{"id":19408,"date":"2023-10-11T14:43:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T20:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/?p=19408"},"modified":"2023-10-17T08:08:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T14:08:34","slug":"competitive-marketing-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/competitive-marketing-audit\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets Revealed in a Competitive Marketing Audit"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"19408\" class=\"elementor elementor-19408\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"has_ma_el_bg_slider elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2315ef2b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default jltma-glass-effect-no\" data-id=\"2315ef2b\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"has_ma_el_bg_slider elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-26c46273 jltma-glass-effect-no\" data-id=\"26c46273\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1ad45209 jltma-glass-effect-no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1ad45209\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"p1\">Your competitors&#8217; marketing reveals a lot if you know where to look.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It is tempting to think that you know your competitors business quite well. After all, you would have to be living on another planet not to notice their most public actions and the effects they have on your business.&nbsp;<span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text )\">Still, there is a difference between what has come to your attention and being aware of the majority of marketing activity that is taking place at a given time.<\/span><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\" style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text )\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For this 360 degree picture, try a more intentional, but fairly simple, competitive marketing audit. At least once a year and preferably quarterly, set aside two hours to conduct a full review.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">These 4 steps will get you started and work well in most industries. Add in your own steps to customize the audit.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Step 1: Spend Time Observing<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This is the foundation of the competitive marketing audit. Good places to start are your competitors&#8217;:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">Social media presence<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Ads<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Website and search ranking<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Blogs<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Newsletters<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Word of Mouth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">If there is a physical location, stop by and observe any on-site communications. Also, find out about any community activities they are promoting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Note: Some marketing tactics are leading indicators of change. Others are laggards. Social media, with its regular posting demands and instant feedback, may be the first area signaling upcoming change. Others, like the website with its relative difficulty of implementing change, are often a laggard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Step 2: Ask Yourself Questions About What You See Your Competitors Doing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Make a list of questions such as:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">What platforms do they post on?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">What are the main messages they are getting across?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">What keywords are they focusing on?<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Is their target audience changing over time?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Do they appear to be spending more resources on marketing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">Then ask yourself \u201cwhy\u201d after each question.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">One of the biggest questions is, \u201cAm I differentiated enough from my competitor that my customer can distinguish between us? If not, despite your best efforts, it may be hard to establish your space in the customers\u2019 mind. Securing this space is of paramount importance, as it is the beginning of a loyal customer and the life time value they bring to your business.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Step 3: Put Yourself in The Competitors\u2019 Shoes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">If this was my business, with the strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities that I\u2019m observing, what would be my next move? You\u2019d be surprised how often you can anticipate the next move a competitor will make and how helpful that can be to your business planning.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In one of his famous blogs, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveabout.com\/market-research-case-study-starbucks-entry-into-china-2296877\">How Starbucks Brought Coffee to China<\/a>&#8220;, Neal Patel, the Search Engine Optimization guru, cites Starbuck\u2019s successful entrance into the Chinese market as an example of using competitive data to make decisions for marketing (and overall) strategy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Step 4: Employ Software to Help<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Software is available to help you with the steps in an audit. The software ranges from simple to complex. Even the complex, if you have the time or inclination to learn, may be free for accessing just basic features.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Here are a few user friendly and free types of software to get your started:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p1\">Use a social media app that has a tool for for social listening. You can set it up to gather intel about what others are saying about your competitors as well as your own company.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Google their company name to see what is being written about them.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Google different keywords to see what the competitor is ranking for.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\">Keep an ongoing spreadsheet of results, so that you can refer back to earlier audit results when needed.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">That\u2019s all it takes to turn on the faucet of data about competitors\u2019 marketing. As with most of our recommendations for small businesses, start with the readily available basic steps. Once you incorporate those into your routine, you can add more sophisticated methods or ask someone on your staff to take over the activity for you. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">At Small Biz Brands, we believe strategy is the foundation of business success. If you would like help, either with collecting data from a competitive marketing audit or the next steps needed to put your findings into action, <a href=\"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/lets-chat\">contact us<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your competitors&#8217; marketing reveals a lot if you know where to look.&nbsp; It is tempting to think that you know your competitors business quite well. After all, you would have to be living on another planet not to notice their most public actions and the effects they have on your business.&nbsp;Still, there is a difference [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,50,48],"tags":[175,131,200,87,86,107,118,130,105,109,102],"class_list":["post-19408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communications","category-digital","category-marketing","tag-blogging","tag-building-your-brand","tag-communication","tag-digital-marketing","tag-keep-marketing-simple","tag-marketing-ideas-for-small-business","tag-marketing-planning","tag-optimize-your-marketing","tag-small-business-marketing","tag-small-business-marketing-management","tag-small-business-owner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greyecreative.com\/staging\/8397\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}