Why the Best Manufacturer Competitive Analysis Is With an FCMO

Knowing your competition helps you stay ahead in the manufacturing industry. A part-time chief marketing manager uses their analytical experience and expertise to help you understand where you stand.

This article discusses competitive analysis and how a fractional chief marketing officer (FCMO) implements this strategy, including:

• Leveraging industry expertise
• Improving market position
• Identifying market trends
• Creating strategic partnerships

Read below to learn how to maintain your industry leadership with a C-suite marketing executive. Let’s go!

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What Is Manufacturer Competitive Analysis?

An FCMO specializes in data-driven strategic planning. One of their sources for insights is competitive analysis. How does a competitive analysis work for manufacturers? 

The following points compare it with traditional competitive analysis:

• Traditional competitive analysis typically examines direct industry competitors. An FCMO-led analysis extends beyond industry peers and includes broader market trends for a more holistic view of the competitive landscape.
• Traditional methods often focus on the short- to medium-term periods, assessing the current competitive landscape and adjusting strategies to fit. Fractional CMOs think long-term, anticipating market dynamics and improving the organization’s market position and adaptability.
• A standard competitive analysis primarily relies on historical data and industry benchmarks to understand competitors’ strategies. An FCMO combines data analytics, market research, and trends to generate actionable insights.
• Traditional competitive analysis involves tactical decision-making, such as pricing adjustments or targeted marketing campaigns. Analysis led by an FCMO takes this to another level by influencing strategic decision-making at the organizational level.
• Standard tactics involve marketing teams and competitive intelligence specialists working in silos to analyze competitive data. FCMOs encourage cross-functional collaboration to develop a comprehensive understanding of the industry and co-create strategic responses.

Understanding how competitive analysis differs for manufacturers is crucial to maximizing its benefits. Fractional C-level experts leverage their experience to comprehend the market and identify opportunities that strengthen your position in the industry.

Leveraging Industry Expertise

A deep understanding of the industry helps make sense of market dynamics. It allows a more nuanced interpretation of a competitor’s moves and countermoves. 

FCMOs are the best professionals to help you understand the industry better. They:

• Have a strong background in marketing principles that enables them to analyze a competitor’s marketing strategies in detail, including messaging, branding efforts, and customer engagement tactics.
• Possess insights into consumer behavior and market trends to anticipate shifts in customer preferences. This knowledge helps them assess how competitors adapt their strategies to meet these changing demands.
• Are well-versed in digital marketing strategies, including social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and data analytics.
• Synthesize complex information and develop actionable insights for decision-making. 
• Understand the broader business goals and prioritize resources and marketing initiatives to drive growth.
• Collaborate closely with other departments to gather insights for a more complete picture of the competition. 

An FCMO brings specialized knowledge and insights to competitive analysis through their extensive industry expertise. Their contributions are essential for formulating effective strategies that drive business success.

Improving Market Position

Analyzing the competition often reveals their strengths and weaknesses, which helps you improve your market position. It lets you differentiate the brand, capitalize on opportunities they missed, fill the gaps, and serve untapped markets.

An FCMO strengthens your market position through these various strategies:

• Conduct comprehensive research on competitors’ products, services, pricing, target demographics, and market share.
• Perform a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis on industry peers to understand their market position. Strengths might include strong brand recognition, while a potential weakness is poor customer service.
• Compare your company’s performance and capabilities against competitors to identify where you excel and struggle.
• Monitor customer feedback and reviews of competitors’ products or services to determine brand perception. 
• Analyze your company’s reviews to uncover areas for improvement or opportunities to differentiate from competitors.
• Use real-time data-driven intelligence tools to track a rival’s online activities, advertising strategies, social media engagement, website traffic, customer interactions, and keyword rankings. 
• Collaborate with external partners or industry associations to uncover more competitor strategies, upcoming product launches, or market developments. 
• Iterate on the rival’s best strategies for your business’s benefit.

An FCMO adds a unique value to competitive analysis compared to other roles. Rather than only looking at short-term revenue gains, they take a long-term view of the market and competitors. They assess the strengths you need to build and sustain a good market position despite industry and consumer changes. 

Identifying Market Trends

Emerging opportunities often attract new market players. A robust competitive analysis constantly studies market trends to respond to emerging competition and maintain your market position.

C-suite marketing executives identify these trends in the following ways:

• Thoroughly analyze customer preferences and competitor activities in the manufacturing industry.
• Mine big data and perform statistical analysis to identify emerging market and industry trends and consumer behavior patterns.
• Collaborate with other manufacturing companies to develop strategic plans based on their market insights. This might involve identifying niche markets, assessing demand for new products or services, and forecasting market conditions.
• Devise digital marketing strategies based on market trends.
• Stay informed about industry regulations and adapt strategies to minimize risks.

Understanding market trends through these tactics helps you innovate and differentiate the brand. A competent part-time chief marketing expert allows you to maximize these benefits.

Creating Strategic Partnerships

Strategic partnerships involve collaborating with companies with access to new markets. This allows you to broaden your reach, expand your customer base, and increase market share and revenue streams.

Some partnership strategies that an FCMO uses include the following:

• Benchmarking relationships: Competitive analysis allows you to benchmark your company’s relationships and partnerships against those of your competitors. This process helps identify potential collaboration opportunities that your competitors have leveraged.
• Gathering market insights: Analyzing the competition provides insights into market trends, customer needs, and emerging technologies. This information narrows down potential partnerships that align with market demands and offer innovative solutions.
• Broadening the network: Competitive analysis studies industry events, conferences, or networking groups with active potential partners. Engaging in these activities builds relationships that might lead to fruitful partnerships.
• Identifying market gaps and opportunities: Fractional CMOs meticulously examine competitors' strategies to uncover untapped or underserved markets and tactics they might have failed to execute or overlooked. Then, they use the information to seek potential partners or alliances to strategically fill market needs.
• Entering new markets: C-level marketing experts diversify revenue streams or expand the customer base with competitive analysis, especially on geographic markets and product categories. For example, they might execute a disruptive pricing strategy to capture available demand. 

With these strategies, a fractional CMO helps your manufacturing company unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation through strategic partnerships and collaborations.

Summing Up

Competitive analysis is crucial for manufacturers as it provides valuable insights into market trends and customer preferences. To assist your competitive analysis efforts, partner with a part-time chief marketing manager for expert guidance and strategic insights regarding marketing.

Searching for a marketing partner? Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today and learn how our expertise in marketing can help you.