Why are your competitors beneficial for your brand?

In a competitive market like marketing, relying solely on your own data may not be enough to boost your company’s success. You must always be aware of the campaigns and projects your competitors are conducting.

To measure the success of a project, you should have pre-defined goals and statistics. However, in a competitive environment, having this data does not always guarantee success. Success criteria should meet both your company’s goals and the market’s demands. The best way to closely monitor the market is to observe other companies in the same field as much as you spend time understanding your own company. Being in close contact with your competitors' performance is a good way to see the desires and needs of the audience you are trying to target with your ads. Two products or services in closely related fields will also have similar target audiences.

If you are creating a new brand, it means you are also in the process of creating an effective website. In this case, researching your competitors' websites and sales will be an experience for you. After gathering the necessary data, creating your own website in a way that benefits user experience will not be difficult.

In the UK, students are asked to subscribe to the email marketing chains of their 5 closest competitors. Even though seeing the name of their competitors in their inbox every time they open their emails may not appeal to the students, after a while, it encourages them to become more creative.

For effective competitor analysis, there are 4 questions you should ask:

What fields do you operate in?
You should consider similar fields that might appeal to your customers, not just the brand field. For example, if you have a company that organizes concerts and music programs, theater activities should also be considered a competitor.

Who are your competitors?
At this stage, you should approach yourself with an objective viewpoint and select the 4 or 5 brands that are the closest competitors to your company.

Who are your customers?
Customer criteria can be based on age, education level, and many other factors. When answering this question, you should think about the users who benefit from both your product and your competitors' products.

What are the success criteria?
Success criteria could be increasing brand recognition or boosting sales. In both cases, having a pre-set goal will make strategic planning easier and will clarify what kind of data you will obtain from your competitors.