The gap between fruitful competitive analysis and pointless information gathering can be quite thin.
You may be at risk of falling for these common errors when tracking and analyzing your competitors.
In this article, I’ll talk about the mistakes you need to be wary of if you want to outsmart your rivals through competitive intelligence.
By avoiding these pitfalls, you can make smarter choices and reach your marketing goals.
This guide is helpful if you’re overwhelmed by the data you have or don’t know how to track competitors productively.
The goal is to give you better marketing data, which in turn leads to better insights and intelligent strategy,
Sound good? Let’s dive in.
Before we go into the mistakes you need to avoid, consider using Panoramata, a competitor tracking tool for marketers, agencies, and brands who want to step up their marketing strategy by learning from competitors.
It tracks all you need to know about your competitors and feeds them into a personalized dashboard for you. Monitor things like ads, emails, email automations, SMS, tech stacks, websites, landing pages, and more to get a big-picture view of your competitors’ strategies.
We aim to help you make better and data-backed marketing decisions fast. If that’s up your alley, get started today for free.
Mistake #1: Being too curious
Here’s what competitor analysis is not about:
- Building a P&L statement
- Getting every single piece of information about your competition that you can get your hands on
Curiosity is good, but it has to have limits when it comes to marketing. Your resources are finite, so you cannot expend unnecessary energy researching your competitors to death.
Avoiding the next mistake helps you cut down on gathering useless information…
Mistake #2: Not tracking without a goal
Don’t look at data for data’s sake. It’s easy to get carried away with research when you don’t know why you’re doing competitive analysis in the first place.
A lack of purpose or direction is one of the biggest mistakes you can make because your purpose informs all the steps you’ll take when tracking competitors.
One application of competitor analysis is to remove uncertainties. Running a business involves dealing with a lot of unknowns.
- What kind of promotions do you need to run?
- What acquisition channels work best?
- What campaigns should you prepare for summer?
Your competitors help you deal with those unknowns. Through competitor data, you’ll know what you’re doing right or wrong.
The best thing is you don’t have to learn all these yourself. Your competitors have done the trial and error for you.
To avoid this mistake, set SMART goals for yourself. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
When you’re lost or overwhelmed, go back to the goal you’ve set at the beginning to remind yourself of what needs to be done.
Mistake #3: Tracking competitors manually
Does this sound like you…
You spend twenty minutes every week looking at your competitor’s website, another twenty minutes stalking their ads, another twenty minutes going through their email newsletters…
It adds up to hours of work every month, time that can be spent on better things. We’re not in the 90s anymore. Technology is on your side.
Competitor tracking platforms exist to gather all the information for you automatically. And unlike manual tracking, the margin of error is very slim.
Tools like Panoramata can even track your competitors’ activity in real time and transform them into insights. You don’t even have to do the analysis yourself.
Banish manual data collection from your workflow. Do yourself a favor and use competitive intelligence tools as soon as you can.
Mistake #4: Tracking competitors intermittently
Inconsistency is a recipe for disaster in competitive analysis. Competitor research is a continuous endeavor.
Ask yourself: how often do you conduct competitor research?
Is it only every quarter? Before Black Friday? When a big sale comes up? When you’re launching a new product?
You have to understand that things change in a snap. You have to be on your toes and prepare. When your competitors are at a weak point, you have to swoop in and grab the opportunity.
You have to react to their triumphs and take note of what they’re doing well.
You can’t achieve those tasks when you don’t track competitors regularly. Consistency reaps the only insights worth following. With consistent tracking, you’re able to learn:
- What your competitors are trying
- What has been successful for them
- What has not been working for them
- What they’ve been up to lately
- What tactics they’ve tested before
Keep a competitor tracking schedule and stick to it as you would a content calendar and thank yourself later.
Mistake #5: Not tracking ahead of time
Another mistake brands make when competitor tracking is not tracking early. If you need to prepare for Black Friday or Fourth of July or whatever relevant marketing event, you have to do it ahead.
The longer you prepare the better.
