Small Business Computer Programs. Once you have identified your target audience, it's time to check out what your competition is doing. It's important to find out what your product is up against. Competitive analysis has become an essential part of business strategy especially for a dynamic market such as mobile application development. A successful app is one that adds value and helps solve customer pain points.
Ultimately, your app will not be successful unless it has something more to offer - than your competitors.
Here are a few research techniques you can use to establish a competitive edge:
Know your value proposition
Competition research is about revealing the strengths of your competitors and their weaknesses too. Building a product with the same features as your competition- will not win you many customers. It's your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) that will help you attract and retain customers. To begin with, ask yourself - what has your competitor done right? What are their strengths as compared to yours? What are their weaknesses that you can capitalize upon? How will your app add value in a way that your competition doesn't.
Who are your competitors?
Once you fully establish your value proposition, assess your potential competitors. Using general keyword searches understand their strengths and make a list of your strongest keywords. Remember that if you use exactly the same keywords as your competitor, you'll be fighting for user's attention. In general, look for your competitor's target audience, revenue, product offerings, customer support and marketing strategy. Also analyze how they target, market and interact with their users. This will give you a fair idea and help you reassess your product strategies for your target audience.
Examine their online presence
Social media is the best place to begin competitor analysis. Understand their followers, subscribe to their newsletters and learn how they digitally brand themselves. Understand their influencers too. This will help you strategize your moves too.
Analyze their content marketing strategy
Content strategies hold a significant value. Small Business Computer Programs. Analyzing your competitor's content carefully can reveal a great deal about their targeted set of users. Also check out their publication frequency, quality and relevance - it's a good beginning when you are trying to understand your competition.
Ask prospective users
Dig deeper and directly ask feedback from their current user base. This is a better approach rather than making assumptions.
Ask business experts
Talk to the business experts in the industry. Learn from their experiences and understand what works and what doesn't in the industry. Understand future trends and make smart decisions.
Keep an eye on indirect competition
Indirect competition still poses a threat when it comes to targeting the same set of users. Analyze how they are targeting and retaining customers. Competitor analysis should go far beyond the product itself. Understand your competitor's complete branding strategy.
Analyze industry reports
Many companies release trend reports. Reading such reports can spark new ideas for products, marketing and strategies for the future.
The tech industry is ever evolving and companies need to stay ahead of the competition. Both you and your competition are battling for the attention of the same set of target audience, whether it's with a marketing strategy or the product itself. Show your users the difference! Small Business Computer Programs.
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