6 steps towards competitive analysis: no-coder edition

Toys "R" Us bit the dust in 2018. This wasn’t all nice because it meant no more begging my parents for the latest action figures. But to Amazon, it was a win. They had crushed another competitor.

Analyzing your competition is about figuring out where you stand compared to everyone else. It's a must if you want to stay ahead, especially in industries that change fast due to new tech.

I miss getting toys at Toys "R" Us, but let's be real—online shopping is way more convenient. 

That's the result of innovation driven by competition. Your industry will face the same challenges, so you better get on it and scope out your rivals before you become the next cautionary tale. So, fellow no-coder, why don’t we take a look at competitor analysis—another valuable tool in your arsenal.

What is competitive analysis?

If you want to survive in business, you must scope out the competition. Figure out who they are, what they're doing, and what they're good (and bad) at.

This competitive market analysis thing can teach you a lot about where your own company is killing it and where it's falling short. You need this info to avoid getting left in the dust in your industry. It's not rocket science, just common sense if you want to stay in the game.

Competitive analysis in no-code development and marketing

You’ve gotto dig into what your competitors are doing if you want to get ahead. Look at their products, what they claim to stand for, who they're targeting, and how they're marketing themselves. You might even find some competitors you didn't know about.

The best in the biz learn from the best. 

Yeah, you're trying to one-up your competitors, but that doesn't mean you can't take a page from their playbook—especially if they've been around longer than you. Seeing what works for them will show you where you're falling short (and where they are too). Hopefully, it'll give you some ideas on how to improve.

Don’t ask me how I’m so good at this competitor analysis thing now—some secrets shall remain secrets.

Competitive analysis isn't just about figuring out specific competitors though. It can also show you where the whole industry is headed. Toys R Us comes to mind again—they didn't keep up with the times and look where that got them. Competitive analysis can help you avoid ending up like them.

By looking at the top dogs, you set ambitious goals for growth and can copy their tactics. You can also use fancy AI tools like Google Analytics' predictive metrics, HubSpot's forecasting tools, or IBM Watson's analytics. Or better yet, build your own data intelligence tools! These tools can spot market patterns, predict future prospects, and help you set KPIs. With AI's help, you can uncover data-driven insights and opportunities that even the best competitors might miss.

Conducting competitive market analysis in 6 steps

Check out competitors, find customer pain points they overlooked, and improve your product's value. Here’s how:

1. Make a list

First things first, make a big ol' list of everyone and their mother who's doing what you're doing in your industry. You can sort out the ones that don't matter as much later, but for now, write down anyone who's selling something even remotely similar to what you've got.

If you're a little local shop, your competitors are probably right down the street—you likely know a thing or two about them, or at the very least, you know they exist. But if you're running some online store or service, you have to figure out who your competitors even are.

Start with some basic keyword research. Google your product category in a few different ways, maybe throwing in words like "price," "cheap," or "sale" to really drive home that you mean business.

This will help you spot any competitors and give you an idea of how crowded your industry is.

Next, sort the companies you find into direct and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors are the ones selling pretty much the same stuff as you to pretty much the same people. Like Gucci and Prada—they both sell fancy clothes and accessories to people with deep pockets who care about looking good.

Indirect competitors sell different stuff (but still in the same general category as you) to the same kinds of people you're targeting. Like gyms and companies making workout equipment you can use at home—they're not the same thing, but they're going after the same customers.

As you might guess, direct competitors are usually the bigger threat to your business. But don't sleep on indirect competitors—they can still snatch up customers and take business away from you. You have to look at both if you want to really get a handle on who you're up against.

2. Identify your next market arch-nemesis

Sometimes it's pretty obvious who a competitor is trying to sell to—especially if they're in some niche market. Like Dick's Sporting Goods—it doesn't take a genius to figure out they're going after sports enthusiasts (or wannabes).

