Free Competitive Analysis Tools

Frank Ross, who writes the Home-Based Entrepreneur blog, posted an excellent article on competitive analysis. You can apply his tips to individual products or market segments. The Google Toolbar is free, and you can trial the other products he mentions for free, too.

I added my $0.02:

"If you're in a highly competitive market (and can't get out), there are things you can do to set yourself from the crowd. For example, think about how your product is different because it comes from you. What do you do that's "different" (think Apple ad campaign here)? Do you ship faster? Do you offer extra goodies (extra training, education, etc.)? Are you known for spotting the next trends? Think about differentiators, and figure out how you connect with your particular audience... then figure out what keywords these people are searching. Figure out how they want to be engaged. Understand what their real motivators are. These are the keys to the castle."

The book "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" shows you how to use eBay itself to perform market analysis and competitive analysis. I'll address this topic further in future posts.

Technorati Tags: ebay, marketing, copywriting, advertising, business, media, writer, writing, book, books, work, internet, blog, web, journalism, news