Who are your competitors? We’ll wait while you think about it….
Have you thought about this before? If not, you should be. Knowing your competitors is important to your brand’s success. You need to know what your advantages and disadvantages are. What makes your brand different? What do you have to offer that they don’t? Conducting regular competitive analysis will keep your brand at the forefront of your industry. You should first know who your direct, indirect and substitute competitors are. Once you know this, you can begin to gather information about them. How do their products and services compare to yours? What about their pricing? What is their reach and where do they engage their customers? Once you have done this it is time to move on to the next step. Review their website and online presence. Is their target market the same as yours? What type of reputation do they have and how does it compare to your brand? How big is their brand compared to yours and who do they work with? This can give your brand insight into future partnerships for yours. Lastly, what are their strengths and weaknesses as a company?
Once you have done all of this and answered all of these questions, you can determine your position relative to your competitors. What’s your advantage and disadvantage? This can help your brand improve on areas of weakness and increases your strengths. Areas of opportunity will become apparent and your brand can grow. So, have you done a competitive analysis lately? If not, it’s time to finish out the year strong with improvements going into the new year!
