The final aspect of market research is that you need to understand your competitors. You can’t live in a bubble. It’s all about beating your competitors, so you need to know what they’re doing.

The Chief Marketing Officer of Barclays once spoke at a marketing conference. Talking about his daily routine, he first said, “When I wake up in the morning. The next thing I decide is who I’m going to beat today, because that’s my job.” As a marketer, I want to be the best, I want to be the best for my customers, I want them to buy my products, and to do that I need to understand what my competitors are doing. Did they suddenly change their product? Did they change their price? Did they change their brand? Did they change their advertising?

These are the things we as marketers need to understand. You can check the sources yourself or commission research from a company like Nielsen or ComScore. But sometimes the best way for marketers to understand their competitors is to sit down and think about them from both a marketer’s perspective and a consumer’s perspective. Do your desk research, browse their websites and immerse yourself in their content. If they achieve success, what factors contribute to their accomplishments, and what insights can we gain from their experiences. And if they’re not, what can you avoid as a company?