7 Ways to Outperform Your Competitors
Life is a competition – the ultimate survival of the fittest. Every aspect of life involves an element of competition. However, choosing to see competitors from a more positive angle can help brands improve their attitude towards competition and their competitors while leveraging it to improve the performance of their brand.
If you have been running away from the reality that your competitors exist or operating beneath the shadows of your competitors, it is time to get out of that state. It is better to start finding ways to outperform them in order to dominate the industry of your brand. If you would like to discover how your brand can outperform its competitors, it would be wise to contact a digital marketing agency to assist you with this task. For now, let’s take a look at 7 ways you can start outperforming your competitors.
1. Find their weaknesses and leverage it
It is often said, in books about kingdoms and conquests, that the best time to strike is when such targeted kingdoms show any sign of weakness. Brands looking out for the weakness of their competitors must also realize that they should also give no room for any weakness. This is because their competitors will also be on the lookout. The best time to strike down a competitor is when they are showing any form of weakness in how they operate which often has an effect on how the brand is perceived by the customer. A simple lapse like not responding promptly to inquiries made by customers, not resolving customer complaints promptly or even poor delivery or return service is a perfect striking opportunity. And you strike by improving your brand in these areas.
2. Improve on what your competitors offer and give that advanced offer to your target audience
If you are going to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to make moves that will keep you ahead of them. Simple moves like giving a better offer to your shared target audience, of course without shooting yourself in the knee. Find out what your competitors are offering if you can offer the same thing at an affordable price, do that. If you can’t reduce the price, you can improve on the offer to that it would make it more attractive to the target audience.
3. Build a brand that is flexible and widespread
Building a strong online presence is not negotiable for any brand – new or existing – that wants to stay afloat in their industry. However, even with the Herculean task that search engines, social media networking platforms, and other local listings websites do to help businesses get some good exposure online, organizations still need to think out of the box. They still need to find ways to keep creating awareness online about their brand. These days it is not about making your customers come to you, rather it is about finding ways to go and meet your customers where they are.
Basically, you are hunting out for a more natural setting where brands can easily connect to their customers and sell to them. This means if they are on social media, your brand is there too. If they are using emails frequently, your brand is there. If they are on their favorite shopping website, the brand is there. If they are reading through their favorite blogs, the brand is also there. Businesses need to become more flexible about their presence online and penetrate every place where their ideal customers are. This way, they can be ahead of their competitors, both offline and online, who solely rely on a few channels to boost their online or offline presence.
4. Partner with secondary competitors to expand your market
Strategic partnership with secondary competitors of a brand can help stand an organization to out in a crowded industry. Seek out smaller secondary competitors that you can partner with.
Secondary competitors (also known as indirect competitors) might have the same products or services targeted at a different audience or different products or services targeted at the same audience. For instance, we can have a maternity photographer, makeup artist, photography props creator, maternity fashion line form a joint partnership. This would be easy to do because they have different products or services that cater to the same target audience.
They can decide to run a contest online and select a winner that will get a free maternity shoot where all involved will give their service free or at a discount (based on the agreement in the partnership). This way, each brand will get equal exposure to new and existing customers and they can individually offer their services or products to them. Such a joint partnership with secondary competitors can help brands struggling in a highly saturated industry.
5. Be innovative
Innovation is all about pioneering changes that will positively affect the lives of people. Always be on the lookout for ways to improve the service or products the brand offers as well as how your customers can access them. By being constantly innovative you keep creating a gap between your brand and your competitors, making it more difficult for them to keep up with the brand.
6. Be sure that the brand is actually solving a problem
Not all brands are out there to solve a problem. Some are out to fulfill the passion of the founder. In fact, most companies start that way, with the burning and unquenchable passion of the founder. But it is dangerous to remain that way if you are thinking of eventually dominating the industry where the brand is. Take some time out to map out the mission and objective of the brand, then tailor it to a problem you hope to solve. By actually solving some of the everyday problems people have, it will become easy for you to find customers that your solutions best fit, and if the brands keep at this (solving that problem), they can over time outshine their competitors.
7. Focus on the customer and satisfy them
It is very easy to get carried away with every other aspect of building a successful brand and forget the customer’s exact need. Once you have identified and understood the niche of the brand, it is important to understand clearly who the exact or ideal customers of the brand are. This will give brands better insight into what their specific needs are. Understanding what the specific needs of the customer are will help the brand put more energy on meeting to those. Do not underestimate the power of a satisfied customer.