But for other companies, it's not so clear-cut. To figure out who your competitors are targeting, try this:

• Read their mission statement like it's the holy grail. Sometimes, a company will straight up tell you who they're making their products or services for in their mission statement. And even when they don't spell it out, there's usually a clue. Go to their "About" page on their website and soak up all the intel you can.
• Dissect how they talk. Are they serious or snarky? Full of industry jargon or written for beginners? The way your competitors talk has a purpose—to connect with their target audience. Read their blog posts, sign up for their newsletters, and watch their promo videos, all while paying attention to who they seem to be talking to.
• Stalk their social media. Look at who's commenting on their posts and how they reply to those comments. The influencers they work with can also give you a hint about the crowd they're trying to reach.

3. Unpack the P’s

Competitive market analysis means you gotta dig into your competitors' four P's of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Product

The best way to get a feel for what your competitors' customers are experiencing is to become a customer yourself. You'll get some serious insight into what's working for them—and more importantly, where you can do better.

Whenever you can, give your competitors' products a whirl. Get a free trial or even pony up for the real deal if you can afford it. When you're using their stuff, try hitting up their customer support to get even more intel.

Price

Pricing can be a touchy subject in marketing. That's why you need to know and keep tabs on what your competition is doing with their prices. Ask yourself these questions about each competitor:

• What's their pricing model? Subscription-style, one-time purchase, or a mix of both?
• Does it look like they're using skim pricing or penetration pricing?
• Does their pricing model seem to match the rest of the industry?

There are plenty of tools out there to help, and some are even made for industries, like tracking hotel room prices. Once you've got a handle on your competitors' pricing strategies, here are your options:

• Cut your prices. If pricing is the only thing that sets you apart in your industry (meaning product, place, and promotion strategies are all pretty much the same), you might want to lower your prices to grab a bigger piece of the market. But watch out for how this might make customers think about your quality, and the risk of a price war that drives everyone's prices down to unprofitable levels.
• Raise your prices. If your business is already leading the market by offering something unique or higher-quality products than the competition, you might consider jacking up your prices. But pay attention to how sensitive your product's price is before trying this because even a small price hike can lose customers in some industries.
• Match your competitors' pricing. It's a lot harder to sell products at the same price as competitors. This strategy works if your business has been around for a while and can offer something unique or niche. In this case, the customer will choose based on personal preferences rather than price.

If none of these strategies seem like they'll work for you, you might want to look into non-traditional pricing structures like bundling.

Place

Where are your competitors selling? Is everything online, or do they have physical stores?

Every industry is different here—shoe brands, for example, tend to have some in-person stores since most people want to try on a pair of kicks before buying them. Furniture stores, on the other hand, don't always need brick-and-mortar locations. They can provide pictures, videos, and product details (like size and materials) to give customers a good enough idea of what they're getting.

Promotion

Promotion is more than just advertising, but since advertising is so measurable and public, it's the easiest to snoop on. To avoid blowing your advertising budget, analyze your competitors' strategies.

Here's what you're looking for:

• Cost per click. If the CPC is too high, you might not want to use paid ads as a promotion channel at all. It's better to learn this from your competitors than from your own experience.
• Keywords. Look at the competition level for each keyword in your competitors' ad campaigns. This will help you find the best-performing keywords with low competition (and that means lower cost per click). You'll also be able to see which keywords aren't doing well and avoid those.
• Long-running ads. If your competitor keeps running the same campaign for a long time, it's definitely working for them. You can try to create something similar to copy their success.

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If most competitors are relying on social media ads instead of TV or print ads, you should probably do the same. And if they're putting their whole budget into advertising how crispy their chicken sandwich is, it's probably because chicken sandwich lovers really like a crispy sandwich. Watch how your competitors allocate their advertising budget and use that info to shape your own strategy.

4. Form an SEO strategy

SEO is a real beast, and there's no foolproof way to completely pick apart your competitors' game plan. But there are a few things you can do to at least figure out what's working for them.

Use a keyword research tool to see what topics your competitors are ranking for. Are they sticking to industry-specific stuff, or are they branching out into other related topics? Which pages are bringing in the most traffic?

Figure out which keywords your competitors are targeting (and ranking for) and you'll get a sense of what's working for them and maybe even find some keywords you've been sleeping on. Even better, you might also find keywords they're not targeting and identify some customers who aren't being served. You can also use it as a chance to make your message stand out so you're ranking for more targeted keywords.

