When working with your company, we like to get to the heart of the matter and understand what makes your business tick. A critical tool we implement is researching your competitors in order to compare and contrast their business methods, practices and tactics against yours and bridge the gaps where need be.
By assessing the strengths and weaknesses of both your brand and that of your competitors, we are able to thoroughly understand how your brand can flourish by eliminating your weaknesses and harnessing your strengths.
Competitor research and analysis is a valuable component of any business strategy. Our method takes on an offensive as well as a defensive approach to researching your current and prospective competitors; in doing so, 360 will have you covered, full circle.
By researching what the top brands in your specified industry are offering their consumers, we can then determine what needs to be implemented, remodelled or removed from your services in order to surpass and hopefully supersede both service quality as well as service content of your competitors.
Delivery of your content and services is of the utmost importance when wanting to gain a strong customer base. It’s vital that your brand makes your prospective customers feel embraced, at ease and in good hands when they’re deciding what brand to go with.
Are you targeting your local target audience?
Are you looking to serve your immediate market in proximity to your physical business location or are you delivering your services or products to a larger geographical scale, such as North America or worldwide? Are you providing your services at your business address or delivering to your customer’s locations? A large portion – if not all – of your client base should generally be your local audience, based on where your brand is based. By focusing on your local audience, we will be able to generate a lot more business for your brand.
What is the search behaviour of your customer base?
It is crucial to decipher how your customer searches for what they need on the net; keywords, internet research on your specified product or service, online reviews, relevant tutorials, etc.
Is your target audience fully informed prior to making a decision?
The amount of background knowledge and insight your target audience has prior to make a decision on what brand to select is critical to your success. Your brand must be transparent and as non-elusive in its information delivery as possible.
What are your competitors offering that you are not?
By way of research and analysis, we are able to determine what comparisons and contrasts you have with your competitors; in doing so, we will be able to determine your weak spots and your strong suits, allowing us to efficiently cater to your customer’s wants and needs. Part of your campaign will target your competition at the point in which your prospective customers are actively reviewing and comparing you prior to making a decision; this is the point at which you want to obtain as much exposure as possible in order to capture their attention with who your brand is and what you can offer your prospective customers.
What are the price points of your competitors in contrast with your price points?
Cost and value are two factors with the utmost prominence in the minds of your customer base. It’s important to know how much your competitors are charging and just how much value they offer for their costs, in order to accurately make the necessary changes to your brand for maximum exposure and success with your customer base.
How user-friendly is your website and how easy is it to navigate through your company’s website?
A clean interface with appropriately labelled and accurately described information is both valuable and crucial to the decision-making of your prospective customers. An inviting website homepage or landing page will act as the complete answer to a Google search question within the first 3 seconds of a prospect being on the page; 3 seconds is ultimately all the attention that a web page will get from a person. Within that small time frame of 3 seconds, the web page needs to answer the question relevantly, using strong key selling points that persuade the person towards taking action, generating their trust in your brand or business and instigate the user to buy your products and services.
How are your prospective customers making their decisions?
It is important to determine what factors contribute to the informed decision of your prospective customers. By pinpointing what matters to your prospective client, we will be able to directly target their needs and fulfill them seamlessly. For example, in our current age of information, a consumer can now walk into a Best Buy store with the intention of buying a new TV, knowing the exact brand, rating, model and desirable price point they want simply as a result of being able to search, compare and review products and services online, right in the comfort of their own home.
How trustworthy is the content of your website?
Your website is the stepping stone between your brand and your customer; if these stepping stones are not built upon a strong, solid and firm foundation of accurately described content that allows for the customer to feel assured and confident enough to step towards you, it is that much easier to lose them to your competitor. Always be as informative, accurate and transparent as possible on your website in order to gain the trust of your prospective customers. Implementing the use of logos, certifications, awards, customer projects and customer testimonials to generate trust is a highly successful method to obtain higher conversion ratios.
What is the accessibility of your business in terms of available information on your website for your prospective customers?
It is vital to be as informative, upfront and accessible as possible when designing your website and delivering its content. Buyers generally want to know everything they can from your website and prefer to have everything readily and easily available to them at first glance, further speeding up the time it takes for them to decide to select you as their preferred brand.
