In 2012, an old man stumbled upon a basketball court in Bloomfield, New Jersey. But for some reason, the old man who everyone thought would be dead-weight couldn’t be guarded, making every player on the court look like kids. It turns out, the old man was NBA superstar Kyrie Irving in disguise.So, don’t take anything at face value! You may think your competitors are behind but they could really be blowing you out of the water, always dig a little deeper and figure out what they’re doing!You could be doing everything right, but still not seeing any results. Here’s the thing, no matter how well you’re doing something, your competitor could be doing it better. Think about it, you could be serving up the best meals at a cafe but if KFC has got $1 chicken that day, your customers are gone! This is why it’s important to figure out what your competitor is doing and what you can do better than them. For tour operators, there are 4 main areas you should focus on when completing a competitor analysis. The nature of the business, its website, advertising, and social media. Here’s what you should focus on within each area:
1. Business Nature Have you and your friend ever fallen in love with the same person? Let me tell you, it ain’t a pretty situation! So, take a look at their activities or services. What do they provide and how similar are they to yours. What about the pricing, are they offering more than you for less? Think about what you like about their product and if there’s anything that you can implement for yourself. Remember, you don’t have to be amazing, you just need to be better than them! 2. Website We’ve already talked about improving your own website but how do theirs look in comparison to yours? Do you find their website engaging? What kind of headings do they use and what’s their style of writing? It’s possible that they’ve found a style that resonates better with customers. Some could write in a more professional style while others are more casual and humorous. You also want to know their website’s domain authority and how they rank on Google. If people are searching for your services on Google, who ranks higher, you or them? Domain authority helps determine how high each website ranks. The higher the score, the better. That’s why it’s good practice to figure this out for each of your competitors. You can use tools like Moz and Semrush. Both of which have free tier accounts!Don’t worry if you’ve got a lower score, next week’s chapter will help push your score up! 3. Social Media Yes, it’s high school. It’s a popularity contest. The unfortunate truth is that your number of followers and likes matter. So you have to compare! Do you or your competitors have more followers, likes, and comments? Which platforms are they on? Is it just Facebook and Instagram? What kind of things and how frequent do they post? And do they reply often to their customers? If they don’t, this is your chance to reply instead! Analyzing their social media accounts are a great way to figure out opportunities to talk to customers that you’re missing out on. 4. Advertising Finally, you want to know how your competitors are approaching customers. While it may be difficult to figure out all the ways in which they’re advertising, more than likely they are using both Facebook and Google.Using the Facebook Ads Library, you’ll be able to see all their active Facebook ads. While you won’t be able to see how much their spending, you’ll be able to see the exact ads their using. Look at the kinds of images and messages they’re using. Do you think these could work with your customers? Can you make them better and use them yourself?For Google, do a quick search of your services. See whether competitors are ranking as ads (also click on their ads so they have to pay more!).You can also use tools such as SEMrush and Spyfu. Though the free tier only gives you a limited number of searches a month, they’re still amazing tools for a more in-depth look at your closest competitors!
You’ve made it to the end of Chapter 4!Download the worksheet below to properly analyze each competitor so you can outperform them!If you haven’t already, check out Chapter 3: Social Media.Once you’re ready, check out Chapter 5: SEO.