Staying ahead in the increasingly competitive Business-to-Business (B2B) digital marketing landscape requires more than just intuition—it demands data-driven strategic planning. One of the most effective methods to gain insights and fine-tune your strategy is by performing a competitive analysis. Conducting a thorough competitive analysis will uncover gaps in your market, reveal emerging trends, and spotlight areas where your competitors are outperforming your business.
TL;DR
A competitive analysis in B2B digital marketing involves identifying key competitors, analyzing their online presence, marketing strategies, content, and audience engagement, and benchmarking their performance against your own. By using tools and structured evaluation methods, you can identify opportunities to outperform them and refine your digital strategy. Remember to revisit and revise your analysis periodically to keep it relevant. This process, when executed thoughtfully, can be a pivotal part of staying agile and competitive in your industry.
1. Define the Goal and Scope of Your Analysis
The first step in any competitive analysis is to define why you’re doing it. Are you launching a new campaign or product line? Are you entering a new market? Or are you simply trying to improve your existing strategy?
Outline the specific metrics you want to evaluate, such as:
- Website traffic and engagement
- SEO performance
- Content marketing efforts
- Social media activity
- Lead generation tactics
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and display advertising
By setting a focused scope, you’ll make your analysis more actionable and less overwhelming.
2. Identify Your Competitors
Your competitors fall into three categories: direct, indirect, and substitute competitors. In B2B digital marketing, focus primarily on:
- Direct competitors: Companies offering very similar products or services to the same customer profile.
- Indirect competitors: Businesses that provide partially overlapping solutions or target the same audience in a different way.
You can identify competitors by:
- Searching keywords relevant to your business on Google
- Using tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SimilarWeb
- Evaluating who runs PPC ads for your targeted search terms
- Analyzing B2B review platforms like G2 and TrustRadius
3. Analyze Their Website and SEO Performance
Your competitors’ websites are often a goldmine of information. Here are key elements to examine:
- Website structure and UX: How easy is it to navigate? Is the messaging clear?
- SEO health: Use tools like Moz or Ahrefs to evaluate their domain authority, backlink profile, and top-ranking pages.
- On-page vs. off-page SEO: Are they optimizing for keywords in their content and meta-data? Who is linking to their site?
- Technical SEO: Page speed, mobile optimization, and secure protocols (HTTPS) are factors Google considers in rankings.
By understanding what works well on their websites—and where they fall short—you can identify strategic opportunities to enhance your own site.
4. Investigate Their Content Strategy
Great content is a critical driver of B2B lead generation. Evaluate the following:
- Types of content: Do they publish blogs, whitepapers, case studies, or videos?
- Content frequency: How often do they post new resources?
- Top-performing content: Use tools like BuzzSumo to recognize which pages or articles generate the most engagement.
- Quality and depth: Does the content provide actionable insights, or is it shallow and promotional?
- Calls-to-action (CTAs): Are they using downloadable content, demos, or contact forms to convert visitors?
The goal is to understand both the quantity and quality of your competitors’ content efforts. This will help you identify content gaps and potential angles your business can use to stand out.
5. Review Social Media Presence
In B2B marketing, social media is less about volume and more about targeted influence. Here’s what to examine on platforms like LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube:
- Following and reach: Track their follower growth and overall reach.
- Engagement rates: Are they receiving likes, shares, and comments?
- Posting frequency: Are they maintaining a consistent presence?
- Content style: Professional, educational, or casual? How is it received?
- Employee advocacy: Are internal stakeholders helping to boost content reach?
Use tools like Social Blade or native analytics to benchmark their social performance. You might discover overlooked channels or tactics you can capitalize on.
6. Assess Paid Advertising Strategies
Many B2B businesses invest in PPC and display advertising. Look at what your competition is doing:
- Google Ads and Bing Ads: Which keywords are they bidding on?
- Ad copy and creatives: What messages are they testing?
- Landing pages: How are they structured to convert traffic?
Use tools like SpyFu or SEMrush Advertising Research to uncover ad spend estimates, ad durations, and keyword targeting tactics. This will inform your own ad strategy and help avoid keyword conflicts or budget inefficiencies.
7. Study Customer Engagement and Reviews
Customer feedback can reveal what your competitors are doing well—and where they’re failing. It’s especially important in B2B where long sales cycles and solution complexity raise customer expectations.
Sources to explore include:
- B2B review platforms: G2, Capterra, TrustRadius
- Customer testimonials and case studies: Available on their websites
- Social media mentions and comments
Summarize the key frustrations and accolades. This intelligence can help refine your brand’s unique value proposition and selling points.
8. Benchmark Key Metrics
Boil all your findings down into a set of competitor benchmarks. Important metrics might include:
- Monthly website visits
- Top organic keywords
- Social engagement rates
- Estimated ad spend
- Number and domain authority of backlinks
- Lead conversion rate
Create a competitive matrix to visually compare your company’s performance to each competitor across these dimensions. This will reveal not only who your top threats are but where your biggest growth opportunities lie.
9. Make Strategic Decisions Based on the Data
All this data only matters if it informs better decision-making. Translate your findings into actionable strategies to:
- Improve your SEO and content
- Reposition your messaging and branding
- Optimize lead capture and funnel stages
- Refine paid advertising budgets and targeting
- Launch new content campaigns tackling unmet pain points
Make sure to align these actions with your overall business objectives and consider A/B testing before making significant shifts in your approach.
10. Monitor and Update Your Analysis Regularly
Competitive landscapes change rapidly in digital marketing. What works today might become obsolete tomorrow. Establish a schedule—quarterly or bi-annually—for revisiting your competitive analysis. Use change tracking and alerts via tools like Google Alerts or Mention to stay updated on critical shifts in your competitors’ activities.
Adopt a mindset of continuous improvement. The most successful B2B marketers don’t just react to the competition—they anticipate and innovate beyond it.
Conclusion
Competitive analysis is not a one-time task—it is an ongoing strategic process. By investing the time and leveraging the right tools, B2B marketers can gain powerful insights that guide smarter decisions, sharper messaging, and more effective campaigns. In a digital ecosystem that is constantly evolving, those who monitor, learn, and adapt consistently are the ones who succeed long-term.