Digital Marketing and Competitor Research

Where are we now? (External Perspective)

As you plan for digital marketing and during the plan’s implementation, one needs to pay careful attention to the activities of competitors. So competitor research for digital marketing is essential when attempting to answer the question where are we now ( external perspective)? There are a number of approaches that can be employed, with the emphasis on each approach shifting depending upon the nature of our eBusiness and market. Here are some key tools of competitor research for digital marketing:

• Use search engines.
  • General topics such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
  • Type names of competitors.
  • Type industry, product or term.
  • Search ‘down’ into a directory structure e.g Yahoo!
  • Search a competitor’s web site.
  • Product information, press releases, job opportunities.
  • Pricing information.
  • Distribution information such as where to buy.
  • (So publish only what you’d give away at a trade show!)
• Hunt for trade associations.
  • Search for personal pages or ‘Blogs.’
  • Different perspective e.g fans, ex-employees.
  • E.g. www.blogger.com, www.myspace.com, www.youtube.com
• Ask your target market.
  • Send questions to named personnel, newsgroups, personal pages, mailing lists.
  • Conduct a survey using.
  • Buy secondary reports e.g. Datamonitor, Mintel.
• Newsgroups and post queries.
  • Newsgroups on bulleting boards or forums.
  • Deja.com (Google).
  • Read online financial information.
  • Research public companies.
  • III.co.uk Ample UK.
  • FT.com UK.