5 Practical Strategies to Study & Outsmart Your Competition
dailyblog.scottdclary.com
Hi All,
Here’s my daily newsletter navigating the crossroads of business, growth, and life.
If you love this content (please share it), but also…
Check out my Podcast, connect with me on YouTube / Twitter, or subscribe to my weekly newsletter.
Sponsor: LinkedIn
Hiring the right people is a make-or-break situation for small businesses. That's why I consistently use LinkedIn Jobs. It's the best way to access a vast network of top-tier professionals – something you won't find on generic job boards. LinkedIn's platform simplifies the entire hiring process, something incredibly important when you're juggling a million other responsibilities.
Also, they have a ton of tools that can help you like the job description builder…. it’s a lifesavers.
It's easy to see why millions of small businesses choose LinkedIn for their hiring needs.
Elevate your hiring process – post your next job opening for free at linkedin.com/EXCELLENCE. You’ll experience firsthand why LinkedIn Jobs is the go-to choice for finding exceptional talent. (Terms and conditions apply.)
Hey Entrepreneurs,
Imagine you’re Bobby Fischer, the chess prodigy, facing off against Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship. Fischer didn’t just show up and start moving pieces. He spent months studying Spassky’s every move, his tendencies, his weaknesses. He analyzed countless games, looking for patterns and opportunities. When he finally sat down at the board, he wasn’t just playing chess — he was executing a masterfully crafted strategy based on deep competitive analysis.
That’s what we’re aiming for in business. Not just to play the game, but to master it by understanding every piece on the board. Today, I’m going to show you five practical, easy-to-implement strategies that will give you a real edge over your competition. These are tactics you can start using today to gain valuable insights and make smarter business decisions.
Let’s dive in and turn you into the Bobby Fischer of your industry!
1. Decode Your Competitor’s Online Footprint
Your competitors are leaving digital breadcrumbs everywhere. Here’s how to follow the trail:
a) Google Alerts: Set up alerts for your competitors’ names, key products, and industry terms. It’s free and takes less than 5 minutes.
Action: Go to Google Alerts (https://www.google.com/alerts) and set up 3–5 alerts now.
b) Social Media Sleuthing: Follow your competitors on all major platforms. Pay attention to:
Frequency of posts
Types of content that get the most engagement
Customer complaints and how they’re handled
Action: Spend 30 minutes this week analyzing one competitor’s social media presence. Note down 3 things they’re doing well and 2 things you could do better.
c) Website Changes: Use a tool like VisualPing to track changes on your competitors’ websites.
Action: Set up VisualPing (
https://visualping.io/
) to monitor your top competitor’s homepage and pricing page.
Pro Tip: Create a simple spreadsheet to track these insights weekly. You’ll start seeing patterns emerge over time.
2. Leverage Customer Reviews
Your competitors’ customers are a goldmine of information. Here’s how to tap into it:
a) Review Analysis: Regularly read reviews of your competitors on sites like Trustpilot, G2, or industry-specific review platforms.
Look for common complaints — these are opportunities for your business
Note features that customers love — consider how you can offer something similar or better
Action: Spend 1 hour this week reading the most recent 50 reviews of your top competitor. Summarize the top 3 positive and negative themes you find.
b) Sentiment Tracking: Use a tool like Brandwatch or Mention to track overall sentiment around your competitors’ brands.
Action: If budget allows, set up a 14-day free trial of one of these tools and run a sentiment analysis on your top 3 competitors.
3. Uncover Hiring Intentions
A company’s job postings can reveal a lot about their strategic direction:
a) Job Board Monitoring: Regularly check job sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, or industry-specific job boards for your competitors’ listings.
Look for new types of roles — these might indicate new product lines or strategic shifts
Pay attention to the volume of certain roles — are they scaling up in particular areas?
Action: Set up job alerts for your top 3 competitors on LinkedIn. Review new postings weekly.
b) LinkedIn Employee Tracking: Use LinkedIn’s search function to see how your competitors’ employee count is changing over time.
Action: Create a simple spreadsheet to track employee counts monthly. Look for departments that are growing fastest.
4. Analyze Pricing and Packaging Strategies
Understanding how your competitors price and package their products can help you position yours more effectively:
a) Regular Price Checks: Set a calendar reminder to check your competitors’ pricing pages monthly.
Look for changes in pricing structure, new tiers, or special offers
Action: Create a simple table tracking your competitors’ pricing over time. Update it monthly.
b) Feature Comparison: Create a matrix of features offered by you and your competitors at different price points.
Action: Spend 2 hours creating this matrix. Identify gaps where you could add value or differentiate.
c) Secret Shopping: If feasible, become a customer of your competitor to understand their full sales and onboarding process.
Action: Allocate budget to subscribe to a competitor’s service for 1–3 months. Document the entire customer journey.
5. Exploit Public Financial Data
For public companies, financial reports are a treasure trove of competitive intelligence:
a) Earnings Call Analysis: Listen to (or read transcripts of) your public competitors’ earnings calls.
Pay attention to: growth areas, challenges, future plans
Action: Set a reminder to review the latest earnings call transcript of your largest public competitor. Note down 3 key insights.
b) Annual Report Deep Dive: Annual reports often reveal strategic priorities and challenges.
Action: Download the latest annual report of a public competitor. Spend 2 hours analyzing it, focusing on the “Strategy” and “Risks” sections.
c) SEC Filings: For US public companies, Form 10-K and 10-Q filings can provide detailed insights.
Action: If applicable, go to SEC.gov and find the latest 10-K for a competitor. Read the “Business” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” sections.
Bonus: Two Practical Frameworks for Competitive Analysis
To help you organize and act on all this competitive intelligence, here are two simple yet powerful frameworks:
1. The 4C’s Analysis
This framework helps you analyze your competitive landscape holistically:
Company: Your own capabilities and position
Customers: The target market’s needs and preferences
Competitors: Other players in your space
Climate: Broader industry trends and factors
Action steps:
Create a document with four sections, one for each ‘C’.
Spend 30 minutes brainstorming key points for each section.
Identify how each ‘C’ impacts the others. For example, how do industry trends (Climate) affect customer needs (Customers)?
Use this analysis to spot gaps in the market or areas where you can differentiate.
2. The Competitive Response Cycle
This simple framework helps you move from insight to action:
Observe: Gather competitive intelligence
Orient: Analyze and contextualize the information
Decide: Choose a strategic response
Act: Implement your decision
Learn: Assess the results and feed back into the cycle
Action steps:
For each significant competitive move you observe, create a brief document following this cycle.
2. Set a time limit for each stage to ensure you’re responding quickly. For example:
Observe: Ongoing
Orient: 2 days
Decide: 1 day
Act: Within 1 week
Learn: Review after 1 month
3. Use this cycle to create a culture of rapid, informed response to competitive changes.
Putting It All Together
To make the most of these strategies and frameworks, create a “Competitive Intelligence Dashboard”:
Use a tool like Trello or Notion to create a board with columns for each competitor
Add cards for different aspects (pricing, product features, marketing strategies, etc.)
Update this board weekly with new insights from the strategies above
Hold a monthly team meeting to discuss findings and brainstorm responses
Action: Spend 2 hours this week setting up your Competitive Intelligence Dashboard.
Remember, the goal of all this analysis is not just to react to your competitors, but to find opportunities to innovate and better serve your customers. Use these insights to drive your own strategy forward.
Now, go out there and start outsmarting your competition like Bobby Fischer!
Scott