How To Research Your Competition

No matter what type of business you are in, sooner or later, there is going to be competition. Most will not be a problem to you but some can be formidable. Once again, living and working is a small town gives you a certain advantage over your competition.

If the competitor is a new business, it's hard for them to do the preliminary studies for starting the business without someone hearing about it and carrying the message to you.
If it's an established competitor, they too will have trouble rolling out a new campaign without your knowing it's coming.

You probably think you know your competitors. In most cases you only know the obvious ones. First, let's look at the two ways to identify competitors.

• Price contenders - These are the people who go after the consumer dollar. Generally low price is their key message. They are always going to get a certain segment of your customers base...the price shopper.
  
• Strategy contenders - This is a much stronger group. They make a case for doing business with them by the advertising and marketing strategies they use. These are much stronger competitors than the price contenders.
  

First of all, resign yourself to the fact that your competitors are going to get wind of what ever plans you have. They are going to adjust their future plans in proportion to how strong your plan is and what kind of threat you are to their business. Here are my suggestions for keeping them in the dark.


Concentrate your testing internally with employees and customers. Ask your best customers to fill out questionnaires regarding their perceptions of your competition. You don't need to mention your competitor’s names in the questionnaire but generically describe their services and procedures and get your customers reaction.
Evaluate the questionnaires and see if the competition is advertising where the target market says they are looking. If they aren't advertising there... why not? Have you missed something or are they just spending their ad dollars in the wrong place?

Next, try UN-ADVERTISED testing within your business. If you must test something, do it in-house so you are there to control any unforeseen negatives that might arise.
Most businesses rely on outside sources. Suppliers, distributors, salespeople, accountants, attorneys and customers. These people are a great source of information on your competitors. Let them talk about what they are doing. Sometimes they will let information slip about a competitors' plans or purchases.

Source: http://www.smalltownmarketing.com/competition.html