How to find and analyze your local competitors
What does this article include?
For small business owners, knowing your local competitors well is crucial to do well in your area. It’s not just about knowing who they are, but really understanding what they do well, what they don’t do well, and how they connect with the community. This guide is all about helping you look closely at your local rivals. You’ll learn how to find them, evaluate them, and figure out how to be better than them. This will help you not just keep up, but really stand out and do well locally. We’re here to give you the tools and knowledge to improve your strategy and succeed. Let’s start learning how to get ahead of your competition and make your business thrive.
What is a Local Competitor Analysis?
A local competitor analysis is a detailed examination of businesses in your vicinity that offer similar products or services. A good example might be a doctor or a plumber trying to find and win over clients from local competitors. This process involves gathering information on these competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, marketing strategies, customer engagement, pricing, and overall market presence. The purpose of conducting a local competitor analysis is not just to identify who your competitors are but to dive deeper into how they operate and interact with the local market. By doing so, you can discover opportunities for your business to stand out, as well as areas where you might improve your own practices. For businesses aiming to establish themselves or stay ahead in the local market, having a clear insight into the competitive landscape is essential. It helps in making data-driven decisions and developing strategies that can enhance your market position and drive growth.
What are the Benefits of Analyzing Your Local Competitors?
Analyzing your local competitors brings several advantages that can significantly impact your business strategy and performance.
First and foremost, it provides you with a clear understanding of the market dynamics and customer preferences within your local area. This knowledge is invaluable in tailoring your offerings to meet the specific needs and desires of your target audience more effectively than your competitors.
Another key benefit is the ability to identify gaps in the market or areas where competitors are underperforming. This insight allows you to differentiate your business by filling these gaps with improved products, services, or customer experiences. Additionally, by observing the marketing strategies and promotional activities of your competitors, you can discover what resonates with your shared customer base and adapt your approach accordingly to capture more attention and loyalty.
Competitor analysis also helps in risk management by keeping you informed about the moves and strategies of other players in your field. This ongoing awareness enables you to respond swiftly to market changes, competitive offers, or shifts in customer preferences, thus minimizing potential risks to your business.
Lastly, this process can inspire innovation within your own business. By analyzing the successes and failures of your local competitors, you can identify opportunities for innovation in your product development, marketing tactics, customer service, and operational efficiencies. This not only helps in staying competitive but can also position your business as a leader in the local market.
How to Find Your Local Competitors
Finding your local competitors is a critical first step in understanding the competitive landscape in which your business operates. This process involves a combination of online research, field observation, and leveraging local business resources. Here’s how you can systematically identify your local competitors:
- Online Search: Start with a simple Google search using keywords that describe your business and its offerings, followed by the name of your local area. This will help you identify businesses that appear in search results for the same keywords your potential customers might use. Don’t forget to check the “Maps” section to see which businesses are listed in your vicinity.
- Social Media and Review Sites: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are great for identifying competitors by looking at businesses that have been reviewed or mentioned in your area. Pay attention to how customers interact with these businesses and what they say about their experiences.
- Local Business Directories: Websites such as the local chamber of commerce, Better Business Bureau, and niche industry directories can provide lists of businesses in your area. These directories often include categories relevant to your business, making it easier to identify competitors.
- Observation and Networking: Sometimes, the best way to identify local competitors is by physically exploring your area or attending local business events. This can give you insights into businesses that may not have a strong online presence but are well-known locally. Networking with other business owners and customers can also reveal who your competitors are.
- Use Tools for Competitive Analysis: Various online tools and software can help identify and analyze your local competitors. You can use our Free Competitor Finder tool that helps you detect your competitors using AI.
By employing these methods, you’ll be able to compile a comprehensive list of your local competitors. This list will serve as a foundation for deeper analysis and strategic planning to enhance your competitive edge in the local market.
How to Conduct a Local Competition Analysis
Once you’ve identified your local competitors, the next step is to conduct a thorough analysis of their operations, strategies, and customer engagement. This analysis will provide you with valuable insights that can inform your business strategy. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a local competition analysis:
Evaluate Their Online Presence
Start by reviewing your competitors’ websites, social media profiles, and online reviews. Pay attention to the content they publish, how they interact with customers, and the overall customer sentiment. This will give you an idea of their marketing strategies, brand positioning, and customer service quality.
