It pays off when you spend BIG time doing competitor market research. Even if you are just a small local business in the middle of a rural village.
How to do Competitor Research
First – find out who ALL your competitors are in your market. Not just local business but everyone that you have to compete with in the National and Global markets too.
Some things you can do are:
– You can initiate surveys;
- – that will help you discover how people are looking for your product (ie search terms they are using),
– the amount they are expecting to pay for your service,
– how they want to have that product or service delivered.
The more you know the better off you are when you want to compete.
It won’t matter how BIG your competition is if you have resourceful information that the other competitors don’t have. It’s like having a secret trick or magic wand when you know something valuable.
Taking the time to do extensive research in the beginning can do more than just give you an advantage over your competition. It can also save you time and money on the back end. By knowing the right keywords and phrases, as well as where the competition is advertising, you can save from spending a large portion of your budget on advertising a product no one wants. You also save by not highlighting a benefit no one needs.
When assessing your competitor be sure check their websites.
– Record what pages are they sending paid advertising to.
– Take note on what do their websites look like? Many websites and landing pages are really bad. You can get the jump on them simply by having a pleasant, informative, and specific page for your marketing efforts.
– Learn what “keywords” people are using to try and find what they are looking for in your market. This not only helps us know how to ‘target’ your potential customers, but puts a real number on the SIZE of that market.
– What are your competitors doing right?
– What are they doing wrong?
– What can YOU do better?
There are ways to find out what your competitors customers are saying about them.
By conducting proper research you can be a ‘fly on the wall’ and collect valuable insight. Researching your competitors never stops. The market is an ever changing place but once you get good research tools in place you have a better chance of not being left behind.
