From Competitor Research to Strategy
Don't just observe what competitors do. Convert your findings into positioning, content, channel priorities and experiments that can improve business results.
LESSON 07 · ANALYSE → DECIDE → TEST
What Happens After Competitor Research?
Research is an input, not the final output.
Finding: Several competitors publish book recommendation content.
Insight: Customers may need help choosing the right book, not just discovering a title.
Strategic decision: Make useful, audience-specific recommendations a core content theme.
Execution: Publish a recommendation, explain why the books suit that audience, and offer a clear route to enquire about stock.
Measurement: Track relevant WhatsApp enquiries and confirmed orders, not only reach.
Because resources are limited and not every observation matters to your objective.
- Some findings are interesting but commercially irrelevant.
- Some opportunities need capabilities you don't have.
- Some patterns are coincidences, not evidence of causation.
Rule: Prioritise the actions most likely to address an important customer need and produce a measurable business outcome.
Find the Strategic Gap
A gap becomes useful only when customers care about it.
Competitors discuss products but rarely help customers decide which product suits their needs.
Possible response: create comparisons, beginner guides, curated lists or practical explanations.
Validation: look for recurring customer questions, search demand and meaningful engagement from the intended audience.
Customers cannot easily understand availability, delivery, pricing, suitability or the next step.
Possible response: improve product information, show how ordering works, clarify policies and respond consistently.
Validation: track repeated questions, abandoned enquiries and the reasons customers hesitate.
Customers have to make too many decisions or take too many steps before they can buy.
Possible response: simplify product discovery, give clearer recommendations, reduce unnecessary steps and make the enquiry route obvious.
Validation: observe the actual customer journey and measure where people stop responding.
Competitors look and sound similar, leaving customers with little reason to prefer one over another.
Possible response: establish a specific, credible reason to choose your business, such as expert curation, specialist knowledge or an easier buying experience.
Validation: ask target customers what they value and whether your proposed difference changes their choice.
A competitor's omission doesn't automatically mean an opportunity exists. Perhaps demand is low, delivery is expensive, margins are weak or the problem is already solved elsewhere.
Before investing, investigate three questions:
- Do customers genuinely care?
- Can we solve it better or more appropriately?
- Can we deliver it consistently and sustainably?
Choose Your Positioning
Decide why a particular customer should choose you.
- Who: which specific customer are we prioritising?
- Need: what problem or desire matters to them?
- Alternative: what would they choose otherwise?
- Difference: what meaningful advantage can we offer?
- Proof: what evidence makes our claim credible?
A positioning idea becomes stronger when it is specific, relevant, credible and reflected in the real customer experience.
Generic message: “We sell Bengali books.”
Possible positioning hypothesis: “We help Bengali readers discover the right books for their interests, with a convenient way to enquire about availability.”
This is a hypothesis, not a proven differentiator. It only works if the store can provide helpful recommendations, reliable stock confirmation and a smooth enquiry experience.
Strategic implication: content should demonstrate the recommendation ability; the enquiry process should make the next step clear; operations must support the promise.
Price can be a legitimate advantage, but competing only on price may reduce margins without creating loyalty.
Depending on the market, other valuable advantages can include specialist knowledge, curation, convenience, reliability, speed or a more suitable customer experience.
Choose a differentiator that customers value and that your business can consistently deliver. Don't claim to be the cheapest, fastest or best without evidence.
Turn Positioning into a Content Strategy
Every content type should have a job.
Purpose: introduce the brand to people who may not know it yet.
Bookstore example: “Three Bengali books for someone starting to read fiction.”
Measure: relevant reach, discovery from non-followers where available, and whether new audiences continue to engage.
Purpose: reduce confusion and help customers assess suitability.
Bookstore example: compare two authors, explain reading difficulty or curate books for a particular interest.
Measure: meaningful saves, questions, product enquiries and other signs of consideration.
Purpose: show why the business is a credible choice.
Bookstore example: clear ordering instructions, accurate availability confirmation, transparent delivery information and useful staff recommendations.
Measure: fewer repeated questions, stronger enquiry quality and fewer avoidable drop-offs where measurable.
Purpose: help interested customers take a relevant action.
Bookstore example: show the actual book or curated selection, state that availability must be confirmed, and explain how to enquire on WhatsApp.
Measure: qualified enquiries, confirmed orders, conversion rate and cost per acquisition if paid advertising is involved.
Having multiple content categories is useful only if they support a coherent strategy.
For example, discovery content may attract the wrong audience, or a conversion post may ask people to buy before answering their questions.