Analyze Their Product or Service Offerings
Compare your competitors’ products or services with your own. Look for differences in features, quality, pricing, and the variety of offerings. This comparison can help you identify areas where you could improve or differentiate your products or services.
Check Their Pricing Strategy
Understanding your competitors’ pricing is crucial. It will help you position your offerings competitively. Consider whether they’re using a premium pricing strategy, competing on price, or focusing on value-added services.
Observe Their Marketing Tactics
Analyze the marketing and advertising channels your competitors are using. Are they investing in local SEO, social media advertising, email marketing, or offline advertising? Identifying the channels that work for them can offer insights into where you might want to focus your marketing efforts.
Understand Their Customer Experience
If possible, experience your competitors’ customer service firsthand. This can be through visiting their store, purchasing a product, or interacting with their online customer service. Take note of what they do well and what could be improved.
Gather Insights from Customers
Customer feedback can provide direct insights into your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Look for customer reviews and feedback on various platforms, or conduct surveys asking what customers like about competing businesses and what changes they wish to see.
Review Their SEO Strategy
Use SEO tools to analyze your competitors’ search engine optimization efforts. Look at their keyword strategy, backlink profile, and website optimization. This will help you understand how they’re achieving visibility online and where you might have opportunities to outrank them.
The Best Tools for Conducting a Local Competitor Analysis
To effectively analyze your local competitors, leveraging the right competitor analysis tools can make the process more efficient and provide deeper insights. Here’s a list of some of the best tools available for conducting a comprehensive local competitor analysis:
Competitors.app
A key tool for those looking to automate their competitor analysis process. Competitors.app monitors your competitors' online activities, including website updates, social media changes, and email marketing strategies. It provides real-time alerts and insights, making it easier to keep track of your competitors' moves and strategize accordingly. For local businesses Competitors App has a really unique feature that allows you to monitor insights in your local area even in a zip code level.
Google My Business (GMB) Insights
Use GMB to see how your business performs in local searches compared to your competitors. It provides valuable data on search visibility, customer actions, and how customers find your listing.
SEMrush
This tool is excellent for analyzing competitors' SEO strategies, keyword rankings, and online advertising. SEMrush's features allow you to understand your competitors' online presence and discover gaps in your own strategy.
Key Metrics to Measure when Analyzing Local Competitors
When conducting a local competitor analysis, focusing on the right metrics can provide actionable insights that drive strategic decisions. Here are key metrics to measure that will give you a comprehensive understanding of your competitive landscape:
- Market Share: Estimate the market share of your competitors in the local area. This can be based on revenue, customer base, or volume of sales. Understanding market share gives you a clear picture of your position relative to your competitors.
- Customer Satisfaction: Measure customer satisfaction levels through reviews, ratings, and feedback on various platforms. High satisfaction levels in competitors might indicate areas for improvement in your own business.
- Website Traffic: Analyze the volume and sources of traffic to your competitors’ websites. Tools like Competiros.app, SEMrush and Ahrefs can provide insights into organic search traffic, referral traffic, and the effectiveness of their SEO strategies.
- Social Media Engagement: Look at the number of followers, post engagement rates, and types of content that generate the most interaction on your competitors’ social media profiles. This can inform your own social media strategy.
- Conversion Rates: If possible, estimate the conversion rates of your competitors’ marketing campaigns. This includes email marketing, online advertising, and landing page performance. High conversion rates may highlight effective strategies worth emulating.
- Product or Service Pricing: Compare your pricing with that of your competitors. Understanding how your competitors price their offerings can help you position your products or services competitively.
- Brand Perception: Gauge how customers perceive your competitors’ brands. This can be done through social media sentiment analysis, customer reviews, and survey data. A positive brand perception might reveal effective branding strategies.
- Content Quality and Strategy: Evaluate the quality, frequency, and engagement of your competitors’ content. High-quality content that engages the audience can indicate areas where your content strategy needs to adapt or improve.
- SEO Rankings: Monitor the keywords for which your competitors rank well. This will help you identify gaps in your SEO strategy and opportunities to optimize your content for better visibility.
- Innovation and Product Development: Keep an eye on any new products, services, or features your competitors introduce. This metric can indicate the direction in which the market is moving and highlight innovation trends.
By measuring these metrics, you can gain a deeper understanding of your local competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge enables you to make informed decisions, refine your strategies, and ultimately improve your competitive position in the local market.
