12 Tips for Doing Competitive Analysis
Map out the competitive landscape
These 12 tips should help you draw and refine your map, beginning with your earliest efforts to plan your new venture and continuing for as long as you stay in business.
1. Become a Customer. - Visit competing establishments in the role of a customer. Ask lots of questions and take notes. Get in touch with these companies via phone and the Internet. Checking out a firm’s ability to serve you will reveal a good deal about your competition good and bad and teach you a lot about your own business.
2. Investigate Your Competition. - One of the best ways to gauge your competition is by taking a little time to investigate the people who run the company. If there’s an appropriate setting in which to meet your competition face to face, do it. Where did they go to school? Where have they worked? How long have they been in the business? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What’s their reputation?
3. Buy Stock in Your Competitors. - If you’re competing against a publicly traded firm, consider buying a few shares of its stock. As a stockholder you’ll receive regular updates on the firm’s financial results and business strategies, as well as information about the future plans of the company.
4. Talk to Your Competitors’ Customers. - Take an informal (or formal) poll of your competitors’ customers or clients. How did they originally choose where to spend their dollars? Why do they buy from your competitors? Is it because of the quality of the product or service, the price, the location, the customer support, or just habit? What do they dislike about a certain company? What do they wish that company would provide? Would they consider buying from you? If not, why not? If they would, what incentive might win them over?
5. Use the Internet. - You can also learn a great deal about competing businesses simply by going to their websites. Some companies engage in social media campaigns. Sign up for their blogs, “like” their Facebook page, and generally take a good look at how they’re using the Internet to reach customers.
6. Check Public Filings. - The nature of many businesses requires that companies disclose information to government agencies. Such disclosures are required to undertake public offerings, receive building permits, register for patents or trademarks, and more. Many of those filings are public record and contain information about the company’s goals, strategies, and technologies.
7. Get to Know Local Librarians. - Many librarians are virtuoso researchers and can save you a great deal of time and effort. Your library will also have local publications that may have information on competitors in your area.
8. Attend Industry Conferences and Trade Shows. - Attending conferences and trade shows is one of the best ways to get to know your competition and the nature of your business on a larger scale.
9. Assess the Competition’s Goals. - The tactics that your competitors employ can be a good sign of their goals. A competitor trying to increase its market share might lower prices; a firm attempting to increase profits may cut costs; and a business that wants to accelerate sales growth might kick off a major marketing campaign. If you know your competitors’ goals, you’ll be better able to anticipate and respond to their strategies.
10. Be Aware of the Potential for New Competition. - There’s a good chance that a lot of other people are trying to meet the need your business is trying to meet at the same time.
11. Don’t Delegate the Job of Keeping Up With Competitors. - There are many jobs that it makes sense to delegate or hire out; keeping up with the competition is not one of them. This is too important.
12. Define the Competition Broadly. - Your competition includes anything that could draw customers away from your business. For example, movie theaters compete not only with other cinemas, but also with restaurants, live music venues, theater, television, video rentals, and video games.
Source: allbusiness
Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.
Houston Growth strategies for small business.
Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston, Advice for women entrepreneurs, Business Coach in Houston, Growth strategies for small business, Business continuation for women, Growth for women-owned businesses, Houston business coaching, Financial strategies for small business, Small business consulting in Houston, Business management consultant, Business, Consulting, Women, Entrepreneurs, Houston, Coach, Growth, Strategies, Coaching, Continuation, Owned, Owner, Financial, Consulting, Management,
