You need to know your competition.
Regardless of whether your business operates online or offline, knowing and understanding your competitors is vital to your success. Just as no man is an island, no business operates in seclusion. It’s extremely important for you to do your research on your competitors and find out about their strengths and weaknesses. There will always be other businesses that provide variations of your own products and services, and knowing who they are and how they work will give you an edge on securing clients.
Most likely, you are targeting clients from the same pool of prospects. By knowing the tactics and techniques that your competitors are using, you can gain an advantage over them and attract the prospects to become your clients rather than theirs.
It’s important that you understand your competitors so that you can position your business and your products and services to stand apart from the crowd. Otherwise, you simply become just another business offering the same services as dozens of others. Why would a prospect choose you over any of the rest? Do you want to leave that to chance, or are you going to take a page from successful businesses to create and develop your own unique brand?
So how do you go about developing a strategy to position yourself and give your business a leg up on your competitors?
Well, the first step is simple. Use the formula, ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘what’, and ‘how’. Then apply them as follows:
WHO are your competitors?
WHAT are these competitors providing to prospects?
WHERE are they located? Are they local competitors, or do they have satellite locations? Are they strictly online businesses or do they have brick and mortar locations?
WHAT do they look like? Do they have a defined brand that is easily recognizable? How much of your prospective market do they control? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What about their reputation – is it positive or negative?
HOW will you digest this research and formulate a response? What strategies will you implement to carve out your position in the marketplace?
Ask yourself these questions and others like them to help identify not just your competitors, but also those key areas that you can leverage to position yourself and build your brand. Ask a few friends, family members and business associates whose opinions you trust to give you suggestions and feedback on your decisions.
Positioning and branding will help you find your niche and build a client base that will be loyal and help you to succeed. Set your goals to become the best in your market. Customer satisfaction, in the end, determines who fails and who succeeds.
Know your competition and aim to be better than them, and you can win the battle for clients.
Until next time…
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