Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist, traditionally credited as the author of “The Art of War”, once said:

 

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. 

 

In a corporate context, this statement signifies that only knowing your business will keep you trapped in a never-ending war for market share. However, by understanding your “enemy” - the competitors, you’ll be able to outwit them and succeed with profit, revenue, and customer loyalty. 

 

But knowing your competition can be tricky, as most of the data is either too diverse or ridiculously difficult to interpret. But hold your horses! Because this is where a competitive analysis framework steps in. 

 

Competitive analysis - Intelligent decisions that deliver

 

Competitive analysis is a strategy that helps you identify major competitors and examine their products, sales, and marketing strategies. With this tool, you can comprehend the competition’s strengths and weaknesses compared to yours and create a solid business strategy to beat them. 

 

Therefore, by implementing competitive analysis, you can stay on top of the market trends and ensure that your business is constantly meeting and exceeding industry standards. 

 

The concept might seem simple, but the process is complicated. A competitive analysis encompasses a whole range of metrics and disciplines. But their importance depends on the type of industry and business you have. 

 

So to help you create an all-inclusive competitive analysis process for your business, we have shared seven key steps. 

 

1. Determine your competitors

 

First, to compare your data accurately, you need to research the potential competitors. You can divide the competitors into two categories - direct and indirect. Ideally, it would be correct to pick two to three direct competitors who share similar attributes such as market size, product/service, business model, operational process, and target market. 

 

2. Design a competitive overview

 

Analyze your competitors’ complete product line and the quality of service they offer. Take a note of their pricing, discounts offered, type of sales, cost provision, and attributes or features that make them superior to your firm. 

 

3. Elucidate the competition’s target audience

 

Notice the type of customers your competition has by looking at their marketing messages and published content. Also, think about the target segments they pursue and how they personalize the messages for each segment. Additionally, you can design buyer personas based on this segmentation. 

 

4. Include the competition’s pricing

 

Before pricing your product, it is critical to understand how much your competition is charging for a similar product or service, any perks/discounts they offer, and other factors that affect their prices. 

 

5. Outline their marketing strategy

 

Analyze your competition’s online and offline marketing strategies such as blogs, whitepapers, videos, webinars, print marketing, social media, CTA rate, events, and more. Also, measure the quality of content they are offering to the customers. After a solid understanding of their marketing moves, check if they are working for them or not. 

 

6. Define their competitive advantage

 

This step decides whether or not you can rise above your competition. Measure their competence based on factors such as service quality, price, target market, location, company history, and more. Your goal here is to illustrate how you have an edge over them. 

 

7. Summarize each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses

 

This is the final step where you have to prepare a summary report depicting a comparison between all your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. This information will help you determine who your business can outperform. 

 

Gathering, organizing, and demonstrating the competitive analysis findings is a primitive step in this process. However, putting the data into the real world by communicating it with the decision-makers in your company is the final goal. And to help you run a complete and effective competitive analysis, we present our 20 ready-to-use templates. Let’s dive in!

Template 1

This template will help you outdo your competitors and hold your customers’ attention by creating a robust competitive analysis report. The template features 50 well-crafted slides. So download and make the desired changes. 

 

Competitive Market Analysis

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Template 2

You can design a dominant marketing strategy for your business with this competitive analysis template. The slides are created by our team of professionals. So download it instantly!

 

Strategic Competitive Analysis Template

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Template 3

Get your analysts on board and establish an invigorating competitive analysis report to get an edge over your rivals. The design is easy to edit. So grab it right away!

 

Competitive Analysis Report

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Template 4

New or established business owners can pick this template to analyze their competition and improve their products and services. You can make the most out of this template by incorporating it into your existing presentation. So download it and make the desired changes.

 

Competitive Analysis Module

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Template 5

Assimilate the various competitive analysis methods such as SWOT analysis, Porter’s five forces, strategic group analysis, growth-share matrix, and more with this well-researched template. Download it immediately!

 

Competitive Analysis Methods And Strategy Template

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Template 6

Chart out all your strategies and competitive advantages, and share them with your business partners using this 55-slide template. The design hosts a plethora of features, of which flexibility tops the list. So download it and edit as per your requirement. 

 

Competitive Analysis PowerPoint Presentation

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Template 7

This template will help you figure out what your competition is doing better. Additionally, it can assist you in researching and evaluating the companies that offer similar products or services. Download now!

 

Competitor Analysis In Product Management

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Template 8

Share a robust market positioning, product development, and business strategy with this lucrative competitor analysis template. You can easily change the theme of this template as per your business brand. Download it and make desired modifications!

 

Competitor Analysis Market Positioning Strategy

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Template 9

Lay hands on potential growth opportunities by effectively evaluating your competition brands with this well-structured competitor analysis template. The presentation features 46 exclusive slides. So grab it right away!

 

Competitor Analysis PowerPoint Presentation Template

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Template 10

Guide your market analysis by concentrating on specific information with this organized framework template. The design can be used to include a comparison between the competitor’s positioning, ranking, revenue, market share, and more. So download now!

 

Competitor Analysis Framework

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Template 11

Pick this intelligent tool to illustrate a comparison between you and the competitor organization. The design can be easily edited. So download and enhance your business strategy. 

 

Competitive Analysis PPT Template

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Template 12

Select this industry analysis tool template to compare the characteristics of multiple brands with your market segment and identify the differences, strengths, and more. Download instantly and use this matrix to your advantage. 

 

Competitive Analysis Matrix Sample

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Template 13

This template will help you identify how well your competition’s social strategy is working. Additionally, you will be able to classify the gaps in your company’s social media strategy. So download it without any delay!

 

Website Social Media Competitive Analysis

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Template 14

This is another creative, competitive analysis template with visually appealing smart art. So download it and captivate your audience straight away!

 

Competitive Analysis PPT Layout

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Template 15

Document your findings in this competitive analysis template and share how your research communicates your business goals, initiatives, and tactical work. Download it and easily edit as per your data. 

 

Competitive Analysis PowerPoint Slide

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Template 16

Evaluate your rivals on factors such as target customer, key benefits, price, and value proposition with this ready-to-use template. You can conveniently replace the figures with your conclusion. So grab it without any delay!

 

Competitive Analysis PPT PowerPoint Presentation

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Template 17

Visual content is easier to remember. Therefore, download this innovative bundle and awaken the audience about your company’s USP. Download, edit, and share!

 

Competitive Analysis Chart Template

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Template 18

This template highlights the six competitive analysis tools, including organic traffic, PPC advertising, customer demographics, new customer segment, web analytics, and more. So download it and get started. 

 

6 Tools Of Website Competitive Analysis

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Template 19

Companies who wish to improve their business can utilize this template in their research and planning phase. You can also use it to identify your competitor’s reactivity, hostility, strategies, and goals. Download right now!

 

Competitive Analysis Showing Competitors Templates

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Template 20

Pick this competitive analysis template that presents the annual data with a line chart. The design can be smoothly rearranged without any hassle. So download and intrigue your team members. 

 

Annual Competitive Analysis Line Chart

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Wrapping up

 

Competitive analysis is an ongoing process. But don’t just keep staring at the competitor’s drawing board. Analyze your brand too. Accept your weaknesses, embrace your strengths, and avail incoming opportunities. And to fill the gaps with your solutions, you can use our handpicked templates and skillfully transcend the demanding business environment. 

 

P.S: Want to navigate the right path for your business? Check out our collection of SWOT analysis templates in this blog.