It doesn’t matter if you’re catering to a niche market or are a complete beginner in marketing–you should be tracking your competitors.
It’s easier than it sounds. If you have an hour a week to spare, you can keep tabs on your competitors and what they’re doing with their marketing so you can gather ideas and stay competitive.
This article will cover the most compelling reasons to track your competitors and what competitor tracking can do for your business.
By the end of this, we hope you will consider integrating competitive analysis into your schedule, no matter how busy you are.
Let’s dive in!
The Goal of Competitive Tracking
Before you start collecting competitor data, there’s a caveat that you need to know: you can’t know everything your competitors are doing. Outside of spying or hacking, it’s just not possible or feasible.
The good thing is you don’t have to know all their activity. It’s not necessary and is even detrimental. It would be too much information and there’s already a lot of noise.
Still, after you’ve collected information on your competitor, you still need to cut through the noise and find actionable information that matters. Competitor data is nothing without analysis.
Remember, your goal isn’t to build a P&L statement. Your goal should be to make better, smarter decisions for your marketing strategy without relying on chance or getting lucky.
For decisions with big consequences, you cannot rely on intuition alone. You need to know the context and gather relevant data, which your competitors can provide plenty of.
But why should you start tracking competitors in the first place? Are you missing out on anything by not doing so? Glad you asked…
Top 5 Reasons To Track Your Competitors
As mentioned above, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, how big your business is, and how advanced your marketing experience is.
Anyone can benefit from competitor tracking. Here are the top reasons why you should start today.
Make better decisions backed by data
Decision-making in marketing is a process. You need to gather the facts, think it over, and then decide your move.
In more specific terms, marketing decisions involve exploring your competitive landscape, aggregating the data, clarifying your uncertainties, positioning yourself based on the data that you've gathered, thinking about the risk, and then making a decision.
Assessing your competitive landscape is an important part of improving your decision-making abilities and therefore making educated and better decisions that will have a positive impact on your marketing strategy.
For example, if you want to find a suitable acquisition channel, you can look at your competitors' acquisition channels and see how effective they are.
When content planning, you can check out your competitor’s content calendars and the type of content they’re creating.
Learn from their mistakes and what not to do
You can’t just copy your competitor’s marketing strategy wholesale. They’re bound to be making missteps and faulty calculations along the way.
When you know what to look for, you can spot those mistakes and learn from them, at no cost to your business.
Your competitor can be your guinea pig of sorts. You can check out what’s not working for them and avoid that.
If there are gaps in their strategy, you can fill those gaps and differentiate yourself from them.
Keep up with industry trends and market changes
The market is always changing. People are always in pursuit of the next shiny thing. You, too, need to stay updated with these changes to stay relevant and keep up with your competitors.
Are your customers clamoring for more eco-friendly products or packaging? Are your competitors hopping on a viral TikTok trend?
These are some of the things you need to know so you can adapt to your customers’ tastes and pivot your strategy accordingly.
Identify opportunities and threats
Competitor tracking also lets you be the first to catch wind of opportunities in your industry and any threats to your brand. Since change is constant, you shouldn’t rest on your laurels, even if you’re doing well.
There are new entrants to the market all the time so you should be aware of them before they become a bigger threat.
Remember, your goal isn’t to build a P&L statement. Your goal should be to make better, smarter decisions for your marketing strategy without relying on chance or getting lucky.
Also, if you don’t track competitors, you might miss opportunities to capture a bigger market share. Your competitor might be launching a new product that you haven’t thought of, so you run the risk of missing out on potential sales.
Benchmark your performance
If you’re wondering how your business is doing, your competitors should be who you turn to. Performance benchmarks don’t lie. You will learn whether you’re doing well or poorly in clear-cut terms.
Competitor benchmarking is also useful when planning and setting goals.
When you track your competitor’s SEO efforts, social media engagement, new launches, pricing, paid ads, and emails, you will know what metrics are realistic and what’s possible.
If your competitor is performing beyond your current metrics, at least you know what to aim for.
Monitoring Your Competitors with Panoramata
Competitive tracking is a worthwhile pursuit for any brand that wants to make better decisions and stay relevant in its market.
And with Panoramata, tracking doesn’t have to take up hours of your time.
We track everything automatically for you so you can understand your competitors better and gain valuable insights that you can use to sharpen your marketing.
Sign up for free today and give Panoramata a spin!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is competitor tracking important for my business?
Competitor tracking helps you stay informed about your industry's landscape and identify new trends or strategies.
By monitoring your competitors, you can make better decisions, uncover gaps in your own offerings, and improve your positioning. It also helps you avoid being blindsided by sudden market shifts or innovations.
2. How often should I track my competitors?
It's best to monitor competitors regularly, but the frequency depends on your industry and goals.
Monthly reviews are common, but in fast-moving sectors, weekly or real-time tracking might be necessary. The key is to stay proactive and adapt quickly to any changes.
3. What tools can I use to track competitors?
There are many tools designed for competitor analysis, like Panoramata, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb. These tools allow you to track website traffic, keywords, social media performance, and more.
