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.
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.
This is how you can conduct a competitive analysis.
While often used interchangeably, these terms can describe analyses of different scopes and focuses.
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.
Avoid these common pitfalls to ensure your competitive analysis yields actionable insights.
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.
Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.
Sales workflows are a set of automated actions that streamline the sales process, helping teams engage leads consistently and close deals faster.
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Sales enablement content refers to the materials and tools that empower your sales team to engage prospects and close deals more efficiently.
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Lead qualification is the process of determining which prospects are most likely to become paying customers based on predefined criteria.
User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.
Key accounts are a company's most valuable customers, vital due to their significant revenue contribution and strategic importance for growth.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.
Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.
The FAB technique is a sales framework connecting product features to advantages and then to the specific benefits for the customer.
A Call for Proposal (CFP) is a document that solicits proposals, often through a bidding process, for a specific project or service.
An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
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.
Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that look and feel like native mobile apps, offering features like offline access and push notifications.
Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.
Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.
Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.
Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.
Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.
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Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.
A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.
Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.
Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.
An email cadence is a scheduled sequence of emails sent to prospects over a specific period to nurture leads and drive engagement.
Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.
Sales development is the process of identifying and qualifying potential customers to create a pipeline of sales-ready leads for closers.
Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a business function that aligns a company's sales, marketing, and customer service teams to drive predictable revenue.
Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.
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Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business's products or services.
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A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.
Sales coaching is a process where managers help reps improve their skills and performance through personalized feedback, training, and guidance.
A landing page is a standalone web page created for a marketing campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking an ad or email link.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.
Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.
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A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.
User-generated content (UGC) refers to any form of content, like images, videos, or text, created and shared by users on online platforms.
A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.
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Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.
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Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.
Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.
Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.
Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.
Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.
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Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.
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Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.
Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.
SFDC stands for Salesforce Dot Com, a popular cloud-based CRM platform that helps companies manage their customer interactions and data.
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 enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.
Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.
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A value statement is a clear, concise declaration of the unique benefits a company provides to its customers, outlining its core purpose.
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.
A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.
Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.
The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.
Direct sales involves selling products directly to consumers in a non-retail setting, such as at home, online, or person-to-person.
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