Top 10 Small Business Marketing Mistakes – Understanding Your Competition

Top 10 Small Business Marketing Mistakes – Understanding Your Competition Top 10 Small Business Marketing Mistakes - #8 Understanding Your Competition – Striving to know them better than they know themselves!

Evaluating your competition helps you understand your company’s strengths and weaknesses along with giving you insight into what your competitors do effectively and ineffectively in their daily operations.

This includes new client generation (leads), customer service, pricing, special offers and even daily operational details like employee retention, satisfaction and processes. Understanding your competition is one of the most important aspects of any business growth strategy because it can shed light on what you are doing right and wrong, along with producing new avenues of income you have never considered. If you do not understand your competition, it will be difficult to differentiate yourself from them to potential clients, set yourself apart and experience significant growth. It is common for business owners to think they know and understand their competition. They are quite surprised when companies they know little about end up being their largest competition or the internal operational inefficiencies of their competition give their business distinct advantages.

The Importance of understanding your competition There are numerous benefits as a business owner to understand the ins and outs of your competition. It is equally important for your business to learn from the mistakes they are making to ensure that your business does not make the same mistakes. The entire reason you want to evaluate your competition is because you want to see what they are doing similar to you, different from you and to analyze how you can do it better. You care about your business and your desire to make it the best option for potential clients is the motivating factor for many owners. It is important to understand how your competition is marketing their business, who their target clientele is, what avenues they are using to reach those potential clients and so on. It is equally important for you to know the overall client experience from the minute they call that office to investigating if they ended up being happy with the service or product. It is also very likely that you have competition you are unaware of - the most dangerous competitors are the ones that stay under the radar yet are consistently growing and by the time you know who they are they have already gained a sizable market share in your market.

A properly performed and detailed competitor analysis can give you all the insight you need into your competition in order to make wise marketing, operational and client retention choices. It is important to understand that as a business you are constantly gaining or losing clients - being in business for a long period of time is no longer in itself enough to be on cruise control. There will always be new competition gunning for your clients and trying to gain a little market share here or there. From the perspective of a new client, a new business with an immaculate website has a competitive advantage over a business that has been operating for years with a subpar website. Even though the older business might have a vast amount of more knowledge, a potential new client will likely choose the company with a better website because it represents the business in a better manner. According to Hubspot, research shows that 97% of a potential client's purchasing decision is influenced by their website. There are numerous factors like this to consider and possibly your business is the exception but there is no way to know until you fully evaluate your competition. Below you will find helpful information in order to properly evaluate your competition and how to use the information gathered to benefit your business. It is imperative for your long term growth and survival that you properly evaluate your competition. The wealth of information that is publically available gives you a unique ability to evaluate the details of your competition and use it to better your business. Keep in mind - they are likely doing the exact same thing to you as well.

SayWhat Consulting offers competitor analysis which covers all facets of your competition along with exactly how you can use the information to improve your business. If you are interested we invite you to visit our competitor analysis page.

Identify your Competition The most important part of conducting an accurate competitive analysis is to first understand who your competition is. This should be a simple process for most business owners but it is also very easy to focus only on the ones you think are competitors - while ignoring the companies that might be or you consider too small to focus on. Often companies make critical mistakes in this portion of the competitor analysis by not performing true research on who their actual competition is. It is important to first identify all the services and/or products you offer - although you likely know this off the top of your head it is wise to write them all down. It is then important to identify what you consider your target market - this includes the age range of your clients, locations and other demographic information. This is also important to understand and will help tremendously when performing the competitor analysis.

Another important part will be for you to write down all the competitors you have and rank them on a scale of 1 to 5 - five being the largest threat to your business and 1 being the smallest threat to your business. It is okay to have multiple ones or fives. I suggest using excel for all these tasks because it is easy to create and organize all the data both pre and post analysis.

One quick note about when you make a list of the services your business offers. This list should be quite extensive. Here are a few examples for certain fields we often work with: 1. If you are a divorce lawyer you offer multiple services other than just divorce. You also offer services related to child custody, legal separation, spousal support, alimony, property ownership, mediation, ex parte applications and so on. It is also important when doing the research you also look at other names your profession might be called when a potential client is looking for you. In this case it would be divorce lawyer, family lawyer, divorce attorney, custody lawyer, family law professional and so on.

2. If you are a plastic surgeon you also offer multiple services and products including breast procedures, body procedures, surgical and non-surgical procedures, skin care products and so on. You also have to look at other common names that potential clients might search like cosmetic surgeon, breast doctor, plastic surgery specialist down to the specific procedural names, combined with your specific target market.

3. If you are a criminal lawyer you also offer a vast amount of services and specific terms ranging from DUI lawyer to criminal attorney, federal and state, white collar crimes along with numerous other options. This also needs to be combined with your specific market as well.

