When I started my first company, I had a lot of competitors. I assumed that my company would bring more value to people than others. And it sure did. But after a year and a half, we failed.
The reason?
Our competitors literally killed us.
“How were they better than you if you shared more value?” – you’re probably asking yourself right now.
When we started, they already had a lot more traffic, a bigger community and people supporting them.
The answer is easy. They simply norway phone number library monitored us every day and, therefore, were one step ahead!
That is why I would like to share my knowledge and experience with you.
Entering a red ocean full of competitors can be very, very hard and exhausting. Surely your mentors and business advisors were consulting you to create a new market or find a niche in the existing one and build your sustainable and long-lasting business there.
But let's be honest, is that really possible?
Yes, it is, but the chances of you being the next Airbnb are very small.
Instead, what you can do is periodically monitor your competitors' websites, social media, and conversion strategies.
In this article, you will learn:
5 tips on how to understand your competitors' strategies
How to use your research to beat them
How to turn their customers into yours
via GIPHY
Do your competitors have huge email databases? Wow, what an opportunity for you!
We've all heard the myth that email campaigns are the most effective type of marketing. I guess it's really annoying for you to create massive newsletter campaigns and outreach activities almost every day (at least it is for me). But I'll have to disappoint you.
Yes, it is the most effective way to reach new customers. And if your competitor has frequent email campaigns (I'm sure they do), then of course you should have them too!
Hiring a blogger outreach agency can be a win-win situation when you don't plan to manually reach out to your audience and get great results.
There is a secret way to uncover your competitors' newsletter conversion campaigns.
Believe me, only one secret can really help you!
Ready to get started?
It's pretty easy and straightforward. All you need to do is simply join your competitor's newsletter!
That's not so difficult. Okay?
For the example we will take the following scenario:
Your competitor will change their newsletter call-to-action button from “Sign up here” to “Start your free trial now! No credit card required!”
This is very valuable for you or your marketing team because you can easily find out what your competition’s strategy is.
Tracking your competitors' mentions on the Internet
By tracking your competitor's mentions on the Internet, you can easily discover their popularity on the web and among customers.
Google Alerts This is the way to go! Simply enter the keywords you would like to track in the Google Alerts dashboard. This can be, for example, the name of your competitor or the names of some executives who work there.
For example, if you find out that your competitor has just been mentioned in the New York Times or Forbes, you might become concerned and pay more attention to their PR campaigns.
Of course, if your competitor is a very large company, their email dashboard can sometimes be very cluttered with Google Alerts notifications and it can sometimes take a lot of time to check them all. But trust me, it's worth it!
Identify opportunities in your competitors' social media strategy
Don't be afraid to stalk them. Leave the shame behind and start beating them!
Through social media, we communicate with the foundation of every business: our customers. If you regularly monitor your competitors’ presence on social media, you will be able to find out what strategies they use, what content they write, and most importantly, you will be able to find out whether their customers are satisfied or not.
If they are not satisfied, ask yourself: “What can I do to be better than them?”
Brand Mentions is an alternative to Google Alerts, only for Social Media. It allows you to monitor your competitors' mentions on social media.
The valuable data you gained from daily social media research of your competitors can help you a lot! Very often you can skip the “trial and error” process and save time. It is necessary to understand the network and the important metrics.
Interview your competitors' customers to find holes in their strategy.
As I mentioned earlier, monitoring your competitors' web presence is very important, but one thing you cannot afford to miss is constant communication with your competitors' customers, who will most likely become yours one day.
Try to find the place on the web where your competitor's customers congregate. This can be:
Facebook groups or pages
LinkedIn Groups and Competitor Followers on LinkedIn
Or some other specialized channels for your industry.
Go and talk to them. Interview 20-50 customers (Trust me, this is not a waste of time). Ask them:
“What are your biggest pain points about [the problem]?”
"Do you have any solution for that?"
"Are you using [competitor's service/product]?"
"What do you think about it?"
"What would you like to improve in the product?"
"How did you hear about them (or become their client)?"
The answers to these questions can help you better determine and understand your competitors' acquisition strategy, or uncover your customers' biggest problems and gaps in your product or service.
