Benchmarking In Marketing: Improving Performance Through Comparison

Benchmarking is a strategic marketing approach that compares a company’s performance with its competitors or industry standards.

Benchmarking in marketing involves identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices from organizations worldwide to improve performance.

Background Overview of Types of Benchmarking in Marketing

There are several types of benchmarking in marketing:

1. Competitive Benchmarking: This involves comparing your company’s performance with your direct competitors.
2. Industry Benchmarking: This involves comparing your company’s performance with your industry’s average or best practices.
3. Best-in-Class Benchmarking: This involves comparing your company’s performance with the best performers in any industry.
4. Process Benchmarking: This involves comparing your company’s specific processes with those of other companies.

Features and Benefits of Benchmarking in Marketing

Benchmarking in marketing offers several features and benefits:

1. Performance Improvement: Benchmarking helps identify areas of improvement and provides a means to achieve superior performance.
2. Strategic Planning: It aids in setting realistic goals and planning strategies based on industry standards or competitor performance.
3. Innovation: Companies can innovate their marketing strategies by studying best practices from other industries.

For example, a company might benchmark its social media engagement against a competitor with a highly successful social media strategy.

By doing so, the company can identify gaps in its strategy and make necessary improvements.

Types of Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis in marketing involves assessing your competitors to identify their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Types of competitive analysis include:

1. SWOT Analysis: This involves identifying your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
2. Product Comparison: This involves comparing your products or services with those of your competitors.
3. Marketing Strategy Analysis: This involves analyzing your competitors’ marketing strategies.

For example, a SWOT analysis might reveal that a competitor is not effectively using social media, presenting an opportunity for your company to gain a competitive edge in this area.

Challenges with Benchmarking in Marketing

While benchmarking is a powerful tool, it also presents several challenges:

1. Data Availability: Obtaining accurate and relevant data for comparison can be challenging.
2. Apples-to-Apples Comparison: Companies differ in many ways, making it challenging to make direct comparisons.
3. Time and Resources: Benchmarking can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

For example, a company might struggle to find accurate data on a competitor’s customer satisfaction levels, making it difficult to benchmark its performance.

How to Get Started with Benchmarking in Marketing

1. Identify what you want to benchmark: Determine which aspects of your marketing you want to improve.
2. Identify benchmarking partners: Choose companies or industries you want to benchmark against.
3. Collect data: Gather data on your performance and that of your benchmarking partners.
4. Analyze the data: Identify gaps in your performance and areas for improvement.
5. Implement changes: Make necessary changes to improve your performance.
6. Monitor progress: Regularly review your performance to ensure improvements are being made.

Conclusion

Benchmarking is a valuable marketing tool that allows companies to compare their performance with their competitors or industry standards.

Despite the challenges, with careful planning and execution, benchmarking can significantly improve marketing performance.

Catherine Fitzgerald B.A. M.A. PGDip( Founder )

With 30+ years of experience, Catherine Fitzgerald, B.A., M.A., PGDip, founded Oak Innovation in 1995. Catherine received her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s from University College Cork. She holds qualifications in Professional Development And Training from University College Galway. She is completing a second Master’s from University College Cork. Since 1995, clients include Apple, Time Warner, and Harvard University.