Businesses won’t thrive if they operate in oblivion and do not monitor competition. If you are not keeping an eye on your competitor, then you are definitely losing out. The key to your success somewhat also lies on monitoring what your competitors are doing. Not only you become aware of their activities but you also get to learn a lot. With marketing automation paving way, every company has started using it. It might be worthwhile to check how your competitor is using MarTech to grow their businesses:
Here are 10 things that your competitors can teach you about their marketing automation strategy:
#1: Content Marketing
With marketing automation, content is key. It is the single-most important aspect of a marketing automation platform. If you take a look at your competitors, you will get to know their content marketing strategy.
You will understand what works and what does not. When you are looking at your competitors’ strategy, the best thing about it is that your target audience is more or less the same.
When you know that something is not working out for your competitors’ you can easily avoid that altogether. If you see some of your competitors’ content resonating more with the audience, you can incorporate that exact element in your strategy as well.
Monitor not only what your competitor is publishing, but also how the audience are reacting to it. Subscribe to their blogs, newsletters and any other form of content that you can get access to.
#2: Layout and Design
The first thing that anyone notices is not the content but the layout or the design of any email, website, article or newsletter. The first thing that hits you as a reader is the cover of a book, before you go on to read the synopsis on the back.
Take a look at how your competitors are making use of marketing automation’s templates to give themselves a boost. How are they designing it? How do you feel about it, and how are their audience reacting to it. If it has no effect, then you should probably avoid such a design.
If something is performing well, then maybe you should consider incorporating something similar.
#3: Traffic
With marketing automation comes an upsurge in website traffic. But there’s a reason why that happens. Marketing automation lets you personalize emails and other content. That makes your audience curious, and they come to your website to learn more about you and your products.
If you monitor your competitors’ traffic and see that they have more traffic than you do, you should take a look at how they are generating more. Use traffic assessment tools to figure out the source of their traffic.
#4: Backlinks
Consider this as a follow up to your traffic assignment. Using SEO tools, you can identify the websites that are redirecting traffic back to your competitors. This will give you an insight regarding which websites you should approach for backlinks.
#5: Branding
With marketing automation, you not only make the most out of your marketing efforts but also create an effective brand for your organization. If you want long-term success, you need a strong brand presence.
Take a look at how your competitors are doing, pick up a few things and incorporate that in your strategy. A good branding will help generate brand loyalty amongst customers which will result in increased revenue.
#6: Customer Loyalty
A big part of keeping an eye on your competitors involve keeping an eye on their customers. Take a look at the ones who are unhappy at the moment. Maybe you can create a campaign to close a deal with them.
If your competitor is losing customers, now is your chance to make the most out of the situation. Look at what is wrong with their services or what is making their customers unhappy or happy. You can pick up tips from their campaigns to make yours better.
#7: Post Sales
There is no point in gaining customers if you cannot provide a seamless after sales service. In fact many organizations value retaining customers than gaining new ones. If your competitors are retaining more customers than you are, then you should take a look at their campaigns and content.
Pick up pointers on how they are keeping their customers pleased after sale. Keep you eyes and ears on the ground and pick up the signals on social media. You can create automated lists of unhappy customers, customers talking about your competition or even your industry using marketing automation system.
#8: Maintain Originality
You might be picking up pointers from your competitor, but try to stay original. Do not copy them outright. That will not only be an embarrassment for your organization but may also result in some form of legal action. In order to be successful you need to be original. Pick up as many ideas as you may want.
#9: Lead Qualification
If you are having trouble qualifying your leads using your marketing automation platform, take a look at how your competitors are pulling it off. Pay heed to the content that they are using along with the marketing strategies.
Without a proper strategy in place, you will not be able to qualify your leads. Create a buyer persona, and use that to assign scores to your leads and see what is stopping them from qualification.
#10: Sales Cycle
How long is your sales cycle? Take a look at your competitors’ sales cycle. Try to find out if theirs are shorter and compact. If they are, maybe you can try and analyse why.
Pick up the points and tactics that your competitors are using to have shorter cycles. You too can use those ideas and make yours shorter. You will get an idea about their sales cycle from the frequency and duration of their lead nurturing emails.
Like Michael Corleone said in The Godfather, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Keeping an eye on your competition will help you achieve success in the long run.
Pick up the good ideas, and try to not make the mistakes that they make, so that your organization can rake in more profits and create a better brand.
How do you monitor competition? We are keen to know.