What tools to use for competitor market analysis?

The perfect tools for top-notch competitor analysis.

Today your competitors are not just those four companies you know so well and hate to death (and who you know well sell much worse products than you do, don’t you?).

By now people can order a product from Timbuktu and have it delivered in less than 48 hours, and they can discover with just a few clicks all the possible ways to solve one of their problems.

This means that today your competition is no longer the store down the street, or the company across the street-your competition is on a global scale, and you are literally competing with companies you probably don’t even know exist!

That is why even before we start studying competitors, the first question we need to ask ourselves is precisely, “Who are my competitors (or customer alternatives)?”

If in the past you had to launch into admirable market research to find out, today thanks tolistening to the network you can very quickly get an overview of who the key players are in any market.

But what tools to use for competitor market analysis? What tools are essential for a top-notch competitive analysis?

In this article we will tell you about this very topic, first explaining the usefulness of market research applied tocompetitive analysis.

Market research: what do they allow you to find out about your competitors?

As acompetitor analysis based on listening to the network you can discover:

1. What brands emerge from people’s conversations.
2. Who profiles the most active companies publishing content on the topic.
3. Which companies the media and online newspapers are talking about.

In just a few minutes you can already figure out what the competitive situation is on the web just by using web listening software! Then this survey can be deepened with other competitive research by going to analyze their websites.

Before you start studying individual competitors, you must precisely identify all of them and choose which ones are most important or dangerous in your opinion.

And mind you can also consider a DIY method or solution as a competitor, not necessarily a company!

For example, if a cookie company wants to study who its competitors are, it will find that a “competitor” is also homemade cookies, not just other cookie manufacturers.

So a good idea is to monitor how many people talk about cookie recipes, what types they like best, and so on, to figure out how to use this interest to their advantage.

This initial research into WHO your competitors are is critical to continuing with the rest of the findings later, so my advice to you: take your time.

This is exploratory research, in which discovering one thing means opening up a new point of view, having an initial clue to begin a new search in that direction.

And remember to have a very open mind, because if you keep thinking only about those four competitors you’ve known forever, you’ll never expand your chessboard.

Once you have identified your competitors, you need to find out so much more information, such as the strategies you use online and offline, the method of communicating with consumers, the platforms in which they are most vocal, and much more.

All of this information is critical to understanding what strategies to adopt to attract customers (and how to improve them), learning from your competitors’ mistakes and avoiding making them in turn, and, in generating, improving your marketing strategies!

But what tools to use for competitor market analysis? You can find them all in the next paragraphs!

Read also: How to launch a new product on the market without taking a leap of faith

SEMRush, for analysis of your competitors’ SEO and Advertising strategies and results

The SEMRush tool is one of the most powerful on the market when it comes to analyzing websites and the strategies adopted to attract customers. Among its many functions, as far as competitors are concerned it allows you to:

• Analyze the domain of competitors
• Find out which pages attract the most consumers and for which keywords they are positioned
• Analyze the backlink profile
• Monitor organic and paid search
• Analyze traffic
• Tracking social profiles
• Monitor the brand
• Exporting reports

And much more!

You can also compare 2 domains, e.g., your site and a competitor’s, based on specific parameters (e.g., traffic and backlink profile).

Pricing starts from a low of $83.28 per month to a high of $333.28 monthly for the most advanced plan.

SEOZoom for competitive analysis and monitoring

SEOZoom is a tool completely dedicated to SEO and is a valuable and powerful ally for developing an online project (and monitoring competitors’ domains).

More specifically, it is a business intelligence tool that gives you access to statistics, data and graphs that are useful for marketing activities and crucial for monitoring competitors.

As for competitors, with SEOZoom you can analyze different SEO elements within websites, keep an eye on your competitors and compare two or more web domains.

It presents a space dedicated to this and called “Competition,” which allows you to analyze your competitors’ traffic and compare it with that of your site.

Within this area you can use the Domain Vs Domain, URL vs URL and Competitors on Keywords List tools and learn how to do so with the comprehensive manual made available for users!

Prices start from a minimum of 49 euros per month (+VAT) up to 469 euros per month (+VAT) for more specific plans dedicated to large enterprise teams.

Read also: The 9 points to consider when choosing the right Web Listening Tools

Similarweb, to get a general idea of competitors

The Similarweb tool is a Digital Marketing Intelligence tool that allows you to put in place an accurate analysis of your competitors’ websites, informing you about your competitors’ digital performance with traffic and engagement metrics.

Specifically, it allows you to:

• Make strategic decisions based on deep market and competitive analysis, assessing both who your competitors are (emerging and declining), identify industry trends and strategies you could replicate and improve.
• Conducting market mapping and benchmarking.
• Check how and on what channels competitors acquire customers.
• Analyze consumer behavior and the content they find more engaging than others.
• Estimate your opportunities for growth relative to competitors.

Similarweb pricing varies according to each company’s needs . To get your quote you should talk to a consultant who can draw up a package dedicated to your goals.

Do the prices of tools to be used during competitor analysis seem too high to you? Are you afraid you don’t know how to use these tools?

Effectively, for occasional use they may seem overkill and not meet your expectations.

In addition, you have to consider the time (yours or your employees’) spent studying and implementing the use of the tools, which involves an additional investment.

How can we at CMI help you?

First and foremost, with an expertly conductedcompetitive analysis focused on achieving your goals.

Second, if you prefer to train yourself or train your employees, we have introduced theCMI Academy, dedicated to corporate training on the use of Big Data online.

Would you like to have more information about it? We are here to provide them for you!

Contact us and we will be happy to help you at any time.