Saturday, November 3, 2012

Attention Small Business Owners: How To Consistently Maintain An Eye On Your Competition

Whether you operate an on-line company or a brick & mortar shop, you always wish to keep an eye on your competition. Not necessarily to replicate what they are doing, for that is not a successful marketing method, but to keep your finger on the pulse of exactly what your customers are requesting with their spending dollar.

Many business owners ponder why it's even important to maintain an eye on their competitors. The basic truth is that just how your competitors market and promote their services or product indirectly (as well as directly) impacts your company. For instance, if you and your competitors offer the very same type of kitten condos, however one of your competitors is having a significant sale on their stock of cat condos, you may observe a reduction in your sales for the week. Without having a pulse on what your competitors are doing, you could be stumped as to the reason. In all sincerity, if your business is a successful one or in the public eye regularly, your competitors, are actually maintaining tabs on you also.

Along the same lines as the example of competitor sales formerly mentioned, you want to be sure that you stay aware of your competitors offers both online and off. Online is simple given that you may just make a Google alert for the competitors' name and anytime something online is released associated with their company, you will receive an email message. You need to do this for yourself as well in order to regularly keep track of the cyber talk happening concerning your company and promptly reply to any kind of appropriate mentions. Of course, to defend your reputation and your respectability, you do not want to copy precisely just what your competitors are doing, instead use this as an opportunity to do something different and develop your own self as a trailblazer or thought leader concerning your product or service. You ought to most definitely use this method if you are thought about to be a specialized store.

If you run an internet company then it is even much easier to snoop on your competitors. Just visit their website and ask yourself a few questions. Exactly how does their website compare to yours in terms of layout, attractiveness and ease of navigation? Pretend that you are a consumer and experience the order process to determine exactly how straightforward it is. You or a member of your team can walk through the website bearing in mind each step in the process to achieve a wanted result, whether it is to collect certain information, make schedule a session or purchase an item.

Similar to the above mentioned technique of monitoring sales, we are not recommending that you take concepts or website designs from your competitors. In fact, doing so can land you in some major hot water, as numerous companies copyright their whole website material. However utilizing the insights that you uncover from your competitors' website can easily present you opportunities to make your visitor's online experience a momentous and also gratifying one.

If instead you operate a storefront business, it is certainly a good idea to see the competitors' business to observe the layout, traffic flow as well as visual aesthetic of their shop. Check into additional neighborhood retailers in the area that offer items just like yours. Just how do they show their product lines? Do you notice their customers gravitating to a particular item or area of the shop? Do they hang around in a certain hot spot? Numerous big retail stores have strongly established systems that are utilized to determine where products should be positioned for sale in a store. Because you do not have the time, knowledge or budget to dedicate to such an effort, seeing the shop is a great way to get some ideas from your competition; specifically the successful ones. Likewise, be mindful of exactly how they readjust their marketing and advertising for the changing holiday periods as well as view just what imaginative advertising concepts spring forth from that observation.

That being pointed out, this listing is by no means complete as there a variety of various ways that you can easily keep an eye on just what your competitors are doing. Exactly what you discover from scouting out your competitors should make it easier for your business to be an effective, profitable one; and while additional businesses close their doors, yours will stay open and flourishing.


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