It might seem strange if you’re new to the business to spend time studying your competitors. In fact, some small business owners get afraid that the competition’s existence makes it impossible for them to succeed.
Develop a Deeper Understanding Regarding What Your Customers Expect
When you study your competition and see how they interact with and serve your like audience, you’re going to learn more about what the customers expect. Remember that you want to observe the customer to find out how they feel about the competition based on the way the competitors do business.
Learn More About Your Business Shortcomings and Flaws
When you get a handle on what the competition is offering and how they are offering it, you’ll be able to figure out where you are falling short. These are all areas of improvement by bringing in the right resources, either human or technical, to help you become more proficient.
Note How Your Offers are Better for Your Customers
As you study the work that your competitors do and the offers that they make, buy them. This is going to help you learn what makes a fair offer and also ways you can make the offer even better. Note the points that your offers stand out in comparison so that you can capitalize on that difference.
Identify and Improve Your Unique Selling Proposition
Your USP is your unique selling proposition is what makes your offers stand out from the competition’s. It’s all about what’s unique about you, your products, and your services in the eyes of your audience. You may be the low-cost option, the high-quality option, or maybe you differentiate yourself by offering top-notch customer care that is different from any other offerings.
Identify the Gaps in Client Services
When you study the competition, you can get an idea about how they serve their customers, which can teach you what to do and what not to do. Join their lists and read the messages. Try their freebies, buy their products, and ask for customer service to find out how it works for them. You can identify the gaps they have, fill them for your business, and stand out in that way.
Capitalize on Your Competitor’s Mistakes
Everyone, including you, makes mistakes. When you’re studying the competition, learn from their mistakes, and you can even capitalize on them if you’re paying attention. For example, if you note that they send 30 emails a day that feel SPAMMY, you don’t want to do that too.
Learn from Your Competitors Success
Likewise, you can learn from what your competitors are doing right. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing. Yes, you want to be unique, but the truth is every business needs to use all sorts of content marketing to get the word out, including email marketing and list building. There is no reason to try to run your business without doing this. It’s not out of style, and it still offers an astounding 38 to 1 return on investment.
Really Get to Know Your Audience Through Their Communities
An excellent use of your competition is to join their communities. By doing so, you can learn about your audience. Since they’re your competitors, that means their customers are in the same demographics as your customers. You can capitalize on that by participating in their communities so you can get to know what they want.
You can use a lot of methods to study your competition. Do a simple Google search about the industry to find out who are the movers and shakers that you need to follow. Join their lists and become part of their communities. Know who they are and find out how they please the audience so you can fill the gaps and succeed. But for all that good is in the world do not copy their work!
