The Importance Of Knowing Your Competition: How To Use It Against Them
LOTS OF TRAFFIC; LOTS OF NOISE
There is a lot of traffic out there and tons of noise. In today’s struggling economy the business world has become even more dog-eat-dog than it had been in the years before the recession. If your business does not develop a new set of survival skills, you may be in real danger of being eliminated by the competition. That is why now more than ever it is crucial that you know your competitors and use that knowledge against them!
I am not talking about doing anything under-handed., I am talking about a comprehensive approach to developing your marketing strategy that is focused on the advantages you have over your competition. When asked about their competitive advantage, I can't tell you how many companies list price as their major advantage. This is not a competitive advantage and just opens you up to being undersold and priced right out of the market.
WHAT ARE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES?
So, how do you identify your true competitive advantages? Try making a list of your top five competitors that includes both their top selling points and their biggest weaknesses. If you are having difficulty doing this, you may want to check out online reviews of your competitor’s products and services, browse their social media sites, or even ask your customers for their opinion on the matter. Once you have that list, use it to make your own list of the advantages you have over them, and turn that into your top branding message that you use everywhere in all your future marketing! Utilizing this strategy may be one of your best weapons in a dangerous economy.
And remember to do this yearly, at a minimum. Like you, they will change strategies and resting on last year’s information is one of the surest ways to fail.
So to summarize:
7 STEPS TO IDENTIFY YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
1. Make a list of your top 5 competitors
2. For each individual competitor, next to name of competitor, list what he says his advantages are, and what you and others perceive advantages to be. Note these may be different.
3. For each individual competitor. list competitor's weaknesses compared to your offerings.
4. Create your main marketing statement/ branding message based upon your advantage cumulatively over your competitors.
5. Pick your top competitor, or the one you'd like to neutralize first, and design a marketing campaign to emphasize your advantage(s) and your competitor's weaknesses. This might include social media, blog articles, promotions, etc.
6. Repeat step 5 at a designated period, working your way through your top 5 competitor list.
7. Repeat Steps 1 through 6 at least yearly - because the list of your top competitors will change, and your competitors will change their focus and marketing message and also their product offerings as will you.
Good luck out there! Stay tuned for more tips on how to survive your competition…
Once you’ve identified your competitions goods and bads and come up with your competitive advantages, we’d love to see and/or hear what they are and help you fine tune the message. Call us and leave a voicemail at 760-452-7668 (please be sure to speak slowly and clearly and leave us your contact information so we can get back to you) or email us a copy of it at info@ampurbiz.com. And we’d love your comments and feedback on this article, so please comment.
For more help on crafting your competitive advantages and branding, and on all of your marketing needs reach out to us for a free consultation at www.ampurbiz.com.