How to Do a Competitive Analysis in Canadian Marketing

You have a great business idea, and you know your product or service is amazing. But you do not exist in a vacuum. There are other businesses out there doing similar things, and you need to know who they are and what they are doing. This is where a competitive analysis comes in. A competitive analysis is a deep dive into what your competitors are doing well, where they are failing, and what opportunities you can use to stand out in the Canadian market. This is not about copying what they do; it is about learning from their successes and failures to make your own marketing strategy better.

This article will give you a step-by-step guide to doing a competitive analysis for your Canadian business. You will learn how to identify your real competitors, analyze their strategies, and use the information to build a winning marketing plan.

1. Step 1: Identify Your Competitors

This sounds simple, but it is not just about the businesses that sell the exact same product as you. You need to think more broadly.

Direct Competitors

These are the businesses that sell the same or a very similar product to the same audience as you. A direct competitor for a Montreal-based coffee shop would be another coffee shop in the same neighborhood. You compete for the same customers and the same market share.

Indirect Competitors

These are the businesses that sell a different product but solve the same problem for the same audience. An indirect competitor for that same coffee shop could be a local bakery or a juice bar. They are not selling coffee, but they are Competitive Analysis for the same customers who want a quick bite or a drink. A person who wants to sit down and work on their laptop might choose the coffee shop, the bakery, or the juice bar.

Replacement Competitors

These are the businesses that offer a completely different solution to the same problem. For a coffee shop, a replacement competitor could be a person’s home coffee maker. It is not a business, but it is a solution a person might choose instead of going to the coffee shop.

You can find all of these Competitive Analysis by doing simple Google searches for your products or services. You can also ask your customers who they considered before they chose you.

2. Step 2: Analyze Their Digital Marketing Strategies

Now that you have a list of Competitive Analysis, you need to find out what they are doing online. You can learn a lot from their websites, social media, and online ads.

Website Analysis

Your Competitive Analysis website is the online home for their business. You should look at it with a critical eye.

• User Experience (UX): Is their website easy to use? Is it easy to find their products or services? Does it look good on a phone? A bad website can drive customers away.
• Content: Do they have a blog? What topics do they write about? What kind of language do they use? This can tell you a lot about their brand voice and their content strategy.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): You can use a tool like SEMrush to find out what keywords they are ranking for on Google. This can give you a list of keywords you should use in your own content. You should also check how fast their website loads.

Social Media Analysis

Social media is a great place to see how your Competitive Analysis are connecting with their audience.

• Platforms: What social media platforms do they use? Are they active on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook? This can tell you where their audience spends their time.
• Engagement: Do they get a lot of likes, comments, and shares on their posts? You can also look at what kind of content gets the most engagement. Is it videos, photos, or text posts?
• Brand Voice: What is their brand’s personality like? Are they formal, casual, or funny? This can help you figure out how to stand out.

Advertising Analysis

You can also look at your competitors’ online ads. You can use tools like the Facebook Ad Library to see the ads they are running on Facebook and Instagram. This can show you what kind of messages they are using and what their promotions look like.

3. Step 3: Analyze Their Strengths and Weaknesses

After you have collected all this data, you can start to see a clear picture of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths

What are they doing really well? Maybe their website is beautiful and easy to use. Maybe they have a huge following on social media, or they have a great local reputation. You should write down all their strengths.

Weaknesses

Where are they failing? Maybe their website is slow and outdated. Maybe they do not have a strong presence on social media. Maybe their customer reviews are not great. You should also write down their weaknesses.

Your Opportunity

Once you have identified their strengths and weaknesses, you can find your opportunity. Your opportunity is the gap between what your competitors are doing and what your audience wants. For example, if your competitors have a strong presence on Instagram but are not using TikTok, you can create a brilliant TikTok strategy and connect with an audience they are missing. If their customer reviews say their customer service is bad, you can make your customer service a top priority.

4. Step 4: Build a Better Marketing Strategy

The final step is to use all the information you have collected to build a smarter marketing strategy.

• Differentiate Yourself: You need to find a way to stand out. Your competitive analysis should have helped you figure out how you are different and better than your competitors. You should focus your marketing on that difference. This is your unique value proposition.
• Create a Content Plan: Your analysis of their content should give you a lot of ideas for your own blog posts, videos, and social media content. You can find the topics they are not covering and use them to your advantage.
• Improve Your Website: If you found a lot of weaknesses in your competitors’ websites, you can make sure your own website is fast, easy to use, and provides a great experience for your customers.

A Competitive Analysis is not a one-time thing. The market is always changing, so you should revisit your analysis regularly to stay ahead of the game.