How to Analyse Your Local Competitors in an Afternoon

Big companies pay consultants for competitor analysis. A local business can do a useful version in one afternoon with a phone, a laptop and a spreadsheet. The goal is not a report. The goal is two or three decisions: what to fix, what to say in your marketing, and where you can win.

Block four hours. Here is how to spend them.

Hour one: find your real competitors

Your real competitors are not the businesses you think about. They are the ones your customers see when they search.

1. Search like a customer. On your phone, in your area, search for what people actually type: “pizza near me”, “dentist Schwabing”, “gym open late”, “nail salon”. Use two or three searches that match your main services.
2. Look at Google Maps and the map results in Search. Write down every business that appears in the top results for those searches.
3. Ask your team where customers say they went before, and who they compare you with.
4. Keep five to eight names. Include the obvious leader, the newest place, and one that is similar in size to you.

Open a spreadsheet with one row per competitor and these columns: name, distance, Google rating, number of reviews, newest review date, price level, main offer, ads seen (yes or no), notes.

Hour two: read their reviews

Reviews are the most honest market research available to a local business. Customers tell you, for free, what they value and what annoys them, about you and everyone around you.

For each competitor:

• Note the rating and review count, and how many reviews arrived in the last few months. A business with fewer reviews but steady new ones is often more active than one with many old reviews.
• Sort by newest and read the last twenty or so.
• Sort by lowest and read the last ten negative ones.
• Write down the themes, not the individual stories: “long wait at weekends”, “friendly staff”, “hard to park”, “prices went up”, “great with nervous patients”.

Then do the same for your own profile. Now you have a simple map: what everyone is praised for (the minimum the market expects), what everyone is criticised for (an opportunity), and what only one business is praised for (its real advantage).

For a deeper look at the patterns, see what customers complain about in reviews.

Hour three: their offer, prices and ads

Prices and offers. Check their website, menu, booking page or delivery app listing. Note the price of your three most comparable items or services, and any visible offers: first-visit discounts, bundles, memberships, loyalty cards. Our guide to tracking competitor prices covers how to keep this up to date without much effort.

Ads. Look them up in the public ad libraries:

• Meta Ad Library (facebook.com/ads/library): search each competitor’s Facebook page to see their active ads on Facebook and Instagram, and how long each has run.
• Google Ads Transparency Center (adstransparency.google.com): search by name or website for their Google ads.

An ad that has been running for months is usually one that works for them. Write down the offer and the main message, not the creative. Our post on competitor ad research explains the libraries in detail.

Website and booking. Try to book, order or contact them as a customer would. How many steps does it take? Can you book online at 10 pm? Is the price visible before you commit? Many local businesses lose customers here, not in the ads.

Hour four: decide what to do

Now look at the spreadsheet and your notes, and answer five questions:

1. Where are we clearly weaker? A lower rating, fewer recent reviews, slower replies, no online booking, older photos. Pick the one that is easiest to fix.
2. What does everyone get criticised for? If every gym nearby is “too crowded in the evening”, and you aren’t, that is your message.
3. What are we praised for that others aren’t? That is your real advantage. Put it in your profile description, your photos and your ads, in the customers’ own words.
4. Is anyone competing on price? If so, decide deliberately whether you match, ignore or compete on something else.
5. Who is advertising, and with what? If no competitor runs ads, a modest, steady campaign can stand out. If several do, look for the angle they all skip.

Write down three actions with an owner and a date. That is the output of the afternoon.

Keep it current

Local markets change slowly, then suddenly: a new clinic opens, a competitor changes owners, a restaurant starts a big delivery promotion. You don’t need to repeat the whole afternoon often. A short monthly check is enough:

• New reviews at your top three competitors, especially negative ones.
• New ads in the Meta Ad Library.
• Price or menu changes.
• New businesses appearing in your main searches.

Check	How often	Time
Full analysis	Twice a year	An afternoon
Reviews and ratings	Monthly	20 minutes
Ads and offers	Monthly	15 minutes
Prices	Quarterly, or before you change yours	30 minutes

Common mistakes

• Only looking at the market leader. The business most like you often teaches you more.
• Copying. If you copy a competitor’s offer or message, you become the second choice. Use what you learn to be different.
• Reading reviews for the drama. One angry story tells you little. Count themes.
• Not acting. An analysis that doesn’t change anything was an afternoon off.

If you’d like the first draft done for you, our free competitor check finds your local competitors and puts their ratings, review themes, ads and prices next to yours. Your afternoon then goes on the decisions.