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Write You - Competitive Analysis - No Company Exists In A Vacuum Online
Bad customer service is everywhere these days — unmanned front desks, surly servers, clueless staff, employees talking on the phone, and managers who refuse to acknowledge a customer. It’s no longer an exception ... poor service has become the norm.In an all-too-typical scene, a customer walks into a retail store with a question about where to find a product. The employee, who is busy and doesn’t want to be bothered, gives the customer a curt answer and continues what she is doing without even looking the customer in the eye. The customer persists, so, with obvious annoyance, the employee begrudgingly turns around and points the customer in the general direction of the product’s location. Instead of buying the product, the customer leaves the store, frustrated, vowing to never return.Most business owners and employees recognize this as a classic example of bad customer service. And yet, this scene is repeated endlessly in modern society. Negativity breeds negativity, and eventually, nobody is happy.“Never, never, never ignore a customer,” says Art Waller, Regional Department Head for Utah State University. Waller provides
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected. You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors
When you create advertising for small businesses, consider both the life cycle of your product or service along with customer buying habits.Today, both sellers and buyers alike want fast results. You should recognize that the actual process of turning your prospects into customers still takes time. Buying cycle times may be shorter today, but the process still exists. People often buy according to their past purchasing habits and patterns. These habits can be hard to change.Classic marketing theory details the life cycle of a product or service as(1) introduction,(2) growth,(3) maturity,(4) decline, and(5) phase-out.In other words: when it's(1) New,(2) Rapidly Accepted,(3) The Industry Standard,(4) Fading, and(5) Hard to Find.Furthermore, the people who buy those products/services can be profiled in different stages as (a) innovative adapters, (b) majority adapters, or (c) stragglers.Profiles of these three buyer categories (a) (b) (c) are helpful in creating advertising tailored to each phase of the five life cycles of the pro
1. What is competitive analysis?
A competitive analysis is a formal evaluation in which you review the businesses of one or more companies that compete, directly or indirectly, with your own. Online, competitors have access to each other's company information and marketing materials that they might not be able to gather as easily in the offline world. This allows for even greater opportunities to benefit from competitive analysis data. But how can companies improve by analyzing their competitors? And what is the best way to implement a thorough competitive analysis? For a business to succeed, you need to know almost as much about your competitors as you do about your own company and customers. Unfortunately most business owners make the mistake of waiting until a competitor opens up shop across the street and is cutting into profits to find out who and what they are up against.
A Competitive analysis allows you to identify your competitors and evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses. By knowing the actions of your competitors, you will have a better understanding of what products and services you should offer; how you can market them effectively; and how you can position your business.
Competitive analysis is an ongoing process. You should always be gathering information about your competitors. Look at their Web sites. Read their product literature and brochures. Get your hands on their products. See how they present themselves at trade shows. Read about them in your industry’s trade publications. Talk to your customers to see hoe they feel about competitive products or services.
2. What are the benefits of conducting a competitive analysis?
The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:
1. You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
2. You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
3. Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.
You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors.
In a recent article, I shared five of my top 10 favorite tricks for promoting your business without spending much (or any) money. Several readers wrote and said they enjoyed the first five tips, so I’m hoping the next five will be just as helpful.There’s nothing like getting valuable exposure and new clients for your business without spending a dime (or perhaps spending just a few). Here are five more of my favorite tips for doing just that.1. Submit an article to a business magazine or newsletter. Chances are there are lots of publications out there that are geared to your target audience. For instance, I receive numerous publications about marketing, communications, and running a business. These types of business publications are almost always looking for articles and information that will be valuable to their readers. And most of them welcome articles that are submitted by experts in the field (i.e., people like you). If you’re not already, familiarize yourself with the publications that your target audience reads, such as those published by trade associations or your local business newspaper (many are found at Career Success - The Power Tools For Success
The only thing standing in the way of you receiving that coveted promotion is your actions. And the only guaranteed aspect of the modern workplace is that there is nothing guaranteed. Dedication and solid goals are steps in the right direction. Using these Power Tools will definitely put you on the path to be noticed and that is more than half of the battle to being promoted.Improve your Work EthicDo More - Volunteer to Make a Difference Volunteer for assignments that expose your skills. Look for especially challenging projects that other people have declined.Arrive Early - Stay Late: Arriving early will help you to get your day planned and underway before everyone else gets to work and it starts to get busy. Your boss is probably early and will see that you are there.Giving and Receiving HelpBe a Solution Creator not a Problem Maker Anybody can find problems within organizations. My experience is that you don't need to find them...they will find you. Sometimes they have a special skill of find
2. What are the benefits of conducting a competitive analysis?
The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:
1. You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
2. You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
3. Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.
You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors
Filed under: brainstorming corner — @ 12:22 pmA disruptive technology is a new technological innovation, product, or service that eventually overturns the existing dominant technology in the market, despite the fact that the disruptive technology is both radically different from the leading technology and that it often initially performs worse than the leading technology according to existing measures of performance. A disruptive technology comes to dominate an existing market by either filling a role in a new market that the older technology could not fill or by successively moving up-market through performance improvements until finally displacing the market incumbents (wikipedia).Entrepreneurs need to be disruptive in their ways of doing things. They must seek to breakthrough the monotony of all of the “established” businesses out there in the market and turn them upside down with something so radical and crazy that must be recognized. Now this is easier said than done, of course, but if we begin to train our minds to think on a radical level about our businesses, then there are no limits to what we can do.Being young entr
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected. You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors
A business card is a small "calling card" which advertises a business or service offered. Information found on a business card includes the business name, individual contact person, and various ways to contact the service provider, including address and telephone numbers. Today, business cards also include email addresses and web site information.Paralegals communicate with many people. Often, an attorney's clients will stay in regular contact with his paralegal. This is because a legal assistant is generally more accessible than the attorney and can be depended on to route important information between the two.When a paralegal meets with a new client to gather pertinent information it is usually the first contact that client has had with the firm and that employee. Handing them a business card at meeting's end is a professional touch. Clients appreciate having easy access to telephone numbers and even the paralegal's name. Often the circumstances that led them to an attorney's office are unsettling. They might not initially recall names easily, so a business card takes out the guess work. That business card is also a small
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected. You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors. These are the market leaders, the companies who currently dominate your market. Next, look at your secondary and indirect competitors. These are the businesses who may not go head-to-head with you, but who are targeting the same general market.
Finally, look at potential competitors. These are companies who might be moving into your market and who need to prepare to compete against.
Analyze strengths and weaknesses
After you have figured out who your competitors are, determine their strengths and find out what their vulnerabilities are. Why do customers buy from them? Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Focus on as many “perceived” strengths and weaknesses as you do on actual ones.
Tabulate the strengths and weaknesses in a table format. This will allow you to see, at a glance, where each competitor stands.
Look at opportunities and threats
Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.
Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic. You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analysis.
1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.
These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.
2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc
3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
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