Competitor Analysis – How to do it?

In my last post I had discussed – why it helps to do an online competitor analysis of your competitors. In this post – I share with you some techniques you can use to get a competitor analysis done -

1. Competitor Website

Your competitor’s website is the best place to start your analysis, especially if you are a B2B company, there is a lot of information you can get about how to showcase your product and how to differentiate it from other players in the market.

Things you should take note of on the competitor website -

- The kind of content and the different formats used ( Videos, podcasts, whitepapers, case studies etc.)

- Any social media networks they are part of

- Their Newsroom – Check out the kind of media coverages they have received and the different topics for which they issued a press release.

All this will give you a fair idea on how your competitor is trying to position themselves in the market. The media people who cover your space and the kind of story and news angles that interest them.

2. Social Media profiles

Check out the social media company profiles of your competitors – on twitter, facebook, linkedin etc. What you should look out for -

- The  kind of content they post on their profiles – This will tell you how they engage their followers.

- Who do they follow and who follows them – These might be the same set of people who might be relevant to your business too – so you have a ready list of people to follow and engage with – from the start.

3. Corporate blogs

If you plan to have a corporate blog of your own, studying the blogs by your competitors can help you with the following information -

- What kind of topics and categories do they cover – this is important because it will help you ensure that your blog follows a different set of categories of similar categories with a different approach

- How have they positioned their blog? – This is important as you need to ensure your positioning is different, only then can you expect your own set of regular readers.

- Which are the blogs they have link backs to and which blogs link to them – You can try approaching the same set of bloggers to start with for blog roll exchange.

- Any sites they have syndicated their blog content with – you can also explore these syndication sites as they might be looking for similar content.

4. Backlink analysis

Banklink analysis of your competitors site will give you a basic idea of where they are getting their links from. For this you can use sites like – Yahoo Site Explorer or Open Site Explorer. They show-up upto 1000 backlinks for free and even more if you use their paid version. Once you have your competitors backlink data – this is what you should look for -

- Directories they are listed in – these are places you should also list your company website

- Backlink  analysis often throws up sites where your competitor might be running his ads – the links give you information on some of these popular sites(remember they did some research – gain from their knowledge) and then you can research further if these sites are useful to your ad campaigns as well

- Any other media or blogger coverages which was not mentioned on the website (no one puts up all their coverages on the website) – You can see your media and blogger list falling in place

- If your competitors issued a press release – check the different news wire services they used and the kind of impressions they got. While this is not conclusive evidence – still it can give you a fair idea on which news wire service gives better results, this is important and can save you a lot of money.

5. Google search and Alerts

Yes, in the end don’t forget to run a google search on your competitors. Things you can look out for

- Links other than their website which pop-up on the first few pages of google. This is important because these are the pages which google sees as more important – probably in your space – getting on them should be part of your marketing action plan.

- Any other information and important insightful link which might have been missed in the above processes

- Also, you can set google alerts to know, when someone is talking about your competitor and if there is an opportunity to pitch in

Internet is hardly a secret keeper and it takes little effort to dig out all the dirt on anyone. Nobody expects it, but everyone does it! Also, before you start – don’t put anything there you don’t want others to read, once out the best you can do is watch your back….what you do unto others is what others will do to you!!

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'Intent -Driven' Sales & Marketing Campaigns – The New B2B Buzz Word!

Marketing Automation as an industry has witnessed some phenomenal growth in the recent years. The existing solutions have changed the way B2B companies do business today. Traditional, B2B marketing techniques like  cold calls, direct mails etc. now have more data and insight to support. Also, the B2B websites have transformed into a fertile ground for companies to find interested prospects.

In many ways marketing automation solutions have added the much needed momentum to a sector which has a lot at stake, when it comes to making a sale.

The other area in which marketing automation solutions have added value to B2B companies are by helping them measure some aspects of their marketing ROI – especially the contribution marketing makes towards the sales in an organization.

In the last two decades, the marketing automation industry has evolved and found solutions for many problems faced by the B2B sector. Finding more qualified Leads, deploying customized Lead nurturing programs and overall better Lead management is now a reality.

However, the advent of social media and the availability of content rich information has changed the way people buy and sell these days. Marketing itself has undergone a sea change with marketers engaging prospects on a one-on-one basis. B2C companies quickly adapted to this change and have thrived on their new found closeness with their customers – but B2B companies are still not there. They need a more substantial solution to deepen their engagement with their prospects and customers which in turn will generate more business opportunities.

LeadForce1 Offering an Integrated Marketing Automation2.0 platform

LeadForce1 a marketing automation2.0 solution which was launched today,  is a solution which will help B2B companies cope with the changing dynamics of B2B marketing.

LeadForce1 offers the unique benefit of being able to determine an online visitor’s interests and intent, using advanced behavioral analysis. Marketing and sales teams can now precisely manage lead nurturing programs and effectively target messages and offers that are customized around the interests of each individual lead. The result is marketing campaigns with greater impact, larger sales pipelines, and improved sales productivity.

