By Debbie Gregory.

In the first part of our competitive analysis series we covered the basics including what the analysis is, how it will benefit you and your business, as well as how to get started. In Part 2 of our series, we will cover more of the information you need to be collecting such as your competitor’s pricing, financial records, job postings, and what is on their website.

Pricing and Financial Records:

Knowing what your competition charges can help you make sure that your products and services are priced competitively in your overall market. If competitors do not list their prices on their website. You might want to make a call to obtain a sales quote or a sense of what they charge with their sales or marketing people.

If your competition is a publicly held company, it will be quite easy to obtain their financial records. Don’t become discouraged if your competition is privately held. Most companies will occasionally talk about their finances in press releases, interviews, blogs, and the like. Keep an eye out for any nuggets of information while you are conducting your search.

Check Competitors’ Job Postings:

Looking at who they are trying to hire can tell you a lot about what is going on inside of the company.

For example:

• Hiring developers or engineers? Odds are good they have a new project in the works.
• Hiring sales people? Odds are good they need more customers.
• Lots of openings all over the board? Odds are good either they are in a growth mode or there is turmoil at the company causing high turnover rates.

We also recommend looking at websites such as Glass Door that allows ex- and current employees to leave reviews about their employers   This information can give you some very interesting insights into the company’s culture.

A Long Look At Their Website:

We all know how valuable a company’s website is. Websites remain the number one marketing tool for informing, selling, and gaining new leads. A website should be kept up-to-date with all of the current trends as well as useful content for prospective clients.

Website Items to Check Out:

• Is their site utilizing up-to-date technology and is it easy to navigate?
• What are they attempting to do and is really working?
• What are they attempting that isn’t working?
• Do they have a blog that is kept updated?
• What types of content do they create and share?
• Are they getting ahead or falling behind?
• What gaps can you fill that they’re failing to?
• Do they offer any valuable content such as eBooks, guides, or reports?
• Who are they targeting?
• How are they using their site to acquire leads or sell items?

In Part 3 of this series, we will go even deeper into the information you should be collecting. We will look at your competition’s social media channels, as well as their SEO performance, and provide you a few tips for sorting and utilizing the information.