Check the connection between the audience, content promise, next action and business outcome. Change the weak link rather than assuming you simply need more posts.
Select Channels Based on the Job
Don't choose a platform just because competitors use it.
When customers actively search for answers, comparisons, products or suppliers, search visibility may be valuable.
Potential work: query research, useful landing pages, product information, local discovery where relevant and content matching search intent.
Check: whether customers actually use those queries and whether your business can satisfy the need behind them.
When visual discovery, recommendations, community, demonstrations or repeat exposure can help customers notice and evaluate the offer.
Potential work: short videos, carousels, demonstrations, recommendations, conversations and useful series.
Check: whether the content reaches the right people and leads toward meaningful business actions, not just reactions.
When customers need to ask questions, confirm details, receive guidance or continue a conversation before purchasing.
Potential work: clear enquiry prompts, response templates, lead tracking and appropriate follow-up with consent.
Check: response time, unanswered enquiries, qualified leads and the proportion that become confirmed orders.
Compare channels against five practical criteria:
- Audience presence and intent.
- Fit with your offer and content strengths.
- Cost and operational effort.
- Ability to measure meaningful results.
- Capacity to respond and fulfil demand.
Prioritise the strongest fit, run a controlled test and expand only when the evidence and operations support it.
Choose the Right Strategic Action
Diagnose the problem before deciding what to do.
The Facebook page reaches many people, but very few customers enquire on WhatsApp. Your time and budget are limited. Your task is to find the most likely bottleneck before spending more.
Step 1 — What do you actually know?
You know reach is high and WhatsApp enquiries are low. You do not yet know why.
Step 2 — Which evidence would you check first?
Choose the evidence most useful for distinguishing a content problem from an audience or conversion problem.
Step 3 — Find the bottleneck
Assume your audit reveals the following illustrative evidence. These figures are a teaching example, not the bookstore's actual results.
What is the most sensible next move?
Step 4 — What should success look like?
The objective is online sales, not simply a busier social media page.
The strategist's decision rule
Build a Testable Action Plan
A strategy should lead to a decision you can evaluate.
Use this structure:
Because we observed [evidence], we believe [change] will help [audience] achieve [outcome], measured by [metric].
Example: Because customers may need help choosing books, we believe curated recommendation posts with a clear WhatsApp enquiry route will increase qualified enquiries from interested readers.
State assumptions honestly. The hypothesis needs testing.
Specify the audience, content or change, distribution method, time period, primary metric and the other conditions you will keep reasonably consistent.
Avoid changing the creative, audience, offer and budget all at once if you want to understand which change mattered.
Separate leading indicators from business outcomes.
- Attention: relevant reach and views.
- Consideration: saves, product questions and meaningful interactions.
- Intent: qualified WhatsApp enquiries.
- Sales: confirmed orders, revenue and contribution after relevant costs.
Use a consistent tracking method and distinguish correlation from proof that a particular post caused a sale.
If results improve: repeat the approach and test whether the improvement is consistent.
If attention improves but enquiries don't: inspect audience relevance, intent and the call to action.
If enquiries improve but sales don't: investigate stock availability, pricing, response quality, delivery terms and purchase friction.
If nothing improves: review the hypothesis, implementation and sample size before deciding the idea has failed.
Your Strategy Blueprint
Use this sequence to move from research to action.
| Stage | Decision | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Objective | What business result matters? | Defined target |
| 2. Audience | Whose need will we prioritise? | Specific customer segment |
| 3. Research | What alternatives do they consider? | Competitor evidence |
| 4. Insight | What need or friction is important? | Evidence-based opportunity |
| 5. Positioning | Why should this customer choose us? | Credible differentiation |
| 6. Execution | What content and channel fit? | Action plan |
| 7. Experiment | What should we test first? | Measurable hypothesis |
| 8. Learning | What did the evidence show? | Next decision |
- Business objective and baseline metrics.
- Target audience, needs and buying barriers.
- Relevant competitors and evidence-backed findings.
- Positioning and value proposition.
- Content themes and channel roles.
- Customer journey and conversion process.
- Experiments, owners, deadlines and budget.
- Success metrics and rules for deciding the next step.
The document should help the team make decisions and coordinate work. It should not become a report that nobody uses.
Final Challenge
Can you think like a strategist?
Strategy Is a Learning System
The goal is not to do more marketing activity. It is to make better decisions about which customers to serve, which advantage to build and which actions deserve investment.
Let's Connect
Fill in the details below and send your enquiry directly on WhatsApp.
