4th April 2017
With this blog scheduled for the 4th of July, we decided to mention our neighbours across the pond. America celebrate Independence Day for breaking free and starting a fresh new country. The political importance of this date has, over time, decreased. However, the importance of a national holiday to rejoice their achievements remain the same. The usual festivities include a big town parade or a family BBQ.
The freedom of a nation can be looked upon as similar to freeing your business from your competition. So this blog will give you some information about how to break-free from your competition and begin your own celebration for independence.
Identify and Profile
Before you can start research how to break free from the competitors you need to know who they are. You can do this by building a basic profile and answering the questions below.
Define your industry and what is considered direct and indirect competitions for you.
- Direct: someone who does exactly the same as you with the same target audience.
- Indirect: someone who can alter the customer’s patterns – think smart phones and cameras.
Create a profile: Determine what key factors allow a business in the industry to be successful. Then rank the factors and rate the business accordingly.
A basic profile should include the following, along with the key factors.
-Who?
-What they sell?
-What is their market share?
-Past and Current Strategies
– Types of media they use to market themselves?
-SWOT Analysis
Analyse The competition
1) Website: see how they promote themselves within their own space.
2) Social Media: see how they engage with their customers.
3) Mailing List: this will allow you to see their promotions, special offers, pricing, style and contents, branding and visual identity,
Why is it important to try and break free?
- Help management understand their competitive advantage/disadvantages relative to competitors.
- Generate understanding of competitors’ past, present and (more important) future strategies.
- Provide an informed basis to develop strategic to achieve competitive advantage in the future.
- Forecast the return that maybe made from future investment (e.g. how will competitors respond to new product and pricing strategy?)