Competitive benchmarking can be a valuable tool for any company that can improve your business’ opportunities and helps you identify weaknesses. In any industry, there are optimal strategies for attracting consumers; evaluating your competitors can help you pinpoint the optimal ways to engage with your customers and help your company excel in its industry.

How will you benchmark?

There are three main types of competitive benchmarking; process benchmarking, strategic benchmarking, and performance benchmarking. Process benchmarking emphasizes the day-to-day level, focusing on how tasks are accomplished and if there is a more efficient way to do them– this can help a company improve its services and lower costs. Strategic benchmarking has a broader objective, looking at how a competitor operates to determine the advantages and disadvantages of particular business strategies. Lastly, performance benchmarking is based on determining how well a specific tactic is performing. For example, if a company invests heavily in Facebook advertisements, does that strategy provide a satisfactory result? If so, it may behoove you to consider replicating the idea.

What will you focus on?

It’s essential to make sure that the scope of any competitive benchmarking project is clearly defined. You should first determine what goals and performance indicators you are going to measure. Then, decide which kind of competitors you will measure yourself against, depending on your goals. If you are looking to make immediate improvements that will give you an edge in your industry, consider looking at your closest competitors. For a broader view, look at the industry leaders; replicating their proven strategies can be invaluable for growing a business. You should also consider looking at competitors who are smaller than your business but are growing rapidly; they often have innovative strategies that may revolutionize an industry.

How will you gather information?

It can naturally be difficult to gather the information you need to conduct competitive benchmarking. Like hits or traffic on social media websites, some statistics are publicly available, but information concerning revenue or specific processes is not likely to be as accessible. Utilize the internet to search for mediums where the company you are benchmarking against may have shared this information, such as through news outlets. If it’s not possible to find what you are looking for, consider conducting your own research.

Given the appropriate amount of time and resources, competitive benchmarking can be an invaluable tool for helping any business excel in its industry. If you are precise and diligent, gathering information and implementing new practices can help your company become a leader in its industry.