What Your Competition Is Doing Better Than You
Do you feel like your competition has got an edge over your business? It’s time to figure out why that is and how you can win over the local market. While you won’t be able to find your competitor’s hard numbers and sales data, you can do a competitive analysis to see what they could be doing better than you. Here’s what to look for:
Better website design
Web design matters. If your website is just so-so and your competitors have a well-developed and well-designed site, guess which one your potential customers are more likely to prefer? It’s not enough to simply secure your domain and slap your business name and contact info on it. You need to invest in a clean, modern website design with a user-friendly interface. It should look great on laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. You also have to focus on the behind-the-scenes elements like SEO and link building. A great website takes time, effort, and investment, but will pay off significantly in the long run.
Producing better content
An important part of building out your website and getting ranked higher in search engines is by producing smart, helpful, original content. Read through your competitor’s content and see how it compares to yours. Do they update frequently? Do they offer in-depth guides and helpful how-to’s? You should never copy anyone’s content, but you can go through it and see where you could stand to improve your own in order to provide real value to your target market.
Greater social media reach
Check out your competition’s social media accounts. If they have a lot of followers, post daily, and engage frequently with those followers, it’s time for you to step up your game. Social media can be overwhelming, but in today’s competitive environment, it’s crucial that you’re using it to your advantage. It’s not enough to just have an account. You have to be active, build a following, and keep your audience’s attention.
Better branding and messaging
Branding is what sets you apart and makes your business memorable. Maybe your main competitors have a cool logo and a great tagline that you wish you’d thought of. Focus on redesigning your logo if it’s lackluster. Brainstorm fresh messaging ideas and see what other people think. It may be time to refresh an outdated look or take the next steps to develop your brand.
Keeping customers updated
Your competition may be doing more to stay in front of their customers and keep them updated. They may have a newsletter for web visitors to subscribe to or a mailing list that visitors can sign up for. Just reaching out to your target market regularly is a great way to stay relevant, make a sale, or turn current customers into repeat buyers.
One important takeaway is to recognize that there are always areas you can improve. You don’t want to copy your competition, but you do what to be monitoring what they’re doing. Compare aspects of their advertising and marketing strategies to your own. Make note of what they are doing well, and what they are not doing well. From there, you can develop your own ideas to try out something new for your business.
To learn more about how we can provide you with a competitive analysis for your business, please visit our digital strategy services page.
