Starting a new business is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming—especially when it comes to understanding the competitive landscape. A thorough competitor assessment is key to ensuring that your business idea is positioned for success. If you’re planning to launch a new venture in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a well-rounded competitor analysis will help you spot opportunities, refine your strategy, and differentiate your brand. This step-by-step guide will help you hit the ground running when you’re ready to start your own competitor assessment.
Step #1: Identify Your Competitors
The first step in your competitor assessment is to identify who your competitors are. Doing so allows you to understand the market landscape, spot potential challenges, and find opportunities to differentiate your offerings, ensuring you can create a strategy that stands out and meets customer needs effectively.
Direct Competitors: Look for businesses that provide the same or similar products and services. Whether they are located in Eau Claire or nearby in Chippewa Falls or Altoona, understanding who your direct competitors are will help you identify what makes your offering unique. For example, if you’re opening a coffee shop, other local coffee shops would be your direct competitors.
Indirect Competitors: You’ll also need to consider indirect competitors—businesses that may not offer the exact same products or services but still compete for your target market’s attention. For instance, a local cafe may indirectly compete with a bakery for customers looking for a quick snack or caffeine fix.
Potential Competitors: Try to estimate what new competitors might emerge once you’ve started your business too. These are companies that might enter the Eau Claire market and offer similar products or services, capturing part of your market share. For example, large coffee chains or local startups may target your demographic, so it’s essential to keep an eye on industry trends and local developments.
Step #2: Analyze Their Offerings & Unique Selling Points
Once you’ve identified your competitors, it’s time to dig into what they offer. This involves taking a look at the products or services that are already or will be provided by your competitors, focusing on their key features, quality, and pricing strategies so you understand their business and identify areas where you can improve upon their offerings to attract customers.
Products or Services: Review your competitors’ core offerings. Are they high-end, budget-friendly, or somewhere in between? Compare their products or services with what you plan to offer in terms of quality, features, and customer experience. Identify areas where you can add more value or differentiate your business.
Pricing Strategy: Research how your competitors price their products or services. Are they positioned as premium, affordable, or mid-range? Compare their prices to the value they offer and analyze Eau Claire’s pricing trends to determine the best strategy for your business.
Unique Selling Proposition: Investigate what sets your competitors’ products or services apart from others. Look for unique features, exceptional customer service, or other differentiators that make their offerings stand out. Then identify their key strengths and use this insight to determine how you can create a distinct advantage or offer something better to your customers.
Step #3: Examine Their Marketing & Online Presence
Next, you’ll need to evaluate your competitors’ marketing efforts by reviewing how they position their brand, which channels they use, and what types of content they create. Also, you should examine their customer engagement and messaging to see how they resonate with their target audience so you get insights into the effectiveness of their marketing strategies.
Brand Position: Analyze their brand messaging, visual identity, and tone across their websites and social media profiles. Pay attention to how they position themselves—whether as a luxury brand, focused on value, or centered on innovation—and decide how you can differentiate your own brand in the marketplace.
Marketing Channels: Identify the marketing channels your competitors use, such as social media, SEO, email, and paid ads. Review their activity on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Google Ads, and evaluate their engagement metrics (likes, shares, comments). This will help you select the best channels to reach your audience effectively.
Content & Messaging: While you’re reviewing their marketing channels, assess the types of content they create. Look for themes such as promotions, educational content, or customer stories. Then check how their messaging resonates with their audience so you can use this to refine your own content strategy.
- Customer Acquisition & Retention: Analyze how your competitors acquire and retain customers. This may include paid ads, partnerships, referral programs, and loyalty initiatives. Study their customer retention strategies (loyalty programs, subscriptions, or regular product updates) too to help shape your own engagement efforts.
Step #4: Study Their Customer Base & Reputation
It’s important to study your competitors’ customer base as well. Understanding their target audience, reviewing customer feedback to gauge their satisfaction levels, and identifying what customers like or dislike can inform how you might improve customer experiences or address unmet needs in your own offerings.