How to Analyze Local SEO Competition
Analyzing your local SEO competition is essential for improving your visibility in search engine results and attracting more local customers. Here’s a step-by-step guide to effectively analyze your local SEO competition:
Step 1: Determine your local search competitors
Start by figuring out who your local competitors are. This could be businesses offering similar products or services in your area. Use search engines by entering keywords related to your business along with your location to see who ranks at the top.
Step 2: Analyze Google My Business Listings
Look at your competitors’ Google My Business (GMB) listings. Pay attention to how they categorize their business, the keywords they use in their business description, and how completely they’ve filled out their information. This can give insights into how they’re being found in local searches.
Step 3: Check Reviews and Ratings
Reviews and ratings on Google My Business and other review sites play a crucial role in local SEO and customers’ decision-making. Analyze the quantity and quality of your competitors’ reviews to understand their reputation and what customers appreciate or dislike about their services.
Step 4: Conducting Local Keyword Research
Understand the keywords for which your competitors are ranking. This involves identifying not just the high-volume keywords but also the long-tail phrases that bring in targeted local traffic. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Local, or SEMrush can offer insights into the keywords your competitors are targeting and their performance in local search results.
Comparing Google Business Profiles
Comparing Google Business Profiles (GBP) of your local competitors is an effective way to understand how your business stacks up in terms of local search visibility and customer engagement. Here’s how you can conduct a comprehensive comparison:
- Examine Profile Completeness: Check if your competitors’ GBPs are fully completed with detailed business information. This includes business hours, contact information, categories, services, and products. A complete profile tends to rank better in local search results.
- Analyze Use of Keywords: See how well your competitors incorporate relevant keywords into their business description and posts. Proper use of keywords can improve a profile’s visibility for specific local searches.
- Review the Quality and Quantity of Photos: Profiles with more high-quality, relevant photos generally provide a better user experience and can attract more attention. Compare the number of photos, their quality, and how often they are updated.
- Evaluate the Frequency and Quality of Posts: Regular posts on GBP can improve engagement and keep the business top-of-mind with potential customers. Look at how frequently your competitors post and the type of content they share.
- Check for Q&A and How They’re Handled: The Questions & Answers section is a direct line of communication with potential customers. Review how your competitors manage this section, including response time and the helpfulness of their answers.
- Assess Reviews and Responses: Reviews significantly affect a business’s reputation and search ranking. Compare the number of reviews, overall ratings, and how actively and professionally your competitors respond to both positive and negative reviews.
- Observe Attributes and Features Used: Google Business Profiles offer various attributes to highlight specific features of a business, like “Free Wi-Fi,” “Outdoor Seating,” etc. See which attributes your competitors are using to attract different customer segments.
- Look at Local SEO Performance: Use tools like Moz Local to check how well your competitors’ profiles are optimized for local SEO. This includes consistency of NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) across the web, local keyword optimization, and backlink quality.
- Identify Unique Selling Propositions (USPs): Through their GBP, identify any unique offerings or messages that make your competitors stand out. Understanding their USPs can help you refine your own value proposition.
- Monitor for Offers and Promotions: Some businesses use their GBP to promote special offers or events. Keeping an eye on these can provide insights into their marketing strategies and promotional tactics.
By conducting this detailed comparison, you can identify areas where your Google Business Profile may need improvement to enhance your local search visibility and customer engagement. It also helps in spotting opportunities to differentiate your business from local competitors, ensuring you attract more attention from potential customers in your area.
Analyzing Your Local Competitors’ Google Ads
Analyzing your local competitors’ Google Ads campaigns can offer valuable insights into their marketing strategies, helping you refine your own to better target local customers. Here’s how to conduct an analysis of your local competitors’ Google Ads:
- Observe Ad Copy: Start by examining the ad copy your competitors use. Look for common themes, calls-to-action (CTAs), and the unique selling points they highlight. This can give you ideas on how to craft compelling messages that resonate with your target audience.
- Analyze Keywords and Ad Groups: Use tools like Competitors.app, SpyFu or SEMrush to get an idea of the keywords your competitors are targeting in their campaigns. Understanding their focus can help you identify gaps in your own keyword strategy or discover new keywords to target.
- Check Out Landing Pages: The landing page linked from a Google Ad is crucial for conversion. Visit your competitors’ landing pages to assess their design, messaging, user experience, and how well they’re optimized for conversion. This could reveal areas for improvement on your own site.