When you track too close to the target holiday or event, you won’t have enough or relevant data. You have to look at patterns over time.
Tracking competitors a year ahead is better because then you’ll know what your competitors did for the same campaigns the previous year.
The benefits compound when you track early and track consistently so don’t put off competitor analysis. Do it today.
Companies use several channels and only when you analyze them all do you understand how they structure their marketing strategy. Don’t analyze in isolation.
Mistake #6: Keeping your data unorganized
Don’t leave your data in a mess. Organize your data for a better output.
Have a space to store all the information you find, somewhere easily retrievable and can be viewed by your clients or team.
The process is just as important as the goal so be systematic in your competitor tracking.
Document your processes (plans, tools, methods, competitor profiles) for easy collaboration with a team. Tap different people to collaborate with for your competitor analysis goals, too, if you can.
Mistake #7: Not using yourself as a point of comparison
When you analyze competitors for marketing insights, always use yourself as the reference point.
You can’t take yourself out of the equation because, at the end of the day, you will be the one who needs to use those insights to improve.
Benchmark yourself against your competitors so you can see where you stand and what you need to change.
Mistake #8: Thinking that one channel is the end-all-be-all
People make the mistake of thinking one channel (for example search ads) is the ultimate truth. But that’s a flawed take. You have to take a look at various channels.
Companies use several channels and only when you analyze them all do you understand how they structure their marketing strategy.
Don’t analyze in isolation. Gather context. How are they using social media ads versus organic search versus their website versus their landing pages?
Most likely, they’re pushing different products for each acquisition channel or platform. In ecommerce ads, for example, entry-level products (ones that introduce your brand to first-time customers) are highlighted.
In comparison, email is a channel that focuses on repeat purchasers or people who already like the brand and are interested in buying.
Always think big picture when doing competitor analysis.
Mistake #9: Forgetting to track and analyze competitors
Don’t just bookmark your competitors’ social media, websites, and other marketing materials. Act on it and start tracking. Forgetting to get started is a common mistake and one you must avoid.
Mistake #10: Thinking that competitor analysis is a one-off task
Competitor analysis is a continuous process; it’s never truly “done”.
As I mentioned before, things change and data gets outdated quickly. It has an expiration date, so to speak. This is even more important in fast-paced industries like B2B and SaaS.
You have to keep revisiting the information you have on your competitors and keep your eyes peeled for new competitors.
Don’t rest on your laurels. Don’t track competitors only when you have a product launch coming up or when your website traffic is going downhill.
Analyzing Competitors Effectively: Main Advice
If you take away one thing from this, remember that competitor analysis is a continuous undertaking if you want to do it right. Set a goal and automate your data collection to make your life easier.
I understand that all these steps take time. It can be hard to keep track, collect information, and act on what you learn but tracking and analysis is essential if you want to thrive online.
You can significantly shave time off your competitor tracking process when you use Panoramata.
It tracks all aspects of a brand's marketing strategy, from emails down to ads and SMS, so you don’t have to do this yourself or load your desktop with screenshots.
You can be more productive and organized just by using this one tool. We stand by it because we use it, too. Take your time back and use Panoramata to create amazing campaigns.
Ready to start your own competitive analysis? Grab your free competitive analysis template below.
If you’d like to learn more about Panoramata, book a demo with us or take it out for a spin by signing up here.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is setting a clear goal crucial for competitor analysis?
Setting a clear goal prevents aimless data gathering and ensures your research efforts are focused and purposeful. It helps you define what information is truly needed and avoids wasting resources on irrelevant details.
2. How often should competitive analysis be performed?
Competitive analysis should be a continuous and consistent process, not just done occasionally or before major events. Regular tracking allows you to spot trends, react to changes, and identify opportunities or threats in real-time.
3. Is focusing competitor analysis on just one marketing channel sufficient?
No, analyzing only one channel provides an incomplete and potentially misleading view of a competitor's overall strategy. You should examine multiple channels together (like ads, email, social media, website) to understand how they structure their marketing efforts.