Target Audience: Examine your competitors’ customer demographics (age, location, income, interests) and psychographics (values, lifestyle). This will help you determine if their audience aligns with yours or if there are niches you can target more effectively.
Customer Loyalty: Investigate their customer loyalty by looking for repeat buyers, subscribers, or members. Pay attention to how your competitors maintain customer relationships too—through personalized service, rewards programs, or exclusive offers.
Customer Experience: Analyze how your competitors interact with their customers. Look for signs of excellent customer service and responsiveness, and review online feedback to gauge satisfaction levels. Then, use this information to improve your own customer experience and distinguish your business from others.
Step #5: Assess Their Location & Accessibility
Analyzing competitor locations is a crucial step because it reveals how your future physical presence may contribute to your success. In a growing area like Eau Claire, being located in high-traffic or developing neighborhoods can lead to increased visibility and more foot traffic for your competitors. Assessing their key amenities while factoring in parking and overall accessibility can influence where your location should exist in relation to theirs.
Location: Evaluate where your competitors are based—whether they’re in high-traffic areas like downtown Eau Claire or more suburban or rural neighborhoods. Compare their location to yours in terms of visibility, access, and proximity to your target market. Consider factors like foot traffic, parking availability, and customer convenience.
Foot Traffic & Accessibility: If your competitors have physical locations, assess how easy it is for customers to find and access them. Look for any advantages, such as being near other popular businesses that attract your target audience. Use these insights to optimize your own location and make it as accessible as possible.
Step #6: Understand Their Financials & Growth Strategy
If you can gather financial data on your competitors, you’ll get a sense of their success and future plans. While this information might not always be public, there are still ways to understand their growth trajectory, such as reviewing any available financial reports, press releases, or funding announcements. Additionally, looking at their expansion activities, pricing strategies, and marketing investments can offer valuable insights into how they are positioning themselves for future growth so you can outpace them.
Revenue & Growth: Look at how long your competitors have been in business and if there are signs of growth, such as new product offerings, expanded locations, or increased marketing efforts. This will help you assess their market position and spot potential opportunities or challenges for your own business early on.
Investments & Funding: Observe how competitors are investing in their business—whether in marketing, product development, or infrastructure. If they’ve received significant funding, track how they plan to use it. This can help you understand their strategy and spot areas where you might be able to compete or collaborate.
Market Share: Estimate the size of your competitors’ market share. Analyze their sales figures and customer base to gauge their level of influence. Understanding their market dominance will help you plan your approach to entering and capturing market share.
Step #7: Identify Their Strengths, Weaknesses, & Gaps in the Market
Now that you’ve gathered all this information, it’s time to synthesize your findings. This is where you can identify gaps in the market that your business can fill while pinpointing opportunities to differentiate your offerings, whether that’s through better customer service, unique product features, or a more compelling value proposition. This will help you position your business in a way that’s more appealing.
Strengths: Identify what your competitors do well—product quality, marketing, customer service, or community involvement. This will help you understand what works in the market and decide how you can leverage or improve upon these strengths in your own strategy.
Weaknesses: Spot areas where your competitors are lacking, whether in product quality, service, or customer experience. Review online reviews and feedback to identify recurring complaints. This presents an opportunity for you to fill these gaps and differentiate your business.
Market Gaps: Use your research to uncover unmet needs or underserved segments in the market. Look for niches your competitors are overlooking, and consider how you can fill these gaps with unique offerings or enhanced services.
A thorough competitor assessment is one of the most valuable tools you can use as an entrepreneur. By understanding your competition in Eau Claire—what they’re doing well, where they fall short, and where market gaps exist—you can refine your business idea to better meet your target audience’s needs. Take your time with this process and use the insights you gain to craft a strategy that positions you for success while setting you apart from your competition.
About The Author
Jake Wiensch
Economic Development Supervisor
Jake works on the City of Eau Claire Economic Development Division’s business attraction and retention initiatives and oversees our financial and property assistance programs.
