If you don’t then they could be getting the jump on your business.
Picture this, you are meeting a potential customer and proudly discuss what makes you different and how you can help them with their needs. You sit back eagerly awaiting your customer’s reaction, which is:
“I just heard the same thing from two of your competitors. You all sound the same and to be honest you are even using the same colours for your business card”
How would that reaction make you feel?
Keeping tabs on your major competitors is one of the important elements of being successful in marketing your business. Below are a few tips to assist you with the process.
Why is it Important to Continually Monitor Your Competitors?
- They are most likely monitoring your activities
- So you can assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses
- Helps determine what your competitors do better or worse than you
- Assists development of your positioning so you have a relevant point of difference
- Helps develop marketing strategies and tactics to exploit their weaknesses
- So you can counteract their activities more effectively
- Helps identify why they may be taking business from you
- Essential to defend your relationships with your current customers
When Should You Monitor Your Competitors?
- Continuously to assess changes in your key competitors activities
- When a new competitor enters your market
- If a competitor launches a new product or service
- As part of your marketing planning
Cost of Monitoring Your Competitors?
- Your time if you do it yourself with alerts, visiting their website, monitoring their products or services etc
- Your money if you hire a market research company to conduct a study on your behalf
Things for you to Consider
- There are free or low cost online market research websites with easy templates to use such as QuestionPro and Zoomerang
- Think about partnering with other businesses that have the same competitors
- If you are just starting out keep it simple by looking only at key factors such as their strengths
- Be objective as your competitors will always do something better than you
- When you find out something about your competitors, think about what it means for your business and customers
Monitoring your competitors does not have to be an obsession, however don’t put your head in the sand and only think of your own business. As they say “knowledge is power.”
Why not set yourself an objective for the next month and find out something you did not know about a key competitor?
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