Whatever industry you work in, you won’t be the only company operating in it. You’ll have numerous competitors working in the same spheres with similar product and services. This creates a driven environment and encourages all of you to be more proactive with your business to make it stand out among the crowd. However, as with all things, you need to make sure you stay within your ethical boundaries when competing with other businesses in your industry.
In addition, you can even learn from their failures and successes when you’re making your own business plans. For example, if a particular campaign is working out well for Charter Spectrum, its competitors will try to replicate the success. Similarly, you should see what other companies are doing, and take cue from them. However, do not resort to outright copying and plagiarism. Instead, get a general idea of what works well and put your own spin on it. Here are some things you should look into when checking out your business competitors.
Making Relevant Content
You should make content which is relevant to your field and to your audience. Good content is quite powerful and can attract droves to your business. So, see what sort of content your competitors are making, and how it is performing.
See if they’re putting up case studies on their website, or have a series of informational blogs going on. Whether this content is knowledge-driven or marketing-driven, you should see how you can add value to your customers’ lives.
Quality Over Quantity
When you’re looking into your competitors’ marketing and sales strategy, do look at their posting frequency, but do not make it your main lesson. Instead, look at the quality of the content that works, not the quantity. See what sort of content and strategies the audience responds the most to.
Then, you can figure out the right quantities for your needs, and focus more on the quality of what worked.
This way, you can avoid spending huge amounts of resources on superfluous campaigns and narrow down what will reap you the best results.
Audience Engagement
Every industry has its own sort of tone and personality. Some industries are very casual with their audience, while others take a more sage-like and serious approach. Look around at your competitors and see what tone and methods they use to interact with their audience.
Then, you can figure out how to emulate this tone or tweak it a bit to catch your own niche audience.
In addition, you can also see what demographics your competitors are targeting. This can help you figure out your own target audience more accurately.
Market Trends
There is no better way to gauge market trends than seeing what your competitors are up to. Check what they’re doing when it comes to marketing, sales, and distribution. Consider what is working out well in their case, and how it is applicable to your business.
Try to predict these trends as well, and look up to more largescale and older competitors to see what business trajectory you can expect. These trends will help you plan your marketing, sales, and distribution plans accordingly. However, do make sure you keep some resources aside for disruptive anomalies like natural disasters and pandemics. Otherwise, these trends are a great tool for your planning.
Visual Elements
You should also focus on your general aesthetic and design sense when promoting your business. Take a look at what sort of visual elements your competitors are using, and then see how audiences respond. These days, minimalism is du jour for most industries. However, you can stand out if you put your own spin on it with eye-catching color schemes.
Whatever aesthetic you choose, make sure you don’t veer too far from a central theme or emulate your competitor’s designs too closely. This will help your audience identify you immediately even if they’re scrolling past their social media feeds absentmindedly.
Social Media Strategy
Social media now plays a central role in the success of a company. Therefore, you need to focus on your own social media strategy and also take a look at what other companies are doing.
Are they interacting with their audience? Do they put up fun, interactive posts? Do they have videos up on their pages?
Ask yourself all these questions, and see where your social media strategies are lacking. Remedy the situation and stand out among the competition.
To sum up, you should really look at your competitors when you’re planning your business strategies. You can get a lot of ideas of what to do and what not to do.
