How to Conduct a Competitive Audit: Steps and Top Tools

What Is a Competitive Audit?

A competitive audit is a structured way to identify and research your competitors.

It helps you analyze their performance, identify threats they pose to your brand, and uncover opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.

A well-conducted audit informs your marketing strategy and gives you a roadmap for strategic next steps. It also establishes benchmarks you can use to measure how the business is performing.

In this article, we’ll share how to conduct a competitive audit, the tools to do it right, and actionable insights to drive business growth.

Why Do You Need Competitive Audits?

Marketers must keep track of their rivals’ actions to understand industry trends, evaluate strategies, and maintain a competitive edge.

But regularly monitoring the competitive landscape can be tricky, especially in rapidly changing markets.

That’s why you need competitive audits. They provide a systematic and efficient approach that helps you monitor your competitors’ actions.

Most businesses perform competitive audits to impact core business indicators like organic traffic and lead volume.

Here are some of the tangible benefits you’ll get from this approach:

Identify Key Differentiators

Analyzing your competitors’ offers helps you pinpoint their unique selling points (USPs) and distinguish their products or services.

That enables you to better communicate your value proposition to customers and increase your market share.

For example, MailerLite has made...