The demand for adult social care in the UK continues to grow, with over a quarter of the
population predicted to be aged 65 or over in the next 50 years. Not only that but the average
person after age 65 is expected to live with a disability — and consequently need care — for around 10 years. So with such great demand for adult social care, surely the competition isn’t such an issue right? Wrong.
That demand comes from families and partners under pressure and desperately searching for care they can trust. At such a stressful time in their lives and feeling potentially overwhelmed by the process, they’re turning towards care providers whose clear and compassionate
message rings true and rises above the rest.
That message they’re hearing needs to stand out from the crowd. And that’s where
competition matters. The demand for social care is heading to care providers who have carved out their niche among their competition with a meaningful message that helps build their local reputation.
To tap into this demand you, therefore, need to discover where you sit among your competitors and crucially, what really makes you different from them — otherwise known as your USP or ‘unique selling proposition’. This will then help you form your key message about your
service offering or ‘value proposition’.
Not just for the big boys
The 10 largest care home providers in the UK only account for 12% of care homes. So while it may seem like they’re everywhere (thanks to their omnipresent marketing), the reality is that you are unlikely to be pitching yourself up against the big brands. What you really need to do is drill down to your real competitors on a local level. And that’s where a competitor analysis comes in.
What is a competitor analysis?
It’s marketing-speak for identifying all of your major competitors and looking into the services they provide, how they promote them, their strengths, weaknesses and USPs, and what their service users make of them.
What you stand to gain
A competitor analysis is no small feat but is essential to set you up for success. But how?
#1 By identifying what your competitors are doing right
Are you matching them or missing a trick? Can you do even better?
#2 By identifying where your competitors are falling short
Can you swoop in and fill this gap in the market? Are you already filling this gap but not
promoting that fact to set yourself apart?
#3 By identifying new opportunities and trends
Are your competitors offering additional services or benefits? Is this getting increasing
engagement from service users? Can you get in on the action?
#4 By showing you what works
Are your competitors getting lots of engagement with specific social media messaging or
ranking highly on Google for certain blog posts? Can you do the same?
A competitor analysis can be a goldmine of insights to hone your marketing, refine your
offering and draw in the clients you want. As we mentioned before, it’s an investment in time and resources, which is why we offer it as part of our comprehensive care marketing package (contact us to find out more). But if you’re interested in dipping your toe in, here’s a checklist to get you started.
Your competitor analysis checklist
1) Identify who your competitors are
2) Identify the services they offer and their USPs (what is their key message? What are their benefits?)
3) Research their sales process
4) Find out their pricing, what this covers and whether they offer any extra benefits
5) Research how they promote their services (blogs, video, audio, press releases, case studies, testimonials, leaflets, posters etc)
6) Research their content strategy (how often do they post blogs? what kind of quality are they?)
7) Analyse the level of engagement on their content (e.g. comments on social media posts)
8) Observe how they promote their marketing content (eg using keywords, image tags and
internal links)
9) Look at which social media platforms they use and are active on (what kind of content do they post? what is getting engagement and what isn’t?)
10) Analyse their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (where do you outperform them and vice versa?)
