How to understand who your competitors are?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 5:04 am
All businesses face competition. Even if you own the only restaurant in town, you must compete with movie theaters, bars, and other places where your customers might spend their money. As consumers purchase more goods, services, and entertainment online, you are no longer just competing with local businesses.
Your competitor may be a new business offering a substitute or similar product that makes your own product redundant. Competition is not just another business that can take your money. Competition may be another product or service in development. You must start selling or licensing it before someone else takes on the same idea.
Identify your competitors
It is important to stay informed about what your current competitors are doing, while also constantly being on the lookout for potential new competitors.
Sources of information about your competitors:
local business directories,
Chamber of Commerce,
advertising (Internet, television, radio, outdoor advertising, PR activity),
company press releases,
exhibitions and fairs,
surveying your clients,
search the Internet for europe cell phone number list similar products or services,
information provided by customers,
flyers and marketing materials that were sent to you,
search for existing patented products similar to yours,
Internet applications and online services.
Keep an eye on how your competitors do business. Pay attention to:
the products or services they provide and how they sell them to customers,
the prices they set,
how they handle shipping and order processing,
the tools and methods they use to increase customer loyalty and what additional services they offer,
their brand values and design,
whether they are innovating - business methods as well as products,
the number of their employees and the level of staff they attract
how they use IT - for example, do they use omnichannel communications, chatbots, augmented reality, create apps or special solutions for clients,
who owns the business and what kind of people run it,
competitors' activities and presence in the media - check local newspapers, radio, television and any outdoor advertising, study their social media presence and find out what kind of advertising they are broadcasting to the audience (this can be done with the help of modern advertising offices and special services);
their presence on the Internet - check the sites and their positions in the search results in the main search engines, evaluate the usability of the site, identify strengths and weaknesses.
Your competitor may be a new business offering a substitute or similar product that makes your own product redundant. Competition is not just another business that can take your money. Competition may be another product or service in development. You must start selling or licensing it before someone else takes on the same idea.
Identify your competitors
It is important to stay informed about what your current competitors are doing, while also constantly being on the lookout for potential new competitors.
Sources of information about your competitors:
local business directories,
Chamber of Commerce,
advertising (Internet, television, radio, outdoor advertising, PR activity),
company press releases,
exhibitions and fairs,
surveying your clients,
search the Internet for europe cell phone number list similar products or services,
information provided by customers,
flyers and marketing materials that were sent to you,
search for existing patented products similar to yours,
Internet applications and online services.
Keep an eye on how your competitors do business. Pay attention to:
the products or services they provide and how they sell them to customers,
the prices they set,
how they handle shipping and order processing,
the tools and methods they use to increase customer loyalty and what additional services they offer,
their brand values and design,
whether they are innovating - business methods as well as products,
the number of their employees and the level of staff they attract
how they use IT - for example, do they use omnichannel communications, chatbots, augmented reality, create apps or special solutions for clients,
who owns the business and what kind of people run it,
competitors' activities and presence in the media - check local newspapers, radio, television and any outdoor advertising, study their social media presence and find out what kind of advertising they are broadcasting to the audience (this can be done with the help of modern advertising offices and special services);
their presence on the Internet - check the sites and their positions in the search results in the main search engines, evaluate the usability of the site, identify strengths and weaknesses.