Mobile App or Responsive Website: Which is Best for your Business?
If you’re looking to build a mobile asset for your company, you’ll need to decide whether you should opt for a native mobile app or a mobile...
The idea stage is the perfect time for market research and researching your competition. You may have a rock-solid idea that you think will blow the competition out of the water, but the problem that many startups have is that they don’t invest an adequate amount of time or energy in determining who their competitors are, what they’re doing that’s working and not working, and where their weaknesses lie that you can leverage.
It’s crucial that moving beyond your idea you justify how exactly it will fit into the market and how you will differentiate yourself from others. Your idea may be great, but if it’s being done better and with more established practices by companies that have three or four years ahead of you, it’s possible that it will need some fine-tuning.
In the idea stage, draw up a business plan for analysis that you can use, and figure out what metrics you will use to determine how the competition is doing, and know what mistakes you need to avoid. Ask yourself what questions you need answered: Who are your potential customers and how does the competition reach them? What kinds of marketing does the competition use? What are the business models of the competition? What are some potential myths holding you back?
Once you know how you’re going to proceed with competitive analysis, it’s crucial to use all the tools at your disposal that are cost-effective and strategic to make sure you find out where in the market you will fit.
It’s absolutely crucial to figure out what the market looks like, who the major players are, and what the key industry trends are that are impacting your competition and potentially creating gaps that you can enter to find your niche.
A quick glance at the make-up of their employees can tell you a lot of things about what they’re focusing on, whether explicitly or hidden behind closed doors. By understanding their team, you understand what sorts of projects or sales processes they’re focusing on.
The best way to know thy enemy is to keep them close. Consider purchasing whatever product or service they offer and do your best to take an objective approach to it. What do you like about it? What do you wish they were better at doing? Knowing what their engagement is like at every step can help you determine where they’re falling short.
Google is going to be one of your best friends when it comes to researching the competition. However, you can’t just stop at a simple Google search—though Google does have plenty of other tools you can use to determine their business plans, advertising models, keywords, and other information beyond simply seeing how a search engine crawls their site. Use every bit of information at your disposal when finding out more information about them.
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