- Evaluate Ad Extensions: Look at which ad extensions your competitors are using, such as site links, callouts, structured snippets, or location extensions. Ad extensions can significantly enhance ad visibility and effectiveness, offering lessons for your own campaigns.
- Review Their Offers and Promotions: Pay attention to any special offers or promotions advertised. These can inform you about your competitors’ sales tactics and promotional cycles, helping you plan your offers more strategically.
- Gauge Audience Targeting Strategies: Although harder to ascertain directly, you can sometimes infer audience targeting strategies based on ad copy and imagery. This can offer clues about the demographics, interests, or customer segments your competitors are prioritizing.
- Use Google’s Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool: This tool allows you to see which ads appear for specific queries in different locations, without affecting the performance of your own or your competitors’ campaigns. It’s useful for spot-checking how visible your competitors’ ads are in comparison to yours.
- Keep Track of Changes and Trends: Digital marketing landscapes evolve rapidly. Regularly monitoring your competitors’ Google Ads campaigns can help you stay ahead of trends and adjust your strategies in real-time.
By thoroughly analyzing your local competitors’ Google Ads, you can gain insights into effective strategies and identify opportunities to enhance your own campaigns for better engagement and conversion in your local market.
Monitoring Your Local Competitors with Competitors.app
Monitoring your local competitors is a vital strategy for any business looking to maintain or enhance its position in the market. Competitors.app emerges as a pivotal tool in this endeavor, providing a comprehensive and automated solution to keep a close watch on your competitors’ activities. Here’s how Competitors.app enables you to effectively monitor your local competitors and adapt to market changes swiftly:
Automated Alerts for Online Mentions:
Competitors.app uses advanced technology to scan the web for any mentions of your competitors. Whether it’s news articles, blog posts, or significant updates, you’ll receive real-time alerts, ensuring you’re always informed about your competitors’ public engagements and media presence.
Social Media Tracking:
The platform offers robust monitoring capabilities across various social media channels. It tracks changes in posting frequency, content themes, engagement tactics, and promotional campaigns of your competitors. This feature allows you to gauge their social media strategy and audience engagement levels, providing insights into what works and what doesn’t in your shared market.
Comprehensive SEO and Website Analysis:
With Competitors.app, you get detailed insights into your competitors’ SEO strategies and website updates. The tool analyzes changes in SEO practices, content updates, and overall website performance, helping you understand your competitors’ online strategies and identify areas for improvement in your own SEO and content approach.
Direct Observation of Websites and Blogs:
Competitors.app makes it easy to keep an eye on any changes to your competitors’ websites and blogs. This direct observation can reveal shifts in their marketing messages, target markets, or strategic focus, allowing you to adapt your strategies accordingly.
Advertisement Monitoring:
It tracks and analyzes your competitors’ online and possibly offline advertisements, providing insights into their marketing strategies, target audiences, and promotional tactics. This knowledge helps you refine your advertising efforts to ensure they are more impactful.
Engagement in Industry Forums and Online Communities:
While Competitors.app automates much of the monitoring process, the insights it provides can guide more targeted engagement in industry forums and online communities. This strategic involvement can offer additional insights into competitors’ strategies and customer service approaches.
Analysis of Sales and Promotional Tactics:
By alerting you to your competitors’ sales, discounts, and special promotions, Competitors.app helps you understand their pricing and sales strategies. This information is crucial for developing competitive offers and promotions that attract and retain customers.
How can you evaluate the impact of which strategies are working for your competitors
Evaluating and noticing the impact of strategies that work for your competitors involves a combination of direct observation, data analysis, and market feedback. Here’s how you can systematically assess the effectiveness of your competitors’ strategies:
1. Monitor Performance Metrics
- Website Traffic and SEO Rankings: Use tools for analytics (if you have access to comparative data) to monitor changes in your competitors’ website traffic and SEO rankings. Significant improvements may indicate effective SEO or content marketing strategies.
- Social Media Engagement: Track changes in engagement rates, follower growth, and content virality on your competitors’ social media profiles. Tools like BuzzSumo or Hootsuite can provide insights into which types of content and which posting strategies are most effective for them.
2. Analyze Customer Feedback and Reviews
- Online Reviews and Ratings: Regularly check platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and TripAdvisor to see customer reviews and ratings. Positive trends in reviews or frequent mentions of specific aspects of their service or product can indicate areas where they are succeeding.
- Social Media Sentiment: Use social listening tools to gauge the sentiment of mentions and discussions about your competitors online. This can help you understand public perception and the impact of their PR or customer service strategies.
