With hundreds of thousands of websites, companies, and blogs, competition today is fierce – especially on the internet. The internet and most especially social media are responsible for creating waves of interest. With that in mind, it is important to know and study that competition fast and furiously.
Rather than spend so much time trying to outsmart the competition, studying and making them your ally is a wise choice.
Studying Your Competition
Go on other blogs; check out their services and the quality of those services. They may have other products or services that you have not yet incorporated into your business model, for example:
- E-Books
- Videos
- Newsletters
- E-Courses
Go on their Facebook fan pages and follow them on Twitter. See how many likes they receive, how long they have been around, and how they follow the trends.
Marketing and Social Media
Check out the competition’s marketing strategy. Take a look at what may or may not be working for them.
- See where and when and how many online or live seminars they host
- Listen to their public speaking engagements
- See how many books they have authored
- Sign up for a free online tutorial or marketing event
By becoming familiar with your competition, you gain several benefits.
- You spark your own ideas with a creative and innovative twist
- You can follow and keep up with trends
- You can see what works by following social media
- You can see what topics are trending by looking at how many likes or retweets that company receives
With the availability of social media, no man is an island. Today, companies expect you to model yourselves after them thereby giving themselves incentives to create, recreate, and be more and more innovative every single day.
It is not only welcome, but also expected to guest blog and guest host on other companies websites. A good blog roll can mean new customers from other arenas that you did not tap into as of yet.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
When you create a product or offer a service, make sure that you offer guarantees. More important than this, however, is that you have research and proven facts behind your products and claims. Test marketing a product or service is crucial to being hands down above the rest.
Build a Better Mouse Trap
One of the best ways to size up your competition is to see what customers dislike about their product and/or service. In this way, you are able to develop a newer product that works twice as fast or provides double the service.
Let customer complaints fuel your imagination to do it and build it better.
These are just a few good reasons to study your competition.