How Do You Use Competitive Analysis in Your Advertising Strategy?

How Do You Use Competitive Analysis in Your Advertising Strategy?

Diving into the competitive landscape can provide a significant edge in crafting an effective advertising strategy. We gathered insights from Digital Marketing Strategists and Marketing Strategists to understand how they've leveraged competitive analysis. From targeting untapped keyword opportunities to spotting market gaps for strategic advantage, explore the eight distinct ways these advertising experts gain the upper hand.

• Target Untapped Keyword Opportunities
• Uncover SEO Keyword Gaps
• Highlight Unique Value Propositions
• Utilize Geofencing for Targeted Ads
• Outrank Competitors with Superior Content
• Leverage Insights for Campaign Planning
• Identify Gaps and Optimize Campaigns
• Spot Market Gaps for Strategic Advantage

Target Untapped Keyword Opportunities

Our team typically uses competitive analysis to find keyword gaps that our competitors weren't targeting but have many searches. Focusing on these keyword opportunities quickly improves our clients' search rankings and organic traffic.

We also look at where our competitors spend their money and what offers they use in the Facebook Ads Library and on Google Ads.

This helps us create better offers for those channels, making our ads stand out. By watching and copying (with our style) existing successful ads, we can optimize the budget and increase the return on investment.

Uncover SEO Keyword Gaps

I worked with a small tech startup that was struggling to stand out in a crowded software market. This is often a challenge for many businesses starting out online.

To set a clear direction, we listed all our competitors and dove into their SEO performance using tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. We conducted a detailed keyword gap analysis, aiming to uncover keywords our competitors ranked for but we didn't, or at least not well.

It turned out our competitors were capitalizing on long-tail keywords my client's site wasn't. These had decent search volumes but weren't too competitive, making them a perfect target for us.

We revamped our content strategy to focus on these keywords. We wrote in-depth blog posts, optimized our landing pages, and even created a few whitepapers targeting these specific terms. We also adjusted our Google Ads campaigns to include these new keywords, which reduced our ad spend while driving qualified traffic.

In essence, that SEO keyword gap analysis gave us the map, and we just had to follow it to find hidden opportunities and steer our strategy for ultimate success.

Highlight Unique Value Propositions

We once leveraged competitive analysis to gain a strategic advantage for a client in the digital wallet industry. By benchmarking primary competitors and conducting a thorough gap analysis, we identified that while competitors emphasized security features, they often overlooked user experience and customer service. We crafted a unique value proposition highlighting our client's superior user interface and 24/7 support, which became the cornerstone of our advertising campaigns.

Using insights from competitor ad copy and customer feedback, we tailored our messaging to address these pain points directly. Creative campaigns featuring real customer testimonials and user-friendly features were developed, and continuous A/B testing allowed us to optimize our approach for maximum impact. This strategy resulted in significant increases in user acquisition and engagement, effectively converting users dissatisfied with competitor offerings. Competitive analysis, when used effectively, can reveal critical insights that shape advertising strategies and drive superior market positioning.

Utilize Geofencing for Targeted Ads

We actually do this for clients. It's a service called Geofencing. It enables your brand to send highly targeted ads to consumers visiting a competitor’s business. So, we help you set up virtual perimeters around your competitors' locations, and then send targeted messages to their customers when they are just outside any of those locations.

Burger King actually did this very well with their Whopper Detour campaign—they geofenced 14,000 McDonald’s stores in the U.S., and offered a 1-cent burger to anyone who came within 600 feet of a McDonald's.

Outrank Competitors with Superior Content

At our company, we are constantly using competitive analysis to outperform our competitors. Because we are one of the stronger companies in our niche, one of the strategies we use is looking at our competitors' top pieces of new content they put out. We easily do this with tools like SEMrush. We then go after that same topic, but do it better. Better content, better videos, more references, etc. Nine out of ten times, we then outrank them for it. It has worked great for us over the years and will be something we don't see ever stopping.

Leverage Insights for Campaign Planning

Competitive analysis is absolutely critical to understand where you can improve, what areas you need to target, and which ones are doing well. These insights will help you plan your campaigns and advertising strategies, and ensure a higher rate of return on investment.

Identify Gaps and Optimize Campaigns

At Taction, competitive analysis is a cornerstone of our approach to an overall marketing strategy. I meticulously review competitors' keywords and content to identify gaps and opportunities. When high-competition keywords are impractical, I target niche, high-intent keywords that align with my client's priorities and budget. Additionally, I analyze competitors' websites to pinpoint optimization opportunities and weaknesses. By understanding and leveraging these competitive insights, we can optimize our clients' campaigns and enhance their visibility and engagement in their target markets.

Spot Market Gaps for Strategic Advantage

Analyzing competitors can reveal valuable opportunities to refine your own strategy. At Dreamstarters Publishing, we observed that a rival's ads were heavily focused on traditional publishing methods, leaving a gap in self-publishing solutions. By leveraging this insight, we crafted targeted ads showcasing our unique self-publishing expertise and successful client outcomes. This strategy not only differentiated us but also attracted a specific audience seeking our innovative approach. It's akin to spotting an unclaimed niche in a crowded market and making it your own, turning competitive analysis into a strategic advantage.