Spying on your competition is legal and ethical. It is a time-honored tradition to determine what works and what doesn’t. As the theory goes, let competitors spend the time and money. Then by observing them, you can create something that will have an ROI much quicker than if you started from scratch. With that, you save yourself months of trial and error trying to perfect your online marketing strategies and tactics.

Learn From Your Competition

You probably already know who your competitors are just by reputation. You want to study these companies first because you are probably going to be in direct competition with them; these are the people that you want to outperform.

The first step is quite simple: to beat them, you want to join them. Opt in to as many of their communications as possible:

1. Subscribe to their email lists;
2. Join their site;
3. Join their community; and
4. Read their blog.

Scrutinize Their Strategy

Every business, in order to operate, has to communicate with their customers. Follow these communications; they are the best place to find a gold mine of information and will help you learn what is already working for them. Some things to look for include:

- Your competitor’s marketing message;
- Where they are advertising;
- What types of advertisements are working; and
- What types of customers they are targeting.

With this information, you can quickly shape your marketing strategies at a fraction of the cost and time of your competitors.

But it doesn’t end there. If you are just following in your competitors’ footsteps, then you are only going to be as good as they are. If you want any chance of outdoing them, you will need to expand outside your current list of competitors. If you are local, look at national competitors. If you have a national presence, consider international industries.

Gather Competitors’ Information

So, your competitors with the most high-powered back links, largest customer base, website age and authority are typically ensured a position in the upper echelon of retailers and search engine rankings for multiple keywords and key phrases (such as Wikipedia). Taking on these behemoths is going to be a long-term strategy. But in relationship to a less competitive industry, it may be more wide open to someone with a budget, a great marketing strategy and a well thought-out competitive analysis strategy.

Simply put, if you want to find out why Company A ranks so well for Term B, you need to launch your own investigation online using various methods for extracting their information.

Narrow the Focus

But where do you start? With all the mountains of data available, where is the right place to begin? The key to making this happen is to do it in an organized and effective way.

1. Pare down the mountains of data into small amounts of information.
2. Avoid information overload and analysis paralysis.
3. Quickly analyze the data.
4. Form actionable strategies.

Final items to consider:

1. Watch their ad spending;
2. Watch their top performing keywords;
3. Keep on top of who they are hiring through job posting and LinkedIn;
4. Watch bookmarks through tools such as Delicious; and
5. Watch for changes to their website with tools like Versionista.

So with all this talking about spying on your competition through competitive research analysis, you may be asking yourself the question, “What tools and methods can I actually use to level the playing field?”

This is where Richter7 enters the picture. We have strategies, expertise and tools to help you not only catch up to your competition, but to quickly and effectively surpass them.

Common Paid Search Mistake #1

Not too long ago, I lived in a cockroach-infested apartment where a transient stored his belongings in an Albertsons shopping cart outside my window and someone sawed halfway through my bike lock with a pocket knife.  For three months I paid rent hoping to find something redeeming in my new abode before cutting losses and moving out. Similarly, I’ve paid “rent” bidding on keyword terms, hoping to find value before deleting and moving on.

Richter7 recently launched a new paid search website on which we listed seven common paid search mistakes. Number one on the list is the failure to conduct proper keyword research.  While I was not very thorough in my apartment hunting research, there are many tools and tactics that have helped me (and may help you) become thorough in keyword hunting and avoid the first common mistake.  I’ve listed a few tips below.

Learn from your competitors

If you have established competitors, it’s likely they’ve put a lot of time and money into testing lists of keywords.  They are going to be two steps ahead of you but you can catch up and preempt them by watching what they are currently bidding on and what they’ve stopped bidding on. Review their keywords, bids, budgets, and text ads for clues as to what’s working for them and what’s not. Chances are, you’ll have similar results running your paid search campaign and their history can cut out the guesswork.

Choose keywords with commercial intent

Avoid spending your budget on tire kickers who have no intent to buy, sign up, or participate in what you’re offering.  Anticipate what keywords focused buyers are querying before they purchase.   For example, a person searching for “sports cars” is going to be a lot less likely than someone searching for “2009 Porsche Carrera.”

Review your server log

Choosing keywords to bid on can involve a lot of speculation, but if you have an active website receiving visitors, your server log will tell you exactly what search terms visitors typed in to land on your site.  If you’re not sure where to find your server log, contact your hosting provider for help.

Think negatively

A common mistake in the keyword creation phase is not researching possible negative keywords.  While the positive keywords drive traffic to your site, negative keywords will filter out the wrong visitors, decrease your bounce rate, and save you from paying for unwanted clicks.  For example, a company selling Elvis Costello posters would want to spend an equal amount of time adding keywords to find Elvis Costello fans as they would trying to weed out Elvis Presley fans  by adding negative keywords like “Presley,” “The King,” “jumpsuits,” “Hawaii,” “impersonator,” etc.

2. Invest In Search Engine Marketing. SEM generally costs less money than a traditional advertising campaign and can often generate the same, if not more, return. Challenge your company to embrace this approach. Capitalize on web design, e-commerce, SEO and banner advertising. This will generate easy-to-track buzz for your company.

3. Build Morale. A good attitude is key. Assess your employees’ morale, then take steps to improve their focus and boost motivation. Right now it’s easy for one to lose enthusiasm and sense of purpose. Don’t let current economic headlines drive your corporate spirit. You have to keep people directed towards the future, otherwise your team will smell your fear. Leadership is about keeping your team focused on opportunity and goals.

4. Use a Competitive Advantage. Turn to your advertising agency and their creative brainpower to produce breakthrough campaigns and ads. If your ads are unique and memorable, you won’t have to waste time and money on repeat advertisements or struggle for media placement. Think fresh, relatable, and intelligent. Invest up front for creative messaging, as creativity is the pre-eminent way to leverage a small ad budget.

5. Listen To Clients. Just like your company, your customers may be bombarded with economic stress. A downturn in the economy very clearly gives you an opportunity to expand your relationships. Allow your clients/customers to understand you’re in their court. Be creative with marketing tactics to save money.

6. Rev Up The PR Engine. Public relations strategies can cost-efficiently boost your awareness when competitors are retreating. Focus your dollars in other areas such as customer events, national media tours or focused pitching. Also, think Guerilla Marketing. This “in-the-trenches” approach was made for low budgets. Let viral marketing be your new best friend for reaching a global audience at a lower distribution cost.

7. Network, network, network! Join professional organizations in your area, especially ones that pertain to your type of business. If actively engaged within the organization, the personal contacts and relationships you develop with other members will bring you leads and referrals. Set a goal to meet and get to know all of the members of the organization you are involved in. Sit next to someone new at each meeting, volunteer to serve on committees, and participate in special events.