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The business world of today is extremely competitive, and the more knowledge you have of your industry, target market, and competitors, the better you can achieve your objectives and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. Here is how you can study your startup competitors and get the most out of your business:
Make a list of your startup competitors
The best way to start is by making a list of your direct startup competitors that are succeeding in your niche. You can take a look at the copy on their website, their landing pages, and their ads, and discuss them with your team. Make sure that you check for their unique sales proposition, upsell and down-sell promotions, and any other positioning elements of their products or service. Odds are that if your startup competitors are successful, they have already spent a ton of money on figuring out how to target the market in the most effective manner. You can learn a lot about what works for free in this way.
Perform analytics tests
There are plenty of tools online that allow you to analyze the performance of your competitor’s websites. You have SEMrush, SimilarWeb, and others, which offer both free and paid versions with a large set of features and data that you can look at. Some of these tools work similarly to Google Analytics, except you can check out how your startup competitors are doing. You can see how much traffic they draw in through paid search, SEO, and ads, and how well they perform on certain keywords.
Study the sales funnels of your startup competitors
Also known as funnel hacking, the process of studying the sales funnel of your startup competitors can help you understand their customers as they make a purchase. Start by searching for a product that you are competing over. Then, click on one of their ads, go to their landing pages, and fill out the form. You will then either receive an email or get in touch with a member of their team. Each step of this process was likely studied and tested over numerous iterations to ensure that it converts, and understanding the process can help you set up an effective funnel as well.
By employing these methods, you will be able to understand a lot about effective messaging and your target market for free. Once you have all the knowledge that you need, you can save a lot on your marketing and development budget, and potentially start to draw in some customers as soon as you launch.