It doesn't matter if you're a reputable brand or a newly founded startup knowing who you're up against is essential to your growth strategy. And, to do that you require competitive analysis, an assessment of your competition's strengths and weaknesses that can help you understand your offensive and defensive strategic context.

You can hire a third-party market intelligence firm to help you with this task but you can conduct a thorough and efficient analysis of your competitors on your own. BDC Senior Business Analyst Mallika Kazim outlines her 5-step approach to competitor analysis to help you understand your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you determine your growth strategy.

The analysis of competitors is a crucial step in establishing your marketing, product and sales roadmaps and also setting benchmarks for your success. It's a great way to pay attention to specific aspects in the market to determine how your offerings compare to your competition. In addition to the main products that your competitors offer an exhaustive competitor analysis will include their pricing strategy as well as their positioning. This will give you an in-depth look at how they communicate what sets them apart from other brands.

To perform a competitor analysis, start with identifying competitors who are positioned closest to you in the market. You'll then conduct an in-depth analysis using a combination primary and secondary sources, which includes data gathered by your personal team or research tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. Once you've completed your research then use a competitor grid (or matrix) to arrange it. This makes the information easier to process. This will help you recognize larger trends that can affect your strategy.