Analyze Competition

Analyzing the competition is crucial for understanding the market landscape and identifying opportunities to differentiate your product. This step involves researching direct and indirect competitors, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and uncovering gaps that your product can fill. By understanding your competitors, you can strategically position your product to stand out and succeed.

Why it's Important

Market Insight: Provides a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape.
Differentiation: Identifies opportunities to differentiate your product from competitors.
Strategic Planning: Informs your go-to-market strategy and product development priorities.
Risk Management: Helps anticipate potential challenges and competitive threats.

How to Implement

Identify Competitors

List direct and indirect competitors in your market.

Gather Data

Collect information on competitors’ products, features, pricing, market positioning, and customer feedback.

SWOT Analysis

Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for each competitor.

Feature Comparison

Create a feature comparison matrix to evaluate how your product stacks up against competitors.

Market Positioning

Analyze competitors’ marketing strategies, target audience, and value propositions.

Identify Gaps

Identify gaps and opportunities in the market that your product can exploit.

Available Workshops

Competitor Identification: Brainstorm and identify all relevant direct and indirect competitors.
SWOT Analysis Workshop: Collaboratively conduct SWOT analyses for key competitors.
Feature Comparison: Create a feature comparison with your team.
Marketing Strategy Workshop: Analyze and discuss competitors’ market positioning and strategies.
Gap Analysis Workshop: Identify and prioritize market gaps and opportunities for differentiation.

Deliverables

Comprehensive list of direct and indirect competitors.
Detailed SWOT analysis for each competitor.
Feature comparison matrix.
Clear understanding of market positioning and competitive strategies.
Identification of market gaps and opportunities for differentiation.

How to Measure

Competitor Data Completeness: Ensure you have gathered comprehensive and accurate data on competitors.
SWOT Analysis Quality: Assess the depth and thoroughness of your SWOT analysis.
Feature Comparison Clarity: Evaluate how clearly your feature comparison matrix highlights differences and similarities.
Market Gap Identification: Measure the number and significance of market gaps identified.

Real-World Examples

Slack vs Microsoft

Competition Analysis: Compared features, pricing, and user feedback of Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Outcome: Identified Slack’s strengths in user experience and integration, and Teams’ advantage in enterprise adoption and security.

Uber vs Lift

Competition Analysis: Evaluated market positioning, user demographics, and service offerings of Uber and Lyft.

Outcome: Found opportunities for differentiation in customer service and localized marketing efforts.

Airbnb vs Traditional Hotels

Competition Analysis: Analyzed the unique value propositions of Airbnb compared to traditional hotels.

Outcome: Highlighted Airbnb’s strengths in unique experiences and affordability, and hotels’ advantages in consistency and amenities.

Get It Right

Be Thorough: Collect as much data as possible on all relevant competitors.
Stay Objective: Avoid biases and evaluate competitors fairly.
Regular Updates: Continuously monitor competitors and update your analysis regularly.
Focus on Users: Pay attention to customer feedback and reviews to understand competitor strengths and weaknesses.
Leverage Tools: Use tools like SWOT analysis and feature comparison matrices to organize and analyze data effectively.

Don't Make These Mistakes

Ignoring Indirect Competitors: Focusing only on direct competitors and overlooking indirect ones.
Surface-Level Analysis: Conducting a shallow analysis without diving deep into competitors’ strategies and offerings.
Outdated Data: Relying on outdated information that doesn’t reflect current market conditions.
Bias: Allowing personal preferences or assumptions to skew the analysis.
Neglecting User Perspective: Failing to consider user feedback and experience in the analysis.

Provided courtesy of Deanne Watt, Chief Product Officer
MiNDPOP Group