Taking a Gun to a Knife Fight: How Right Competitive Solutions and Messaging Win More Business
Your business will be competing unless you exist in a vacuum. You may only have a few competitors or many, but you will want to beat them. You have to be tough to survive in this dog-eat-dog world. Keep your head up, keep ahead of the game, and use every business cliche that you can. Your business’ DNA is about bouncing off the walls of competition.
It’s simple: Beat the competition = Get More Customers = Gain More Success.
It is not easy to be a businessperson, especially in the world of commerce.
Competition can encourage you to lose your focus and make a mistake. Spending too much time trying to outwit your competitors could be costly. Acme Solutions might have customers who are interested in a product similar to yours, but that is not the problem. It’s not the problem.
The problem is, you haven’t asked your market what they want.
What is the competition?
Who is the competition for your customer’s business? You might mistakenly think that the Chinese restaurant down the street or the McDonald’s in the mall is your competition. They’re offering cooked food and promises of good times in the same manner as your humble eatery.
They’re not the only threat. Everywhere you look, there are potential threats to your business.
To name two, there’s the bar next to it and the grocery shop next to it.
Wait? What about a grocery store? Blue Apron Gourmet meals can be a direct competitor to your restaurant. The customer who had planned to go to your restaurant previously notices a good recipe in the store and decides that they will stay for dinner. This, my friend, is a competition. You have a lot of competition from ready-to-eat, gourmet meals.
Corner and supermarket stores are also options. You can also find it at the local cinema house. Any competitor is anything that takes customers away from your restaurant. Even a sick child who is about to go out on a date with you is a competitor.
There is a lot of competition, and it can be hazardous. It’s not always what you think. It is any product or service that solves the exact same problem for your market, even if it’s an entirely different solution.
It is good to have competition.
Yes. Yes. Competition is generally reasonable. It gives you a choice, improves your part of the pie, and leads to innovation. You’d need to invent your own solutions instead of copying them. These corporations and people who are illusory actually justify your existence. You’re not the only one who believes this product is helpful. It’s good to have competition. It is excellent to compete!
You can learn from your competition how to succeed. How do you know?
Examine your top five successful competitors. You can do a Google search for each competitor and see the links to the channels and visibility partners that they have used over the years to increase awareness and drive revenue. There are likely to be many opportunities for your company through these channels. Look at how they market themselves.
It’s one thing to see that their market is reaching out through social media networks like Facebook, Pinterest Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook. It’s quite another to find out what they are doing on these platforms to engage with their audience. Check out the newsletters of your competitors to see how they reach their customers. Learn how email marketing can strengthen their relationships and credibility with the target market.
It’s not enough to keep your head up by keeping your nose on the ground.
Many businesses fall for the trap of trying to stay ahead of their competition. You could offer a three-for-two deal at the shop across the street, or you could go further and offer a buy one, get one discount. You decide to offer a complimentary cup of ground coffee and a cafeteria along with every pack. You decide it’s a good time to open a legal practice in your park.
It is easy to lose sight of what your customers really want when you are trying to keep up with the competition. You lose focus. It’s a bad thing.
Forget Sticking Plaster Solutions
Let’s just say that your competition is irrelevant.
You will end up in an early grave if you spend too much time trying to keep small amounts of profit ahead of your closest competitor.
Your market is crucial. You must understand that your market is the only thing that matters. It doesn’t. It’s like applying a bandaid to an ax wound.
For the whole solution, dig deep.
If you offer what your market needs, your product or service will be a success. They will be satisfied if you offer a solution. This is why people buy things. They want your product. Is it enough? Is it better? It is possible to find out the actual cost of the problem, whether it be financial, emotional, or physical, and then discover the solution. You need to dig deep into the thoughts of your customers in order to do this. It is essential to think beyond the rote surveys that market research companies often use.
Let’s suppose that your competitors have a permanent solution for a problem your market has been suffering from for many years. What do you think the market would prefer a sustainable solution that actually works? How would it make a difference to their business?
It takes time and effort to eliminate competition and dig deeper into the market problem. Many businesses simply stick with the time-honored process of beating Geoff and Mabel down the road. It’s much more accessible. It’s that simple. Although it may not result in success, at least you are all using the same weapons. It’s not common for anyone to bring a gun to a local knife fight.
This is what distinguishes true entrepreneurs from wannabe business leaders. They are able to see through the layers of a problem and continue asking the childish WHY until they find a solution. Your market is the ready-made expert that knows everything about the problem. They know how it affects their lives and what the solution should look like.
As an entrepreneur, your job is to analyze the problem and find the solution that will blow the competition away. If you have the perfect solution for your market’s problem, who needs to put in the effort to keep up with the rest of the pack? You will know what your market wants and needs.