3. Observe Sales and Market Share Changes
- Sales Volume and Revenue: While it might be challenging to get exact figures, any publicly available information on sales, revenue growth, or market share can provide clues about the success of their strategies.
- Promotional Campaigns Effectiveness: Monitor the frequency, creativity, and reception of promotional campaigns. High engagement levels, social media buzz, or increased market activity during these campaigns can signal their effectiveness.
4. Assess Content and Advertising Success
- Content Engagement: Look at the engagement metrics on their content, such as likes, shares, comments, and views. High-performing content could indicate successful content marketing strategies.
- Ad Performance: If you can access any data on their advertising campaigns (through ad intelligence tools or public case studies), analyze their reach, click-through rates (CTR), and conversion rates to evaluate the effectiveness of their advertising strategies.
5. Competitive Benchmarking
- Benchmarking Against Industry Standards: Compare your competitors’ performance against industry averages or benchmarks. This can help you identify which areas they are excelling in.
- Direct Comparisons: Compare similar campaigns or initiatives between your business and your competitors. For example, if you both launched similar products or services around the same time, comparing the market reception can offer insights into what strategies worked better.
6. Use Competitor Analysis Tools
- Competitors.app and Similar Platforms: Tools like Competitors.app automate the process of tracking your competitors’ online activities, including social media, website updates, and more. These tools can alert you to successful strategies by highlighting significant changes or trends in your competitors’ digital marketing efforts.
7. Customer Surveys and Market Research
- Direct Customer Feedback: Conduct surveys or focus groups with your customers or your target market to gather feedback on why they might prefer a competitor’s product or service. This direct feedback can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of their strategies.
By combining these approaches, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of which strategies are working for your competitors. This knowledge allows you to adapt and refine your own strategies to compete more effectively in your market.
Download Free Local Competitors Analysis Template by Competitors.app
We offer a valuable resource for businesses aiming to gain insights into their local competition without the complexity often associated with competitor analysis. Our free local competitor analysis template is designed to streamline the process, making it accessible even for those with limited marketing experience.
Download our Local Competitor Analysis Powerpoint with 5 Local Competitor Analysis Templates
Local Competitor Analysis: FAQs
1. Can I find local competitors without online tools?
Yes, you can identify local competitors without relying solely on online tools. Traditional methods such as visiting local business areas, networking with other business owners, attending community events, and engaging in local trade organizations can provide valuable insights into who your competitors are. Observing local advertisements, newspapers, and industry-specific publications can also reveal competitors in your area. These approaches, combined with talking to your customers about other businesses they use, can offer a comprehensive view of your local competition.
2. Are there any free tools to use?
There are several free tools available for conducting a basic local competitor analysis. Google My Business allows you to see who else is listed in your category and area. Google Alerts can notify you about mentions of your competitors online. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer insights into your competitors' engagement strategies and customer interactions. Additionally, tools like Ubersuggest and Moz Local offer limited free versions that can help with SEO analysis and local listing management.
3. Are there tools to automate local competitor analysis?
Yes, tools like Competitors.app, SEMrush and Ahrefs offer features that automate various aspects of competitor analysis. These tools can track competitors' online activity, including SEO rankings, content updates, social media changes, and more. While most have premium plans, they often offer trial periods or limited free options that can be useful for smaller businesses looking to get started with automated competitor analysis.
4. How often should I perform a local competitor analysis?
The frequency of performing a local competitor analysis can vary depending on your industry, the level of competition, and how fast the market changes. As a general guideline, a comprehensive analysis should be conducted at least once a year. However, monitoring certain aspects of your competitors' activities, like promotions, new product launches, or significant changes in their online presence, should be done more regularly, potentially on a quarterly or even monthly basis. Staying informed allows you to respond quickly to market changes and maintain a competitive edge.
5. How do I assess the strength of a local competitor?
Assessing the strength of a local competitor involves analyzing various factors, including their market share, brand reputation, customer satisfaction levels, online visibility (SEO), social media engagement, product or service quality, and financial stability. Tools and methods like online reviews, social listening, financial reports, and customer surveys can provide insights into these aspects.
6. What is local SEO?
Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your online content and presence to rank higher in search results for local queries. This involves optimizing your website and Google My Business listing with local keywords, ensuring your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information is consistent across the web, and building local backlinks. The goal is to increase visibility to potential customers in your geographic area.