As you're doing this research, actually click on some of your competitors' high-ranking pages to see what exactly is drawing in users (and Google). Data is important, but there's no substitute for seeing it with your own eyes.

5. Analyze popular content

If you can figure out what types of content—blog posts, videos, podcasts, guides, whatever—are really hitting with your competitors' audiences, that can help you figure out your own content strategy. And here's a twist: you can use ChatGPT to run a content analysis. Just throw in a piece of content, ask it to run the analysis, and it'll quickly tear the post apart, highlighting themes, patterns, and potential gaps your brand can jump on (terms and conditions apply; it may be kinda inaccurate)

The goal is to figure out which content types are getting the most traffic or engagement. You can use a marketing analytics tool to look at both of those things:

• Do the pieces of content that are killing it tend to all be one specific type (video, infographic, written content, or something else)?
• Do the titles of the most-shared articles all have numbers or other specific characters (like brackets or hyphens) in them?
• Is the most-shared content all about a similar topic?

Let's say you run a travel blog and find out that your competitor's article called "How to save money for a ski trip" is super popular with their audience. Now you have a chance to create content on a similar topic but make it even better. 

You should also be following all your competitors to learn more about their social media strategy, including which platforms are working best for them. Social media is a chance to let your brand's voice and personality shine. Take Wendy's, for example. The brand publicly roasts its competitors on X (Twitter), and the internet eats it up.

Not every brand can (or should) be as sassy as Wendy's, but showing some personality can pay off.

6. Do a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis is a solid way to spot opportunities to jump on and threats to get ready for before they bite you in the behind. In a nutshell:

• Strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) are all about looking inside your own company.
• Opportunities (O) and threats (T) are about looking outside at the industry and market.

While you're digging into your competitive market analysis, think about these things:

• Market share percentage. This metric shows how much of the sales in the industry a company has compared to its competitors. Tools like Statista or market research reports can give you a sense of whether a brand is dominating or falling short.
• Competitive features. Figure out the unique things that make a product or service stand out from its rivals. Customer surveys and product comparison charts are good ways to find the features that really stand out.
• Company culture. A company's values, work environment, and ethics can be a make-or-break factor for customers. Keeping an eye on employer review sites like Glassdoor or watching how a company interacts on social media can give you some insight.
• Customer reviews. Customer reviews give you straight-up feedback on how good a product or service is and what people think of the company. Platforms like Yelp, Trustpilot, or Google Reviews are a goldmine of what customers are thinking and worried about.
• Geography (if it matters). Location can be a big deal in whether a company succeeds, especially for local businesses. Using tools like Google Trends can help you figure out where a product or brand is most popular geographically.

Let's be real—this isn't going to hand you the exact strategy you should use to crush your competitors on a silver platter. What it can do is give you a high-level look at what's going on inside and outside your company, making it easier to put together your competitive strategy.

When you're promoting your brand, you're thinking about how to talk up your strengths. Doing a SWOT analysis forces you to also take a hard look at your brand. You might be working on being "the best" at everything, but there's always going to be things that other brands do better. You can also get the ball rolling using ChatGPT.

Competitive analysis example

Let's say you're the head honcho of a tech company doing a competitive analysis. You dive deep into your competition and your industry as a whole, organizing your notes and SWOT analyses in folders labeled by competitor. And what do you see? A massive push toward artificial intelligence.

In fact, you estimate that your closest competitor (who's going after the same customers as you) is now throwing over half of their advertising budget at their newest AI-powered product. But you? You've only got one measly AI offering, and you're only putting 15% of your advertising budget toward it. It doesn't take a genius to see you're in deep.

You do some more digging and confirm that your market is all about jumping on the AI bandwagon. So you decide to shift your budget toward researching, making, and pushing AI products. Fast forward five years, and you realize you would've been left in the dust if you hadn't analyzed the competition or paid attention to the warning signs.

Competitive market analysis can keep you from wasting resources, spark new opportunities, and help you stay one step ahead of the competition. Follow these six steps to get a better handle on your no-code company's strengths and weaknesses—then figure out where you need to step up your game and how to invest your resources to stay a strong player in your industry.

Afterword

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Ta-taaa!