Regardless of the line of business you are in, you surely have competitors. Their number may vary depending on the type of your company, but they are there, and they want your customers. When running a business, there are so many different things you have to work on, and one of them is staying one step ahead of your opponent.
Firstly, you have to keep an eye on the competition at all times and there are a few different ways you can do this. Clearly, every online search starts with Google search so this should be your first step. Explore the competitor’s website, read customer reviews and what’s more, employ some of the many available tools. Use Google Trends and Alerts to always stay on top of all the news regarding your industry, but also to always be informed whenever someone talks about your or your competitor’s company.
Next, you should check out the opponent’s social media accounts. This marketing strategy is extremely important and beneficial today, which is why you should establish the competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and also learn how to improve your own marketing campaign. Investigate what platforms they use and pay close attention to the content they publish. Do they post only videos and photos, or they often include short text and articles?
How often do they post? At what time of the day are they active? By answering all these questions you will be able to understand what strategy they are using. Also, don’t forget to check the number of followers on their pages. You should have a look at this number from time to time because it will tell you whether their strategies are useful or not.
Furthermore, social media platforms offer multiple types of ads and every major player uses them to reach thousands if not millions of potential clients. Not only should you employ these too, if you haven’t already, but you should also investigate those that the competitors use. Naturally there are many tools that you can use to always get the latest details – you can click here for adspy free trial and try it out.
Another type of strategy that you can investigate on your own is email marketing. Since this one is so widely used, the chance are that your opponent is using it too. Go to their website and apply for a newsletter.
This way you will be able to analyze the content (how informative and appealing it is), the frequency of the emails (how often do they send them), whether or not they are optimized for other devices i.e. are they mobile-friendly, and lastly, the sender score i.e. whether the emails ever end up in your spam folder. This is a great way to learn how you can take your marketing strategy to the next level and ensure the growth of your company.
Finally, you can conduct a simple survey. Hire someone to create a questionnaire about different types of services and to send it to your competitors. You will get a ton of information and have the opportunity to create a totally new strategy.
Nina Smith 
Nicola Holder