RESEARCHING COMPETITORS

When starting a business, one of the first things that you need to do is research your
competition. You need to know who else is in the line of business that you are about to enter.
In this age of competition, you need to make a mark to attract customers who will buy from
you and not one of the other hundreds or thousands of businesses. Below are a few tips on
what you can do to research your competition so you can find out what they are up to. This
way, you can develop and implement strategies for your business that help you win over even
the oldest and strongest names out there.
Start on the Internet
You can begin to research your competition by getting online and doing a few Google searches.
If you are getting into E-commerce, this is the ideal place to start. Even if you are not selling
exclusively online, Google can still give you a good idea of who is out there. Most businesses
have a website these days.
Zero in on Your Niche
From the search engine results pages, pick out the companies that closely match your niche. Go
as far down the list of results as you need to get at least 20 different companies so you can
more accurately research your competition.
Pick Out the Competition
Get an overview of what each company offers and compare them to your business. Take note
of how you are different from each of these companies. Read about each company in more
detail. Go through their websites to read their founding stories and gather other information
about them.
Next, look up customer reviews about them on Google and other sites where consumers are
active. It is best to look into what review sites most closely match your business.
Formulate Your Value Proposition
From the research that you have collected, you can now sit down and brainstorm your value
proposition. This is a very important step in starting a business because it forms the basis of
what you are offering to your target customers.
Look at the notes that you made about the aspects of your business that are different from
your competitors. Use these to help you focus on what is unique about you and the brand that
you will build. From here, you can create a unique value proposition
Learn from the Best
Go to the list you made of the things that similar businesses are doing. Think about how you
can adopt and adapt their strategies to work for you. You don’t want to copy them exactly, but
you can get a lot of great ideas from their marketing techniques that are visibly working. From
the basic concepts, plug in your target customers and see what you come up with. This can help
you to create similarly successful campaigns to boost your business.
Check Back
You are going to get very busy as you plan and launch your startup, and continue to be busy as
you grow. Make sure that you always have some time set aside each month to research your
competition again. Stay updated on what they are doing, and add in a few new names that
emerge. Use what you learn from them to inspire you to grow and change for the better.

Prof. A. R. Somroo