Know the competitor in person: how we conducted a competitive analysis

Launching a new product without analyzing competitors is like traveling without a map — some way you will travel, but the goal is unlikely to be achieved. But sometimes enthusiastic about the idea of ​​creating a new application, developers are driving away the thought of sober market research from themselves, unconsciously fearing that the idea that has seized them may turn out to be unpromising. In this article, we will talk about how we, the developers of the MaCleaner utility, after a couple of unsuccessful launches, managed to find our niche in the very close market of system optimizers for the Mac.





Yes, of course, we are not the first to make a cleanser for the Mac (and certainly not the last), but the project seemed to be, and still seems to us promising. Products of this kind are included in the “gentleman's set” of each makovod, and “optimization” is a concept so vague that the functionality can be enriched and expanded to infinity. It turns out that we have an audience and there is space for maneuver. What is missing?



When working on the pilot version, we seem to have done everything that is necessary. They found competitors, adjusted the bar with an eye on them, added additional features with a generous hand in order to stand out against the general background ...



Not seeing the effect, in the second iteration they decided to push the functionality even more strongly - but even here the situation did not change. It cannot be said that the debut was a complete failure - in the first months the product gathered a small circle of loyal users. But we failed to reach a wide audience and get the desired number of installations. Only with the release of MaCleaner 3, the sales schedule began to take on the look we wanted from it.

So why could MaSleaner3 ?

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It's simple. In preparing the third version, we finally, with feeling, sensibly, with the arrangement, conducted a detailed competitive analysis according to all the rules of the marketing art.



If in stages, it looked like this:



• At the first stage, we answered the question: “Who are our competitors at all?”

• On the second: “What are our competitors?”

• On the third: “What do our competitors do that we do not do?”

Who are these competitors?

This stage requires the least effort - all of our competitors are at a glance (we give them in the table below). Most likely, in your market all major players can be seen from afar, but it is better not to lose vigilance. Sometimes there are "dark horses" that can suddenly for you to jerk forward. To this must always be ready.

What are our competitors?

When the circle of competitors was outlined, it was time to describe and compare. This task was more difficult. We approached it from different sides, until we finally developed a simple and efficient algorithm.



Step one: studied in detail the functionality of each competitive product;

Step two: compiled for each nomenclature of the proposed tools and capabilities;

Step three: apply the same action algorithm to MaCleaner 3;

Step four: carried out all names of competitors and all identified functions in the summary table;

Step five: fill in the table, noting the presence or absence of one or another function in a particular product.



The output is such a comparison:







This form is very clear and helps answer the questions:



- how do competitors relate to each other in terms of functionality;

- are there any clone apps;

- which products lead by a large margin, and which ones seriously lag behind in terms of capabilities (and sic! How much does this affect their success relative to each other?);

- what tools are included in the universal "basic set", and which ones are rare enough to make an emphasis on them.



From this table, we can safely draw ideas for an advertising campaign or talk about the benefits that should be demonstrated to the target audience in the first place. In this case, we, among other things, concluded that it is necessary to act proactively. Therefore, the release of MaCleaner 4 took place the other day, which offers the user not only a wide range of third-edition features, but also all the advantages of an ergonomic design and advanced management system, including voice commands, and other features that Mac owners have rated using OS Sierra.

What are our competitors doing?

Answering this question, we first of all focused our attention on the communication channels that our competitors use.



We were interested in:



- blogs and product sites (by the way, we recommend a.pr-cy.ru for analysis of Russian-language sites, www.similarweb.com for English-speaking sites );

- video reviews;

- user reviews;

- articles and reviews in online publications;

- pages in social networks;

- descriptions on the markets.



The assessment was carried out on various parameters:



• number of publications, frequency of updates, number of views for websites and media publications;

• assessment of user activity for social networks;

• determination of the nature of materials (customized / non-customized), etc.



From all this, a general outline gradually emerged, along which one project or another advanced. Someone focused on video reviews and collaborated with popular bloggers on Youtube, someone saved up references to major reputable sources, someone tried to take a lot of positive feedback purchased from imaginary users. Thus, we could evaluate the success of all these techniques and take note of something. For example, we have posted several publications in Russian-language thematic sources. Competitors cover the widest possible range of sites and create additional ones - so we abandoned our original intention to move exclusively on the Mac Store.



You, in principle, can go the opposite and plan the promotion of your product without fundamentally relying on the experience of competitors, however, you should proceed with caution: usually these or other promotion methods that your competitors use have a basis. This applies in particular to the style of communication with the consumer - another important component of the promotion strategy, to which we paid close attention. Considering that you are dealing with a single target audience, it is quite risky to get out of the accepted tone, this can have the opposite effect.

Instead of output

“For successful promotion, you need to know your competitors” - a seemingly banal postulate with which anyone agrees and nobody will think about. In our times of tough competition and information accessibility, even the greenest startups do not enter the market completely blind. Already at the product planning stage, we have to ask ourselves classic questions: how are we going to differ, what is missing for the user, what are the weak points of other players?



Perhaps the answers to these questions will predetermine your marketing strategy.



We wish you only successful and competitive products!