, including key benefits of B2B data platforms, choosing the right B2B data platform, challenges in implementing B2B data platforms.

B2B Data Platform

Sandboxes

A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.

Sandboxes

Persona-Based Marketing

Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.

Persona-Based Marketing

Customer Relationship Management Systems

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.

Customer Relationship Management Systems

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Cohort Analysis

Cohort analysis is a behavioral analytics tool that groups users with common traits to track their actions and engagement over time.

Cohort Analysis

Customer Retention

Customer retention refers to the strategies and activities a company uses to prevent customer churn and encourage them to continue buying.

Customer Retention

Behavioral Analytics

Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.

Behavioral Analytics

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Logo Retention

Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.

Logo Retention

Warm Outbound

Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.

Warm Outbound

Business Development Representative

Learn about business development representative, including skills and qualifications for BDRs, & roles and responsibilities of a BDR.

Business Development Representative

Cross-Site Scripting

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a web security vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into trusted websites.

Cross-Site Scripting

Account Executive

An Account Executive (AE) is a sales professional responsible for closing new business deals and managing existing client relationships to drive revenue.

Account Executive

Account-Based Marketing

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.

Account-Based Marketing

Contact Discovery

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

Contact Discovery

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

SEO

Sales Operations Analytics

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Sales Operations Analytics

SFDC

SFDC stands for Salesforce Dot Com, a popular cloud-based CRM platform that helps companies manage their customer interactions and data.

SFDC

Sales Demo

A sales demo is a presentation where a sales rep shows a prospect how a product or service works and solves their specific problems.

Sales Demo

Stress Testing

Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.

Stress Testing

GPCTBA/C&I

GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.

GPCTBA/C&I

Sales Calls

A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.

Sales Calls

Regression Testing

Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.

Regression Testing

Customer Buying Signals

Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.

Customer Buying Signals

B2B Data Enrichment

Learn about B2B data enrichment, including benefits of B2B data enrichment, implementing B2B data enrichment strategies, B2B data enrichment vs. data cleaning.

B2B Data Enrichment

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

De-dupe

De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.

De-dupe

White Label

White labeling is when a company puts its own branding on a product or service that was actually produced by a different company.

White Label

Awareness Buying Stage

The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.

Awareness Buying Stage

Feature Flags

Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.

Feature Flags

Marketing Play

A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.

Marketing Play

Precision Targeting

Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.

Precision Targeting

Bottom of the Funnel

Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.

Bottom of the Funnel

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences are groups of potential customers who share similar characteristics and behaviors with your existing, high-value customers.

Lookalike Audiences

Intent-Based Leads

Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.

Intent-Based Leads

X-Sell

X-Sell, or cross-selling, is a sales strategy of selling additional, related products or services to an existing customer base.

X-Sell

Marketing Operations

Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.

Marketing Operations

Lead List

A lead list is a curated database of potential customers (leads) with contact information and other key data for sales and marketing outreach.

Lead List

Sales Methodology

A sales methodology is the framework that guides how your sales team approaches the entire sales process, from prospecting to closing deals.

Sales Methodology

Headless CMS

A headless CMS is a back-end content repository that delivers content via API to any front-end, decoupling the content from its presentation layer.

Headless CMS

Point of Contact

A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.

Point of Contact

Account-Based Sales

Account-Based Sales (ABS) is a focused B2B strategy where sales and marketing teams treat high-value accounts as individual markets of one.

Account-Based Sales

Application Performance Management

Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.

Application Performance Management

Firmographics

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.

Firmographics

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

User Interaction

User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.

User Interaction

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a digital strategy where businesses send targeted emails to prospects and customers to build relationships and drive sales.

Email Marketing

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

Commission

A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.

Commission

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

Ramp Up Time

Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.

Ramp Up Time

Sales Lead

A sales lead is a potential customer—an individual or organization that has shown interest in your company's products or services.

Sales Lead

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Account-Based Selling

Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.

Account-Based Selling

Qualified Lead

A qualified lead is a prospect vetted as a good fit for your product. They match your ideal customer profile and show genuine interest.

Qualified Lead

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.

Sales Development Representative (SDR)

Programmatic Display Campaign

Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.

Programmatic Display Campaign

Data Security

Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.

Data Security

Sales Enablement Technology

Sales enablement technology refers to software and tools that equip sales teams with the resources they need to close more deals efficiently.

Sales Enablement Technology

Lead Scrape

Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.

Lead Scrape

B2B Sales

Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.

B2B Sales

Target Account List

A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.

Target Account List