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To
become a successful Web marketer you must create ways to gain a
competitive advantage through an analysis of your Internet competition.
If
you have a keen interest in competitive intelligence, I
highly recommend the Society
of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) as the best place
to get more detailed information.
To
partially quote their definition...
"...
CI is the process of enhancing marketplace competitiveness through a
greater -- yet unequivocally ethical -- understanding of a firm's
competitors and the competitive environment."
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For
the rest of us, here are a few simple
and ethical ways to gather competitive intelligence. |
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Perform
a search on several of the major search engines and directories for
the main keywords or phrases that best describe your business.
Who shows up in the top ten? Position #50? View their
source page data to see what other keywords they might be using that
you did not think about.
You'll get more on how to do this in our discussion on Web
Site Development.
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Study
your competitors' Web sites. Searching through their
sites can offer valuable information on rivals' strategies and how
they position themselves in the market.
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Create
an intelligence file on key competitors. This helps keep
the information organized in a useful manner.
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Check
industry and trade publications for information on your
competition. Articles can be a tremendous source of valuable data.
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Subscribe
to as many of your competitor's e-zines as you can reasonably
manage.
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Buy
competitors' products. Purchasing a rival's products and taking
them apart (benchmarking) is a rich source of information.
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Read
the local papers where major competitors are located. Are their
advertisements presents?
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Obtain
credit reports on competitors. Companies like Dun &
Bradstreet make standard credit reports available to anyone.
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Attend
industry trade shows, exhibits, and conferences. You can learn
a great deal from a competitor's booth at such shows.
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Devote
a specific time to evaluate data collected on the competition.
A monthly meeting designed to analyze this information is ideal.
Obtaining
and keeping a competitive advantage is dependant on how well you know the
competition. Always be vigilant for changes in your competitor's
activities.
Okay,
let's keep the ball ROLLING! :-)
The
final part of your Web Marketing Strategy is to... Develop
an Action Plan. Click here to continue...
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I'm Here to Help
I provide you with lots of
information about Web marketing at this Web site. If you have any
questions that have been unanswered, feel free to fill out the "Contact
Skip" form and I'll personally reply with the answer
and make suggestions about how to use the Internet to benefit your
business.
I LOVE spreading the word
about Web Marketing! ;-)
Contact
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Marketing Strategy"
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[Setting
Goals and Objectives] [Strategic
Marketing Options] [Web Site
Positioning]
[Building Customer TRUST] [Web
Site SWOT Analysis] [Competitive
Intelligence]
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