Marketing Launch Archives

In the fast-paced world of B2B marketing, understanding your competition can make the difference between thriving and merely surviving. Competitor research is not about espionage; it’s about leveraging public and strategic information to make informed decisions that drive business growth. Here, we’ll explore how turning rivalry into a resource can fuel your company’s success.

The Importance of Competitor Research

Competitor research involves analysing your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market positioning. This knowledge is crucial for several reasons:

Identifying Market Gaps: Understanding what your competitors offer allows you to identify unmet needs in the market. By addressing these gaps, you can attract customers who feel underserved by existing options.
Benchmarking Performance: Comparing your company’s performance against that of your competitors helps set realistic targets and KPIs. This benchmarking provides a clear picture of where you stand and where improvements are necessary.
Strategic Planning: Knowing your competitors’ strategies enables you to anticipate their moves and plan accordingly. This foresight can be invaluable in staying one step ahead.
Innovation and Differentiation: Observing your competitors can spark innovative ideas and highlight areas where you can differentiate your offerings. Unique value propositions are key to standing out in a crowded market.

Turning Insights into Action

Merely gathering information is not enough; the real value lies in applying these insights to your business strategy. Here’s how to turn competitor research into actionable steps:

Product Development: Analyse competitors’ product features, pricing, and customer feedback. Use this data to refine your own products, ensuring they meet and exceed market expectations.
Marketing Strategies: Study the marketing tactics that work for your competitors. Are they excelling in content marketing, social media, or SEO? Adopt and adapt these successful strategies to enhance your own marketing efforts.
Customer Experience: Examine how competitors interact with their customers. From sales processes to customer service, there’s much to learn and implement to improve your own customer experience.
Sales Tactics: Understand the sales techniques and channels your competitors use. This insight can help you optimise your sales strategies, improve lead generation, and close more deals.

Tools for Effective Competitor Research

Several tools can streamline the process of competitor research:

SEMrush: For analysing competitors’ SEO and PPC strategies.
BuzzSumo: To identify popular content and influencers in your industry.
Owler: For comprehensive competitor data, including funding, news, and employee information.
Social Media Platforms: To monitor competitors’ engagement and marketing campaigns.

Case Study: Competitor Research in Action

Consider the case of a mid-sized SaaS company struggling to differentiate itself in a saturated market. By conducting thorough competitor research, the company discovered a gap in customer support services. Competitors were not offering 24/7 support, which was a significant pain point for customers.

The company responded by launching a robust 24/7 customer support system. They also highlighted this new service in their marketing campaigns. The result? A 30% increase in customer acquisition and a 20% boost in customer retention within six months. This success story underscores the power of competitor research when effectively utilised.

Conclusion

Competitor research is a vital component of business growth. By systematically analysing and understanding your competitors, you can transform rivalry into a strategic advantage. This proactive approach not only helps in identifying market opportunities but also equips you to innovate and outperform your competition.

In the dynamic landscape of B2B marketing, staying informed about your competitors is not just beneficial; it’s essential. Embrace competitor research as a continuous practice, and watch as it transforms your business from merely keeping up to leading the charge.

Opinion piece by Marketing Executive, Chloe Diggle

Every new product or service starts with an idea, an idea to disrupt the market and solve real-world problems. But these ideas can take a long time to come to fruition. Your idea will go through concept development and creation, through new product development (NPD) and research and development (R&D), and through rigorous testing, trials and feedback processes before the final product or service is ready to launch.

But before you can successfully launch, you need to devise a well thought out go-to-market-strategy (GTMS). It’s imperative that you get your GTMS right, because it’s not just about having a great idea or a great product, it’s about creating the right plan to bring your product to the right people in the right way.

Without a clearly defined GTMS on how you will deliver your new product to your audience – your launch will likely fail to gain traction in the market.

There are many different components of a successful GTMS, let’s explore some of them below.

Target Audience:

Defining your Target Audience (TA) is the building block to a successful launch, because it is the core foundation of your GTMS.

Undertake research into your TA to understand their pain points and challenges, what media and marketing they consume and where they spend their time. Develop your ideal customer profile (ICP) and create buyer personas to help you craft messaging and tailor your offering to their exact requirements. If you don’t understand and define your TA from the outset, you will miss opportunities to resonate with them.

Setting Clear Objectives and Goals:

Do you know what your objectives are for launch? Are you looking to build brand awareness or lead with sales straight away?

Having clearly defined objectives and goals will help inform your ongoing activity and where best to place your efforts, they are fundamental to your GTMS. SMART objectives are the best framework to use for this.

Once you have determined what your objectives are for launch, use this information to set benchmarks and KPIs that denote success. These can be tracked throughout launch and beyond to determine how your GTMS is delivering.

Product Differentiation / USPs:

To successfully launch a new product or service you need to identify what makes your offering unique, especially if you are operating in an already crowded marketplace. What does your product do better or differently to others on the market and why should your TA buy from you?

Spend time upfront understanding what your USPs (unique selling points) are and what differentiates your product, so that you can craft unique messages and value propositions that will resonate with your TA and highlight why they should pick your product above others.

Marketing Plan:

Once you know your TA, your objectives and goals and what your USPs are you need to create a robust marketing plan with the information you have gleaned.

Make sure you leverage the channels that you know your ICP / TA consume and use and you tailor your messaging and comms in a way that resonates with them.

Consider the different stages in the buyer journey, from awareness to consideration through to purchase, and craft a strategy that resonates with your TA at every stage of their journey.

Final Note:

A successful GTMS is all in the planning and research. It will help you to understand your audience and their perceived needs and interests in your product or service and the value they place on your offering. Allowing you to create a GTMS that directly answers that need.

Remember to stay agile in response to market feedback – continually monitor, review and optimise your activity to ensure that the GTMS is successful and continues to be aligned with your TA’s needs.

Want to position yourself for success in the marketplace? Get in touch with our marketing team to discuss launch plans for any new product or service in your offering!

Opinion piece by Account Director, Jess House

Stock photo by Vecteezy

Tag: Marketing Launch

From Rivalry to Revenue: How Competitor Research Fuels Business Growth

How To Get Your Go-To-Market Strategy Right – What You Should Be Considering In Your Launch Plan

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