4. You get the idea and use this method for whatever business category you are in.

The same is true with most professions and it is important to identify those so that you can do proper and effective research on your actual competition. The easiest way to find competition is to then Google search a bunch of the terms combined with your market and make lists of the websites that show up. It is a tedious task but a wise investment of the time spent doing it – and likely you can find someone to do this research on your behalf at a low cost. Any website that shows up above yours is a sign of something you need to address and should be considered a weakness on your side. If your website is not showing up for many terms at all you might want to consider having a free online marketing audit performed for your business.

The list can be exhaustive but it is important to create so you can identify the patterns of your specific competition. You will find that there will be consistent companies you see over and over - usually some you have never been aware of. There are numerous other ways to find competitors but this is the easiest way to do it yourself in real-time from a potential client’s perspective. This allows you to see and find your actual competition. If you hire the right company to do it for you they will use other avenues as well. The online rankings alone do not disqualify a business from being a true threat to your business but it is an important aspect to consider.

Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors As a business owner you want to know your businesses strengths and weaknesses. It is crucial for you to identify those issues and do everything in your power to fix them. This will improve all aspects of your business and amplify your profits. From a competitor standpoint, you can be confident they are also aware of your internal and external struggles and exploiting them in order to gain more business if they have analyzed your business. According to Statista, Market and competitor research is a 74 billion dollar industry for a specific reason - because it provides valuable intelligence that can help your business be more successful. The result of the competitor analysis needs to be analyzed and then provide you with specific measures you can take in order to increase your overall business growth, client retention and operation efficiencies. Here are just a few examples of things you need to analyze with short explanations. A quick note - analyzing your competition does not mean copy them, just because they are doing something different doesn't always mean they are right, and much of the time they may be wrong - however not analyzing and evaluating it for your business is a major mistake.

1. Your Competition's website compared to your website. Is it more user friendly than your website?

There are dozens of free tools to figure that out. How does it look compared to your website? Is it easier to find information? What functions does it have that your website does not have? Is it mobile friendly? What is your overall impression of the website compared to your website? Compared to your other competition’s website? All of these questions need to be documented and well researched. The more information you have the better!

2. Your competition's online reviews and reputation. The particulars you can gain from evaluating the online reviews of your competition is invaluable. This will give you specific insight from their clients of what they are doing effectively and ineffectively. It is something you should spend a significant amount of time reviewing and analyzing. It is equally important to monitor your online reputation and make changes where needed. If you need assistance with that, including having untruthful reviews removed from the web, check out our reputation management page. Companies need to be actively engaged with their online reviews, 8 out of 10 consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations according to a study done by Oberlo.

3. Where is your competition advertising – And how much are they spending? It is quite simple to figure this out and it is crucial to understand where they are advertising including both online and offline. It is usually quite simple to figure out their approximate marketing budget and you can then compare it to yours - this can also help you identify their approximate revenue as well. It is important to weigh all their marketing efforts and to understand that just because they are doing it does not mean it is working.

4. Do they offer additional services? List out their services offered and compare it to yours. If they are offering different services would it be worth you looking into doing the same? Possibly yes but analyzing

your competition does not mean copying them - just because they are doing it does not mean it is a wise investment. The same is true with marketing your business.

5. Pricing compared to your business and your other competitors. There are numerous ways to figure out their pricing and to compare it to your pricing, along with all of your competitors. This will give you a good idea of where you stand and might encourage you to increase pricing a bit or offer special offers occasionally.

6. Social Media Presence. It is wise to know what they are doing on social media and how effective it appears to be for them. It is easy to see how many likes they get on their posts, comments and engagements but keep in mind those types of engagement can be purchased at a very low cost. Social Media also has reviews that you can check out as well. Are they doing things differently and more effective than you? How often are they posting? How personal are their posts and what type of engagement are they getting? You can read a lot more about Social Media Marketing here.

7. Offline Advertising. Offline advertising including radio, print, TV and billboards can still be quite effective if you choose the right platform. If your competition uses these methods it is wise to evaluate their strategy. It is also wise to consider looking into these options if you (and your competition) are not doing them because we know of numerous small and medium sized businesses generating tons of new business from these methods. In many markets for specific industries it is an untapped market because so many are 100% focused online and ignoring the fact that these methods still are effective for the right business using the right advertising messaging.

8. Rankings on Google. Where does your competition rank compared to you - for the same services you offer? This is something you can change by hiring the right digital marketing firm and investing the time and resources into focusing on SEO. If you are interested we offer a free and unbiased online marketing audit which will go over all the things you are doing right and wrong along with guidance on how to improve them. It is a free service for you and can greatly assist you with knowing where you stand online, what can be improved and where you are excelling.

9. Paid Advertising versus SEO. Are they doing Google AdWords, paid social media ads, etc? If so, that will consistently put them ahead of your website at a cost. It is well worth doing a cost benefit analysis to decide if it is worth investing the time and finances into paid advertising online. It usually is a very wise investment and it does work well if done properly. You should focus on what they are advertising, where they are ranking and so on. It is pretty easy to figure out the approximate amount they are spending monthly as well which can help you figure out their marketing budget and usually get a good idea about their gross revenues.

