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There are hundreds of thousands of websites, companies, and blogs, out there in today’s market and the competition is fierce. With that in mind, it is important to know your competition and study that competition fast, so you know where you stand in the market.
Getting to know your competition isn’t about trying to outsmart them, it’s about seeing what works and making them an ally in building your business.
What is Your Competition?
In business you’ll have 2 types of competition; Direct and indirect.
Direct competition is anybody who is doing the same thing as you, like if you’re a Social Media Strategist any other Social Media Strategist would be your direct competition.
Indirect competition is anybody doing something similar to you but not exactly the same, so if you’re a Social Media Strategist your indirect competition could be an Instagram Coach, LinkedIn Consultant or a YouTube Consultant.
You can learn a lot from both but what’s great about knowing who your indirect competitors are is that you have an automatic list of people you could work with strategically to grow your own business.
How to Identify Your Competitors
There are two places I love to search for my competition and that’s Google and Instagram. Just type in your keyword and boom you’ll have a list of people doing what you want to do. Your keyword can be your job title or what you will be doing and where you’re doing it.
So think;
- Social Media Consultant
- Mindset Coach
- Weight loss Coach
- Business Coach
- Branding Consultant
- Web Designer London
Although Google and Instagram are my favourite goto’s, you have to think about the industry you’ll be going into. If you’re in more of a business to business industry LinkedIn may be a better place to search than Instagram.
What is Your Competition Doing?
To discover what your competition is doing go on to their blogs; check out their services and the quality of those services. They may have other products or services that you haven’t thought to incorporated into your business model, for example:
- eBooks
- YouTube Channel
- Membership site
- Courses
- VIP Days
Go onto their social media platforms follow them. See how many likes they receive and engagement on their content, how long they have been around, and how they follow the trends.
Check out the competitions marketing strategy. Take a look at what may or may not be working for them.
- Do they go live on Instagram or Facebook?
- Do they do webinars?
- Do they have their own Facebook group?
- Have they written any books and if so how many?
- Do they offer any freebies?
- Sign up for their free stuff to see how and what they offer.
The Seven Things You Need to Know
1. Know Their Strengths
Knowing your competitors’ strengths is important, as it can highlight your own weaknesses. If you know your competition’s strength then you will be able to improvise and be innovative with your own products and services.
2. Know Their Weaknesses
If you know your competitors’ weaknesses, chances are you’ll be able to use that knowledge to maximize your own businesses strengths.
3. Know Their Products & Services
What products or services does your competition provide? Are they similar to yours? What unique twist might they offer on their services or you could offer in your service? How do they market them; Social Media, Ads, joint ventures or affiliates?
4. What’s Their Engagement on Social Media
Does your competition get many likes or comments as feedback on their blogs or websites?
5. How is The Business Represented Online
Is it a Personal Branded business where the owner stands out on the front line and is the face of the business or is it purely a company brand and the owner isn’t very visible? Does the persona of the business owner maximize its sales? Are they out in the public eye a lot?
6. What Their Price Points Are And Are They Competitive to Yours
Do they have a range of products at different price points? What are they? What do their prices say about the clients they are trying to attract compared to who you’re trying to attract?
7. What Types of Guarantees do They Have on Their Product or Service
Does each competitor offer guarantees on their products and are their customers satisfied customers? Do their social media comments, tweets, and likes show happy consumers?
Benefits of Knowing Your Competition
The benefits of becoming familiar with your competition are;
- You can spark your own ideas with a creative and innovative twist
- You can follow and keep up with trends
- You can see what works by seeing what works for them
- You can see what topics are trending by looking at how many likes or retweets your competitor receives
Social Media has made it super easy to see what is working for the competition and what isn’t, so you no longer have to play a guessing game to what you should do in your business. This makes content creation a lot easier and quicker for your business by simply doing what’s working.
It is not only welcome but also expected to guest blog and guest host on other businesses websites. This is where knowing your indirect competitors comes so in handy. A guest post on a well-positioned blog can mean new customers from other fields that you haven’t tapped into yet.
How I Will Measure Against The Competition?
Learning about your competition isn’t about getting obsessed about every move they make or don’t make, it’s about being able to position yourself to stand out in the market. And at times get some cool ideas on what to do for your brand.
If you know what your competition offers, who their target clients are and how they market to them it’s easier for you to clearly state how you are different in terms of what you offer and who you offer it to even if you use similar marketing strategies.
How Do You Beat The Competition in Sales?
Build a Better Mouse Trap
One of the best ways to size up your competition is to see what customers dislike about their product and/or service. This way, you can develop a better product or service that works twice as fast or provides double the results.
Let customer complaints fuel your imagination to do it and build it better.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
When you create a product or offer a service, make sure that you offer guarantees. More important than this, however, is that you have research and proven facts behind your products and claims. Test marketing your product or service is crucial to creating a better product or service that is positioned well for your ideal clients.
These are just a few good reasons why you need to study your competition.
If you’re looking to get started with any of these steps, check out the Build Your Business Vault – where you’ll find templates, worksheets and checklists that will help you get started!
