Why Competitive Research is the Backbone of Any Successful Marketing Campaign
Why Competitive Research is the Backbone of Any Successful Marketing Campaign
Research shows you what your competition is doing. That sounds like an obvious statement, but it's an important one. If you look closely at what your competitors are doing, you can see what is working for them. Every business should have a unique approach to their market – something that they can offer that their competitors cannot. By researching what they are doing, you can see how they are positioning themselves in the marketplace. And by evaluating their success, you see what angles are going to bring in business and what angles are not.
As a simple example, let's say you run a struggling office supply company. You have better prices than your competitors, but you are still getting beat. You are positioning yourself as the best-priced office supply company in town in all of your marketing materials. By looking at your competition, you see they have a website where customers can fill up an order cart and have supplies sent right to their office. That tells you that the market wants convenience more than anything else. Now you set up a website and advertise that you are easy-to-use and have the best prices in town. Sales go up.
You also can take a look at what your competition is not doing. This can be valuable if there is a need in your market that hasn't been fulfilled. Back to your office supply company: you are starting to catch up with your competitors, but you haven't gotten there yet. You need to take an angle that will really bring customers in. After looking closely at your competition, you see that their customers log in every week to place orders. You know that it would be much easier on the customer if they could automate those orders. So, you implement a new system that allows automatic reordering of supplies that customers use up regularly. Now, not only are you saving them more money than your competitor, you are also saving them more time. Sales skyrocket.
The goal in studying competition is not just to see what they are doing. Your goal is to see if what they're doing is working. Through competitive research, you gain valuable insight on your market: you see what they want and what they don't want. Using this information can help you take a strong position in the marketplace, filling a need that your prospective customer hasn't had filled before.
How you position yourself in the market is the most important decision you can make in your marketing. Competitive research will help you make the right decision.
Why Competitive Research is the Backbone of Any Successful Marketing Campaign - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Geisheker's Website.
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Businesses, particularly small ones, tend to get caught up in all of their own day-to-day affairs and operations. In the case of marketing, a business owner may be struggling to put together that winning campaign – trying to focus on being clever and memorable. But only looking at your own business is half the marketing battle. You need to be taking clear notes on your competition. That doesn't mean plagiarizing their campaigns, of course. It means taking the time to do some competitive research. Why? Because competitive research shows you how to position your company in the minds of your market.
Research shows you what your competition is doing. That sounds like an obvious statement, but it's an important one. If you look closely at what your competitors are doing, you can see what is working for them. Every business should have a unique approach to their market – something that they can offer that their competitors cannot. By researching what they are doing, you can see how they are positioning themselves in the marketplace. And by evaluating their success, you see what angles are going to bring in business and what angles are not.
As a simple example, let's say you run a struggling office supply company. You have better prices than your competitors, but you are still getting beat. You are positioning yourself as the best-priced office supply company in town in all of your marketing materials. By looking at your competition, you see they have a website where customers can fill up an order cart and have supplies sent right to their office. That tells you that the market wants convenience more than anything else. Now you set up a website and advertise that you are easy-to-use and have the best prices in town. Sales go up.
You also can take a look at what your competition is not doing. This can be valuable if there is a need in your market that hasn't been fulfilled. Back to your office supply company: you are starting to catch up with your competitors, but you haven't gotten there yet. You need to take an angle that will really bring customers in. After looking closely at your competition, you see that their customers log in every week to place orders. You know that it would be much easier on the customer if they could automate those orders. So, you implement a new system that allows automatic reordering of supplies that customers use up regularly. Now, not only are you saving them more money than your competitor, you are also saving them more time. Sales skyrocket.
The goal in studying competition is not just to see what they are doing. Your goal is to see if what they're doing is working. Through competitive research, you gain valuable insight on your market: you see what they want and what they don't want. Using this information can help you take a strong position in the marketplace, filling a need that your prospective customer hasn't had filled before.
How you position yourself in the market is the most important decision you can make in your marketing. Competitive research will help you make the right decision.
Why Competitive Research is the Backbone of Any Successful Marketing Campaign - To learn more about this author, visit Peter Geisheker's Website.
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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