Comprehensive Guide to Conducting Competitor Analysis for PR Succe

Conducting a competitor analysis will be one of the first tasks a good PR agency will take on while in discussions with your brand.

The purpose of this is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors in comparison to your own.

The results of the analysis can also help you to understand what good and bad PR would look like for your brand.

Reviewing your competitors' work will also help you to recognise areas of the business which might need to be enhanced through your PR - for example: are you not shouting enough about the services you provide in niche sectors? Do you not have many links into one of your service pages, but your competitor is receiving hundreds into a similar one on their site?

The analysis will help you to understand how you can out-do your competitors in these areas and increase brand visibility.

There are a few clear steps to consider when researching competitor success:

1. Who are they?

Before starting the analysis, you need to have a sound understanding of exactly who your competitors are. To fully determine if another business is a competitor for you, first consider:

Are they providing similar services to you?
Who is their demographic? Are you targeting the same audience?

2. What sort of competitor are they?

Your competitors can be split down into three categories:

Direct: This is a competitor that is targeting the exact same market and customer base and is offering the same service or products in a similar distribution model to your brand. The aim of a direct competitor will be for the same market growth as you.
Indirect: Another company offering a similar service or product, but their end goal is different to yours.
Substitute: A company offering a service or product that you also provide.

3. What do I actually need to analyse?

After identifying your competitors and where they sit on the scale of direct - substitute, there are some simple questions to keep in mind when conducting your analysis, including the below:

What is their tone of voice?
What keywords are they using?
What is their backlink profile like?
What channels are they using to market their services or products?
Do they use social media? If this is an important arm of PR for your brand, look at your competitors content, following, engagement and general activity.
What campaigns do they have live currently?
What campaigns have been most successful for them previously?
What kind of content are they producing for digital PR?
What news titles are they targeting with their PR outreach?

Analysing the PR work of your competitors offers your brand invaluable insight into how you can improve your strategy when it comes to outreach, content and media contacts.

For help with conducting a competitor analysis for your brand, please get in touch.