Once you have determined who you are going to target, it’s
time to analyze your competition to identify what your product is up against in
the app market. Statista records confirm that Android users alone were able to
choose between 2.2 million apps on the App Store just last month. Competitive
analysis has become an essential part of business strategy in order to stay
ahead, particularly in the tech industry. A successful app is one that adds
value for users and solves their pain points, which we mentioned in the
previous post. But your app ultimately won’t be successful if your competition
has more to offer. Here are 9 research techniques to help you establish a
competitive edge:
1. Know Your Unique
Value Proposition
mobile app
development Competitive research is about revealing your
competition’s strengths and weaknesses in order to define your own competitive
advantage. Building a product that offers the same features as your
competition’s won’t help you win over many users. A unique value proposition
(UVP) is the first step you need to consider to optimize user loyalty and
overall business success.
You’ll want to begin by answering these fundamental
questions:
What has your competition done right?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
How will your solution be different and add value for
potential users?
Many companies fail to properly assess their full
competitive set. If you don’t understand what your app’s strengths and
weaknesses are, you won’t be prepared to successfully market your product. You
should be able to clearly identify and communicate your unique value
proposition to set your company and product aside from the rest of the market.
No matter how unique you think your product or service is,
it’s likely to be very similar to a product or service that already exists. The
important thing to remember is how your app will add value in a way that your
competition doesn’t. Your UVP will give you a competitive edge, surpassing your
direct competition before even launching your app.
2. Who Are Your
Competitors?
Once you fully establish your UVP, you must assess who your
current or potential competitors are. Make a list of 5 of your direct
competitors to assess their strengths through a general search using keywords.
If other companies use the same keywords as your own, you’ll most likely be
competing for your users’ attention. A helpful tool we like to use is Owler, a
competitive intelligence resource that gathers data about your competition
including revenue, newsworthy events, company initiatives, and more.When
conducting a general search, look at your competitors’ target audience,
revenue, product offerings and features, customer support, and marketing
strategy, to name a few. Researching your competition’s’ products is just as
important as how they target, market, and interact with their users
After a basic understanding of what your competition offers
their users, some companies decide not to move forward because it’s too
difficult to win market space, or costs more than they originally anticipated.
This is a good time to reassess your product strategy and possibly reestablish
your branding strategy or your target audience, for example.
3. Examine Their
Online Presence
Social media offers multiple opportunities for competitive
research that go far beyond the number of followers they have. Follow your
competitors’ Twitter and Facebook accounts, and subscribe to their newsletters
and blogs to learn how they digitally brand themselves. Also take a look at who
follows your competitors. How do they acquire their followers? You should also
look into your competitions’ influencers, which will give you an idea of key
industry leaders and spark ideas for engagement with these influencers.
4. Analyze Their
Content Marketing Strategy
Analyzing your competition’s content marketing strategy
surprisingly holds significant value. Every marketing strategy will reveal
insights to their targeted sets of users. Analyze their publication frequency,
quality, relevance to their product or services, and how they are targeting
their users with their content.
5. Ask Prospective
Users
Now you need to start digging even deeper by directly asking
prospective users what they think of any similar products in the market. This
is a simple yet accurate way to confirm your assumptions about direct
competition in order to improve your own product and marketing strategy.
6. Ask The Business
Experts
Another beneficial technique when conducting competitive
research is to talk with other business experts in the industry. Ask what has
worked, what hasn’t, and any future trends that they foresee. At Clearbridge,
we have in-house business analysts that will provide you with the information
needed to help you make smart product decisions.
7. Keep an Eye on
Indirect Competition
This technique may not seem important, however it will prove
to be beneficial simply because of the fact that indirect competition still
poses as a threat when it comes to targeting the same set of users. While they
may not build mobile apps, they are still winning over your users somehow with
another product or service. Don’t focus on the products or services they offer
your users but instead analyze how they are targeting and retaining their
users. What makes them successful in doing so? What are they doing that could
be improved upon? Where is there overlap with your company? mobile
application development Will they become a direct competitor in the
future? Competitive research should go far beyond the product itself to examine
their overall branding strategy and management. Both you and your competition
are battling for the attention of your users, whether it’s with a marketing strategy
or the product itself.
8. Attend Industry
Conferences
A great way to learn about who your competitors are and what
they offer is by attending professional conferences and trade shows. Here,
you’ll be able to see how your competition interacts with customers and how
they attract customers.
9. Analyze Industry
Reports
Many companies will release trend reports, specifically in
the tech industry. Reading about what was popular in the last year may spark
new product ideas for the year to come. The tech industry is continuously evolving
so it’s no surprise that companies need to stay ahead of the game to remain in
the competitive market. Keeping up-to-date on the newest technologies will help
you stay ahead and will reveal key information about competitors such as their
new products and features, which will either propel you in another direction or
evoke new ideas for improvement. Leading tech companies are able to anticipate
gaps, problems, and most importantly, competitive threats in the market.
Keep Monitoring Your
Competition
Not only are these 9 research techniques highly beneficial
before your product is developed, but will serve you best when used throughout
the entire product lifecycle so that you can adjust and adapt to changing user
demands. Keep a list of your top five competitors and monitor their websites,
social media sites, and their branding, and marketing tactics regularly. Use a
media monitoring and analytics service to track company mentions, such as
Google Alerts to reveal new businesses entering the market. This information
should be used to your advantage to improve your strategies, such as offering
better prices and features.
It’s important to avoid imitating your competition after
conducting your research but instead, you should be able to understand the
attitudes and behaviors of how users are interacting with other brands, whether
directly, or indirectly. A simple assessment of their online presence is often
not enough, which is why these techniques will cover you on all bases so you
can enter the app market with a thorough understanding of who you are up
against.
[Sources: http://clearbridgemobile.com/finding-opportunity-app-market-competitor-research/]
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