1. Analyzing Competitors
By: Susheel Joshi
Before carving your marketing strategy it is imperative to analyze
competitors existing in the market in order to develop a clear, distinctive and
focused strategy based on the objectives of the company.
Here are a few simple steps to execute this complex task in simple and
effective way.
 Who is your competitor?
On a broader perspective, you can distinguish your competiton in two different
forms:
Brand competition- Companies offering similar product or service to the same
target segment at similar prices.
Industry competition- Companies making similar class of products.
 What is their strategy?
You need to identify the strategic group in which you are competing. Chalk out the
various strategies applied in the industry, profile yourself and identify your
strategic competitor.
 What is their objective?
Having identified the strategic group, find out what each competitor is seeking in
the market be it market share growth or profitability or leadership in product or
service.
 What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Gather all relevant data on your competition including data on sales, market share,
profit, ROI, cash flow, future investments and internal environment. Carry out
SWOT analysis for each competitor. Attack on the weakness of the weakest
competitor first followed by the next one. Do not attack the strongest competitor
first as by doing so you may end up exhausting valuable resources.
 How do they react to competition?
Once you start attacking your competitors they are assumed to retaliate. Some may
react immediately some may show reluctance or some may react selectively
according to the type of threat disposed.