How to outperform your rivals?
A strong competitive analysis.
As a small business owner, your competition is everything. And knowing what they're up to can help you define your strategy... But only if you take the time to make sense of the playing field.
A strong competitive analysis is about more than uncovering who your direct and indirect competitors are. It means documenting what these competitors are doing well, where they fall short, and where they leave room for you to outshine them.
It's a formal but straightforward process you can create in a Google or Microsoft Word document. Write out your competitors and compare their:
- Product or service offerings
- Pricing
- Messaging
- Marketing channels
- Customer experience
Use that information to position your business against others. Does the quality of your product give you a competitive advantage? Maybe you offer a similar experience, but at a lower cost? Just make sure you work from good research — competitor websites, customer reviews, even shopping from the competitor yourself — to determine how you'll want to stand out.
Need help seeing exactly how this works? Watch the video above showing a real example of competitive analysis, including how to build the framework, research your competition, and decide what differentiates you in the market.