LeadForce1′s greatest differentiator is its ability to find the intent of a website visitor – this information and deep insight into a prospect’s mind, challenges – the existing process of generating, qualifying and nurturing Leads. With the intent of the visitor known, each of these processes take lesser time, are more accurate and customized and promise better results and higher conversions.

The other problem LeadForce1 tries to address is the marketing & sales divide. It provides both the sales and marketing teams with a single opportunity or ‘Lead View’. Giving ‘intent’ – driven insights on individual Leads and Enterprise Leads (gives single view of the behavior patterns of different visitors from the same enterprise).

The solution also offers elements of Web2.0 by incorporating the benefits of social networking and single platform collaboration – allowing all stake holders in a company – the marketing guys, the sales guys and other decision makers to collaborate, share, discuss, deliberate and decide, in real-time – ensuring shorter sales cycles and perusal of only qualified business opportunities – thereby maximizing the ROI.

As a PR & Marketing professional, what I personally liked about LeadForce1, is the fact it can accurately measure not only the ROI on marketing spends but also provide enough data on which marketing channels, what kind of marketing content is bringing in the Leads. This is a great add on for those B2B companies whose marketing spends are focussed on attracting Leads and prospects to their sales funnel. Also, knowing which channels of communication best serve my Company’s needs is great information to have – not only to optimize my reach but also to ensure I achieve my end goals as a marketer.

There are many players in the Marketing Automation space, each offering something – LeadForce1 – is a platform which integrates all – ‘from identifying a visitor to making the live connect’. How the new solution and the 2.0 platform will change the marketing automation industry is yet to be seen, but one thing is guaranteed, B2B companies can now think of engaging with their elusive prospects on a one-on-one basis. Reading their minds, and providing them with sales pitches and lead nurturing materials which will be relevant and truly assist in the decision making process.

B2B Marketing and The Two-Phase Approach

In B2b companies, sales closures can take anywhere between 3 to 12 months and sometimes even more. Once potential prospects or leads are identified they may require nurturing. A relationship needs to be built between the company and its prospect customer to ensure, their solution is the prospect’s first choice, when they finally decide to buy.

This is why it is essential to adopt a two phased approach when it comes to B2B marketing. Your B2B Marketing plan should ideally focus on generating leads in the first phase and nurturing them in the second phase. While the first phase is wider in its reach and more generic, the second phase of marketing should be customized to suit the needs of the lead you are trying to nurture.

Phase I – To generate leads

Identify your target audience and the channels they frequent, this is key to your reach out – this ensures you only attract serious customers with your messaging. What is the problem your product/solution is trying to solve and how will your target customer benefit? Should essentially be an integral part of your messaging.

Whatever channels you use – PR, Social Media, Advertising – online or offline or both – the focus is to educate and inform your target customers about your offerings. This process of generating demand for your product/solution is critical to your business. This is the only way your company can get interested/potential customers to even inquire or consider your offerings as a solution for their problems.

Some key activities which help in this phase are Press releases, Corporate blogs(establishing thought leadership/expertise in your industry), attending industry events and trade shows, engaging with your target audience on social networks, optimizing your website for search engines, paid campaigns( advertisements, sponsorships) etc.

It is best to engage as many marketing channels as available to reach out to your end customer initially. A review after 2-3 months of engaging these channels will give you an idea on which one works best for your company (which campaigns resulted in more responses, inquiries, interest, lead generation)- you can then put all your effort in maximizing your reach using those channels only.

Create a two phase marketing plan

Phase -II – To nurture the leads, till they are sale ready

All visitors who come to your website or call your office are not people who are ready to buy. Its worth it to spend time with these visitors, who filled an inquiry form on your website or called up your sales rep for more information to understand their exact requirement. Apart from these traditional methods of leads reaching you, there are a number of marketing automation solutions available in the market today, these help your company define a good lead and match those specifications against the visitors on your website – rating people on the basis of their activity on the site (form fill, whitepaper download, request for demo etc.).

No matter what method you use – once you are aware, that the visitor or caller is a good lead but not yet ready to buy, it is time to kick in your second phase of marketing activities.

Once you have an insight into the requirements of the lead, feed him with more information on your solutions that best fit his requirements. This should be done over a period of time. Also, this phase requires going beyond self promotion and researching the interests of the lead, engaging him in a conversation, helping him with his decision making process by being an advisor to him.

Some of the key activities that you can use to engage your lead during the nurturing process are – sending well researched whitepapers in the space, sending articles relevant to your lead  that comment on his domain or on the problem he is seeking a solution for. Send news updates about your company or industry which are relevant, case studies which showcase how your solution solved a similar problem for another client. Or send invitations to Webinars where he can learn more about your solution and how it solves his problem.

Emails are the most preferred mode of communication during this phase of marketing, which requires building a relationship of trust with your prospect. If the lead nurturing program is customized to suite the needs of a customer it also ensures faster sales closures as the marketing content shared during this period helps in the decision making process of the lead being nurtured.