Good Morning! Do you have one minute to read and one hour to do? If so, you can improve your small business’ marketing in a big way. Each week, we will provide new ideas. Grab your morning beverage and let’s get started:
This Week: Scope Out Your Competition
Knowing your competitors and what they offer will help you stand out from the crowd and improve the performance of your business. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to better communicate with your own audience and make adjustments, as needed.
Scope out your competition in five easy steps:
STEP ONE
Know your competition.
Create a spreadsheet of five competitors: Three that you compete against now and two of which you aspire to compete.
STEP TWO
View your competitors’ online presence.
Check out their website and read their social media to help you understand their products and services. Getting these details will make a big difference in the way you choose to communicate your brand.
STEP THREE
Make your messages stand out.
What messages come through to you? Are they the same as yours? If so, try to make your messages more unique. What appears to be working for them? What’s not working?
STEP FOUR
Get the insights you need.
Who is their target audience? Do they take steps to make that target feel at home? Is this the same target that you have? How can you refine that target to be more specific to your business? How are their customers responding to them on social media?
Do this exercise once a quarter and record anything significant you learn on your spreadsheet, also any new “To Do’s”. Over time, this document should help you with your planning. After all, you want to be the first to know when your competitors make a change, not the last. They may have a new website, new product, etc.; all important developments for you to know and respond to.
Want a new bit of marketing each week? Subscribe to the Morning Mark. Like our simple-but-proactive approach to marketing? Visit us at smallbizbrands.com.
