Competition is Healthy for Your Business

Competition makes your business better!

There will always be competition, but how you choose to view competition and act can actually make your business stronger and with a healthier bottom line. There will be businesses who ignore the warning signs and refuse to work with a marketer who will do a good competitive analysis which goes in to detail about what makes a customer choose one provider over another.  Is it price, reputation, brand, visibility, long-term satisfied customers who share word-of-mouth, or other factors that make each business in the area successful? Having an analysis of the competition and why people in your area buy or do business with them, along with your own business analysis, is the first step to having your competition help your business.  You need to see where you differentiate from the competition and what areas you are weak in that could be improved.

After you have a marketing consultant or your marketing department research and analyze the data about how you compare to your competition, it is important to create an effective marketing plan based on what you have discovered. Example of this is if you know your strengths is customer service and a loyal customer base who has done business with you for years, you would make sure that in your marketing plan you create value for your customers for continued loyalty and reward them for referrals.  It is the buy 10 cups of coffee and get the eleventh free customer loyalty program or the refer a friend campaign where they refer a friend and get 5% off their next order.  There are numerous variations to these programs, but the key is to make it something of value as a way of saying thank-you for your loyal patronage.

When there is competition, your business needs to step-up your marketing and make more of an effort to share with people who you are, what you sell and why they should buy from you. This doesn’t have to cost you a lot, but this could be simple fliers, leaflets on cars, signs in store to a social media marketing campaign or advertising on radio or TV.  This is where your marketing consultant or department will guide you to choose what works best within your budget.  There are many ways your business can shine in your market from a fresh coat of paint to the exterior of the building with a new sign, taking great care to pay and treat your employees well so they are a happy face for your business, customer retention and loyalty programs, expanding in to new markets and possibly adding more offers that might attract some new faces to your business, but the key is to always see competition as a way to improve on your existing business.

Need help with knowing and understanding your market or how to stand-out from the crowd? Contact Purple Diamond!