Beat the competition! Learn everything about your competitor

You may know who you are up against in the marketplace, but how much do you really know about your competitors? Competitor research doesn’t need to be complex; Africa Report has narrowed it down to five steps.

By Craig Falck for Africa Report

Step 1 – Make a list. It’s important to know who you’re fighting with in terms of market share. The only way to do this is to research your industry and draw up a list of all the game players. Once this is done, narrow the list down or even group the names on your list into smaller subsections so that you can pinpoint who presents a general threat and who needs to have an eagle eye trained upon their every move because they are or they do almost exactly the same as your company.

Step 2 – Use your eyes. Go into stores and have a look at what all is on offer. Have a hands-on approach to your competitors’ products – look, see, touch and feel… See what they do differently to you and how you can improve your products and/or services to be better than theirs. If you must, buy one of their products, take it back to the office and strip it to its core elements. Then have a look at what they are doing in the non-tangible world (online presence: websites, social networking, links on other related websites; magazines: review articles, stories about the products; activations and promotions). See what they are doing to get their brand out into the market and attract customers.

Step 3 - Do customer surveys. Don’t be afraid to ask your customer base questions about your competitors. You may be surprised at some of the feedback you get, such as why your customers prefer you, what they know about the competition, why they have thought about trying out the competition, etc.

Step 4 – Attend conferences and trade shows. They might seem drab and dull affairs and watching paint dry would be more fun, but these events will give you unimagined access to your competition. You can watch them in action at trade shows, see how they interact with customers and fare in the market environment. You can identify their weak spots and strengths by simply watching them.

Step 5 – The market never lies. If sales are up, find out why. if sales are down, find out why. Hire a market research company to conduct surveys among the general public and analyse the results as well as analyse the market to discover trends and hidden secrets. If you don’t know what the public is doing with regards to your competitors, you don’t know where you stand against them.

Researching your competition is vital to any business. By knowing what is happening in your environment, you are given a platform from which to launch a counter attack to secure an important part of the market share. So, know who you’re fighting with – it could improve your company’s success.