In small business, competition is fierce. There’s only so much pie to go around, and everyone wants a piece. In order to stay on top of your game, you not only need to have a solid marketing strategy, you also need to have a solid understanding of what your competition is up to at any given moment.
Our mothers may have told us that it’s wrong to spy on people. But when it comes to small business, there’s nothing inherently wrong with covert ops. The following tools can help you get a glimpse into your competition’s marketing plan.
Google Alerts
Want to know what your competitor’s next move is the moment they make it? Sign up for Google Alerts.
Once you create an alert for a business, this free tool will notify you whenever that business appears in a new search result — be it a link, a news story, a mention in a blog … just about anything. There’s no need to spend hours searching for info on your competition and combing through thousands of websites when Google will automatically email you everything you need to know!
Likealyzer
There’s no denying that social media plays a huge role in small business marketing. You probably know how your own pages are doing — but what about your competition’s pages?
With Likealyzer, you can see what the competition is doing great at, as well as where they’re lacking. Are they responding quickly enough to their customers? Is their “About Us” section up to par? How much activity does their page enjoy? This tool makes it easy to see where their gaps are — so you can fill them yourself!
iSpionage
Perform a bit of espionage with the help of iSpionage, a tool that will give you insight into the competition’s AdWords usage. You’ll see what strategies they’re using to bring in the crowds, how their ads are performing and even which keywords they’re targeting.
Agorapulse
Do you want to see how you stack up against the competition? Agorapulse can help! Just set up your accounts in this social media management tool and hit the “competitors” tab to get real-time statistics and analytics on fans, posts, interactions and more!
Followerwonk
Looking to poach some fans from the competition? Followerwonk works with your Twitter feed to show you the overlap between your followers and those of your competitors. Reach out to those who look the most beneficial and sway them with your stellar marketing skills!
Social Sprout
You could spend plenty of time stalking your competitors on Facebook and Instagram — or you could use Social Sprout, which does it all for you and gives you a simple dashboard view of how you’re stacking up in a variety of areas. The choice is yours!
Phlanx
You might have a ton of followers, but how involved are they? Phlanx can tell you! This tool for Instagram weighs the number of a brand’s followers against their engagement and shows you a final score that can be incredibly useful for not only one-upping the competition, but bettering your own brand, as well!
All Is Fair in Love and Small Business
Spying on your friends and family isn’t a very nice thing to do. Spying on the competition, however, is an absolute must. Stay a step ahead with the tools at your disposal — you can bet your competition is already using them to spy on you!
Want more marketing magic? Mischa Communications is at your disposal. Let us know what you need and we’ll help you make it happen!