What is competitor analysis?

Competitor analysis for branding involves researching the look of your competitors’ brands to understand their choices. This includes analysing their branding elements—i.e., logos, colour schemes, typefaces, illustration choices and styles, photography, iconography and other graphic elements, and tone of voice. By doing this, you can see common themes and how you can position your brand uniquely, attracting your target audience.

It's an important part of the design process any reputable design partner will include when creating your branding to ensure they understand your market fully and can create a look that is right for your brand and your vision for its future.

How a competitor analysis can steer your brand in the right direction

• Connect with your audience more effectively: When you study how your competitors represent themselves with branding, you can recognise common themes, standard practices in your industry, and emerging trends. This helps you understand what your target audience expects, where you can innovate, and avoid visual elements associated with negative connotations.
• Learn how to stand out: By understanding your competitors' visual branding, you can find ways to differentiate your brand. If your competitors favour certain colour palettes, fonts, or design styles, you can make alternative choices to catch your target audience’s attention.
• Position your brand in your marketplace accurately: Doing a competitor analysis will allow you to see how brands in the value, middle and premium parts of your market look. You can use this information to help position your brand correctly. For example, you may find that competitors at the premium end of the market use darker, richer colours and plenty of white space in their layouts, while brands at the value end opt for brighter colours and cram more information in layouts. If your brand is a premium brand, it would be wise to consider using darker, richer colours and white space in layouts.

Caution! The pitfalls of competitor analysis and how to avoid them

While competitor analysis is incredibly useful, it comes with its own set of challenges. Here’s how to avoid making some common errors:

• Being a copycat: As humans, we have a strong natural instinct to blend in and belong, so it can be tempting to emulate your competitors. If you look the same as everyone else, why would your audience think your offering is different and choose to spend their money with you over your competitors? Imitating competitors too closely can make your brand appear unoriginal and uninspired, eroding consumer trust and interest further. While you need to look like you belong to your industry so that your audience understands what you do, you must balance this with design choices that help you stand out.
  • Solution: Use competitor analysis to inspire rather than replicate. Identify the successful elements to think creatively about how to put a unique spin on your visual look.
• Losing your own identity: This one is similar to the last point but distinctly different and just as important to highlight, as it can result in a brand image that lacks impact. Getting too caught up in what competitors are doing can cause you to lose sight of your own brand’s identity and values.
  • Solution: Always prioritise your brand’s core values and mission by carrying out a brand analysis (see the Brand Analysis section of Unlocking creativity: A journey through the graphic design process as a separate exercise from competitor analysis so that you have a solid understanding of what makes your brand different, what problems you solve, and what your values are. With the combined knowledge you’ve gained from brand analysis and competitor analysis, you can ensure any insights gained from competitor analysis are adapted to fit your brand’s unique identity.
• Lost in translation: Analysing competitors without a clear plan can lead to misinterpretation of what works and what doesn't. Based on this inaccurate knowledge, you may choose design elements for your brand that don’t work for you.
  • Solution: Focus on understanding the reasoning behind your competitors’ design choices and how those choices align with their brand messaging and audience response. What do you feel when you see their brand colours, typefaces, imagery, etc? How do your feelings influence how you see their brand? How do you think your competitors’ target audience would feel? Do you think your competitor would want those feelings associated with their brand? Would you like those feelings associated with your brand?
• Ignoring the people who matter: What works for your competitors might not necessarily work for you, especially if your target audience differs.
  • Solution: When reviewing your competitors’ visual style, can you tell who they are aiming at? Is their target audience the same as yours? Balance competitor insights with direct feedback from your audience. Use customer surveys, feedback sessions, and social media interactions to gauge their preferences and expectations.

Conclusion

Competitor analysis is a vital part of the process of creating strong visual branding that helps your brand attract sales. It helps you keep abreast of what is going on in your industry, find opportunities to differentiate your brand and uncover ideas to help you create a visually engaging look for your brand. While there are pitfalls to work around, striking a balance between competitor analysis and your unique brand values means you can create a compelling visual identity that stands out and speaks directly to your target audience. Remember, the goal of competitor analysis is not to blend in but to stand out with a brand that’s unmistakably yours.

Do you need help with a competitor analysis or brand analysis? We offer POWer Packages, including Leave the competition behind!” competitor analysis and Super-charge your branding!” brand analysis. Find out more here.

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