A famous statesman once said “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”
When you track your competitors, you can learn from their mistakes and get inspiration. In our opinion, no stronger case for competitor intelligence exists.
Now that we’ve gotten the “why” quickly out of the way, we’ll get to the “how” and “where” in this article. Depending on your goals and what information you need, there are several ways to track your competitor’s marketing strategy using tools readily available online.
Here are ten things you can track about your competitors and how to track them (and tools to use).
1. Track their website
Visiting your competitor’s website is the first thing you should do when tracking your competitors.
On it, you can get links to their social media accounts, see the journey they lay out for potential customers, and learn about their value proposition, just to name a few.
Pay attention to their homepage and the discounts and promotions they’re running. Track new products and prices, too.
These will let you know what your shared audience is interested in, what products are selling the best for your competitor, and how they’re differentiating themselves.
Take note of their shortcomings as well. In addition, look for:
- Ease of navigation and navigation menu
- Categories and Subcategories
- How they handle checkouts
- CTAs
- Image Quality
- Mobile Optimization
Put yourself in their customer’s shoes and shop around. You never know what you might find useful.
And speaking of useful, monitor the changes they make to their website. This is more of a long-term endeavor but it will help you, for example, when you’re refining your USP or trying to improve conversion rates.
2. Track their ads
Things get slightly more complicated when tracking ads because you’ll need competitor analysis tools here. These tools will answer the all-important question “Where are my competitors advertising?”
Here are the ones we recommend.
Panoramata
Using Panoramata’s Ad Search feature, you can find ads across all advertising networks (display ads, TikTok ads, LinkedIn ads, YouTube ads, Meta ads) and in multiple languages as well.
Simply look up your competitor on Panoramata and visit their brand page’s ads section.
If you’re looking for a specific ad (ex. Black Friday or Valentine’s) or want to search through a specific period, use the search bar and filters to find the ad you’re looking for.
Plus, you can also track landing pages and the associated ads for each landing page.
iSpionage
iSpionage tracks ads from three search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Look up your competitor’s ads on the website by typing in their name or website domain name.
You can monitor PPC and SEO keyword data, ad copy, and even landing pages on this analysis tool, as well.
Spyfu
Spyfu is another competitor ad tracking platform that monitors your competitor’s ad copy and the changes they make to them over time.
Learn about what keywords your competitor bids for and get an estimate of their ad budget so you can compare your strategy and see if you’re allocating your resources effectively.
Semrush
If you’re interested in paid and organic search strategies and who you’re competing with for keywords, Semrush is your friend.
Aside from search and display ads, you can also view the keywords your competitors bid on and their backlinks.
3. Track their emails
Monitoring your competitor’s email newsletter should be easy–you only need to sign up for it, right? However, if staying organized and saving time is an issue, you will run into trouble.
Aside from that, simply subscribing to their emails won’t give you the deep analysis you need to actually surface useful insights about their email marketing tactics.
Use Panoramata to stay updated on their email campaigns and access their previous emails (going back months or years).
Also, it helps that Panoramata’s email database is searchable so you can find the emails you need quickly, whether you’re planning your next sale or want ideas for the next holiday.
4. Track their social media accounts
Social media is a must for competitor tracking because it connects brands directly with their target audience and lets you see their customer’s feedback and sentiments about the brand.
On top of that, social media is ideal for tracking their promotions and how they position themselves online.
One way to track social media is simply to follow your competitor’s accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. If you want full-fledged analytics, though, social listening tools are your best bet.
Sproutsocial
Sproutsocial is a go-to for social media management and is good for tracking engagement metrics, share of voice, and trends.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite handles social media posting for you but its capabilities also extend to tracking. You can monitor how you and your competitors are perceived by your audience.
Put yourself in their customer’s shoes and shop around. You never know what you might find useful.
5. Track their web traffic
Know where your competitors get their traffic from by using a tracking tool like Similarweb. Why is web traffic a useful metric?
It tells you how effective your competitor’s marketing strategy is–if it’s actually working for them.
Metrics you can see through Similarweb include traffic sources, bounce rates, average duration per visit, and site rankings.
Benchmark your website’s performance by looking at these metrics on Similarweb. You’ll quickly learn what you need to improve on and where you’re lagging.
6. Track their SEO efforts
Keywords and backlinks form the foundation of a solid organic marketing strategy. That’s why these are worth monitoring if you want to outpace your competitors.
Track their rankings on the search results pages, the keywords they’re targeting, and their best-performing content.
And that’s just scratching the surface. If you want to close the gaps in your content strategy or know what backlinks your competitors are earning, integrate this into your competitor analysis.
A few tools that are recommended:
- Ahrefs
- Semrush
- Mozbar
7. Track their SMS
Tracking your competitor’s SMS tells you a lot about how they drive sales and increase customer loyalty. It’s simple to monitor this on Panoramata.
Just follow these steps:
8. Track their Landing Pages
Landing pages are a crucial part of your competitor’s funnel.
You can gain so many insights from what type of CTAs they use, how they design their pages to maximize conversions, and how their ads and landing pages complement each other.
You can track landing pages on Panoramata by following these instructions:
9. Track their Products and Prices
Using Panoramata, you can also track your competitors' product catalogs and prices. This way, you’re not shortchanging yourself and you keep your prices competitive.
You’ll also stay up to date with your competitor’s product launches and find ideas to boost sales.
Follow these steps to start tracking their catalog:
10. Track their Flows
Finally, we can’t neglect flows in our competitive analysis. Examples of flows are welcome flows, abandoned cart flows, and re-engagement flows.
They are emails or a series of emails made for various purposes, whether it be making sure a new subscriber feels appreciated or reminding a shopper of the contents of their cart.
Panoramata tracks flows automatically. Just follow these steps:
Start tracking your competitors today
Tracking your competitors’ marketing strategy, from their ads to SEO tactics, provides valuable insights that can help you refine your approach.
By understanding what works for them, you can spot new opportunities, stay competitive, and improve your overall strategy.
Start applying these tracking methods today and see how small adjustments can lead to big improvements in your marketing success.
Ready to take your competitive analysis to the next level? Get started with Panoramata today!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I track my competitors' data?
You can track competitors’ data using tools like Panoramata, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SimilarWeb to analyze their SEO, website traffic, and keyword strategies. Social media platforms and ad libraries also offer insights into their content and ad performance.
2. How can I see what ads my competitors are running?
To see competitors' ads, use platforms like Panoramata, Facebook’s Ad Library or Google’s Ad Transparency tool, which display active campaigns. These tools let you view ad creatives, copy, and targeting details, giving you insights into their strategies.
3. How do you analyze a competitor's strategy?
Analyzing a competitor’s strategy involves reviewing their website, ads, social media, and content to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Look at their messaging, targeting, frequency of campaigns, and engagement levels.
Using competitor analysis frameworks like SWOT or Porter’s Five Forces can also help you make informed comparisons and improve your approach.
