A competitive analysis looks at product, sales and marketing strategies for you and your competitors. The Industrial Marketer Podcast in this latest episode will help you get started by looking at the tools and technologies available and how to frame an analysis in terms of goals and perspective. But the benefits of a competitive analysis really can be simplified by asking these questions:

• Where do my competitors show up?
• How do my competitors get visibility/traffic?
• Where are they that I am not?
• Where am I where they are not?

The internal diagnostic is an important foundation in a competitive analysis. It will show you where you are strong in the market, and then you can layer in your competition. With both in hand, you can tweak your tactics and dial up or down marketing and sales initiatives.