Blog > Feeling Competitive?
“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” Coco Chanel
When you started your business you quite correctly, looked at the competition.
But as time goes by, do you keep looking to see what is going on out there, and ensure you are standing out from the crowd?
Try to do a market or competition audit once a year (twice a year would be even better); it will naturally lead you to think about your offering and your brand. This will help keep you ahead of the curve.
I suggest you try to find a spare hour or so in the next week (easier said than done, you cry!) and work through the following 5 steps, I guarantee it will give you some great inspiration and ideas.
Get competitive:
- Who’s out there –the landscape will have changed since you last looked. Who are your primary competitors (those who do pretty much the same thing as you)? Who are your secondary competitors (those who your customers could go to instead of you)? e.g. if you are a florist, instead of giving flowers, someone might choose to give another type of gift from a different type of shop.
- Who are the customers for each of these competitors? What customer needs are they meeting – both the emotional and functional needs?
- Choose 3 or 4 competitors you want to look at in more details. How do they position themselves in the market? e.g. the expert, the luxury option.
- What are their strengths? And their weaknesses? They may look fantastic, but don’t compare and despair, take some time to think what their weaknesses are too.
- What is the key learning you can take from each?
Wrap up:
Having worked through the 5 points, what is one idea from each competitor, in terms of something they are doing or not doing , that you could use in your business. What do you need to do, by when, to put each of those ideas into action?
Let me know how you get on!