Are you a small business struggling to keep your market share as the competition in your niche increases? In this scenario, you are not alone. Every business comes across increase pressure from the competition. After all, you and your competitors are fighting for the same share of the market. It is essential to respond effectively when competitors start entering your niche. Here are ways to help you in this endeavor.
Research Your Rivals
The first thing you must do is effectively research the business of your rivals. This includes studying their marketing strategy, product offering, target audience, and communications. Researching your competitors allows you to know what threats to prepare for. How do you research your rivals? Several tools that can greatly help include Google Analytics and Google Alert. These technologies provide you with data on how much customers you are receiving, how customers are interacting with your brand, and which areas your competitors are making the most gains on.
Analyze Your Findings
Merely collecting data is not enough to give you an edge. Instead, you must gain insights from it as well. You can use the data gathered to see how you can learn from the strategies and policies of your competitors. On the other hand, you can also see what areas they are struggling with and can target those weak points to gain a higher market share.
Create a Strong Competitive Advantage
To create an advantage that cannot be replicated by competitors, you must position your brand uniquely in the minds of consumers. After doing a SWOT analysis of your company and your rivals, you must then pinpoint your strengths and build your competitive advantage. For instance, you can choose to focus on delivering quality customer service or introduce a special program that rewards long-term customers. You can also maximize your efforts in product innovation, developing unique solutions that cannot be offered anywhere else. Your competitive advantage is going to be your main distinctive selling factor, so center it on your best strengths.
In business and marketing, competitors exist at any time. In some cases, they can even encroach upon a niche that you may have been dominated by your business. In these cases, it is important to have a plan in place to respond to them and ensure your business remains the market leader. With these practices, you can take the appropriate steps to not only retain your market share, but gain more from these competitors. As you review your strategy with your team, incorporate these practices into your approach.