10. Dozens of other aspects that are important to consider. Through all the metrics you obtain through a well done competitor analysis you can gauge internal operation issues like staff not answering calls quickly, long hold times, unreturned calls and so on. You can also figure out what their clients love about their business and also what they are not fans of.

There are dozens of other metrics you will review that can give insight on how to best use their strengths and weaknesses to your advantage. Market Research and competitive analysis is common in business and if done properly can provide you with a wealth of information and knowledge on how to improve your overall business marketing plan, client retention and operational efficiencies.

If you are interested in learning more about your competition to better your business visit our page about competitor analysis. SayWhat Consulting has over 20 years of experience with digital marketing,

business management and consulting and competitor research. Think of us as your Chief Marketing Officer at a fraction of the cost.

Effectively Market Your Strengths knowing their weaknesses One of the many goals of performing a competitive analysis is to determine what your strengths are compared to your competition's weaknesses and take advantage of those issues through your marketing and bettering your business practices. Here are two examples of how other businesses have successfully used competitor analysis to improve their marketing.

1. A Med Spa in the Dallas area performed an analysis and found numerous common complaints about their main competitor - the one that proved most profitable for them was that the prices advertised and quoted were always much different once it came time to pay - usually after the service was completed.

After extensive research and documentation of their online reviews it was clear that this was the primary reason for most of their competition’s negative reviews. Customer service was a close second.

The Med Spa decided to market to potential clients those specific issues (through email marketing, paid advertising and some local print media) and why they would not be issues if the potential client chose their med spa. The advertising pushed "no hidden fees" along with an emailed quote ahead of time for documentation purposes - along with their dedication to customer service. The advertising campaign was a gigantic success and increased their business dramatically both in the short and long term since med spa clientele are typically repeat customers.

2. A DUI lawyer in Phoenix performed a competitive analysis and discovered a major flaw in his online marketing, specifically in regards to Pay per Click advertising. This was an issue with choosing the wrong digital marketing firm but also not understanding his target clientele. The first issue (of many, but will only discuss 2) was that the company that was handling his online marketing only ran advertising during his business hours(another major issue was his website was not mobile friendly). The average DUI occurs between 11PM and 4AM which would be an ideal time to run ads because his/her family would be searching for a DUI lawyer at that point. One of his larger competitors in his eyes also had a 24 hour phone service. He decided that was a good decision and moved forward with that as well. They were trained to answer the common questions and contact him or his associates if immediate action was needed. It increased his business and gave them fresh leads almost every morning because his paid advertising was always forefront between those specific hours including during the weekend.

There is a laundry list of things that you can learn from performing a competitive analysis and use that information to better your business along with effectively pursuing potential clients so they choose you over your competition.

Learn from their mistakes - improve your operations Learning from other businesses' mistakes along with the mistakes you are currently making is important as well. The first thing I always suggest is to review your online reviews and understand what you are doing that your clients do not like. I also suggest surveying past clients - negative information is never great to hear however is invaluable if you decide to take actions to improve it. Some business owners live under the false assumption that they know everything about their business - including the flaws.

Typically that is far from the truth and you can use negative reviews to better your business and increase client retention.

It is also easy to gauge where your competitors are making mistakes and how best for you to avoid them. There are some common issues that come up and are easy to identify when examining your competition. Here are a few that I remember off the top of my head.

1. Not Answering Calls. It is a common theme with all the competitive analysis we have done that many companies struggle with answering phone calls in a timely manner. The worst thing that can happen is a mid-day voicemail. Potential clients will just call the next business they were considering who will answer their call. Easy problem to fix, is it happening in your office? Consider having a company do call audits for you.

2. Not Returning Calls. We have all had that experience where we were promised a return call and it did not happen. How did it make you feel? If it was not an essential business (like your electric company or doctor) would you still do business with them? This is so common and such an easy thing to overcome. There are simple ways for you as the owner to monitor this - and you should be monitoring it. If you choose to ignore such a minor yet significant issue, what else are you not focusing on?

3. Billing Issues. This is also common in reviews - where people are double charged, charged the wrong amount or charged for services they did not receive. This is frustrating for them because it typically means that they have to spend more time on the phone dealing with the issue - and they will be unlikely to choose you again because of it. If you do not have a good billing/accounting system in place then you are making a mistake. You are in business to make money and if you are messing up on billing - you are likely messing up on collecting and receiving the correct amounts. With all of the technology available there really is no reason for this to happen.

4. Bad Attitudes. Attitudes can be sensed over the telephone and in person - happy employees produce better results for you and treat your clients better. If your employees hate their job, clients will see that and it makes the experience more negative than it should be. There are tons of measures you can take to improve this but most importantly you have to want your employees to be happy. Honest employee feedback is hard to get - you can read about our honest employee feedback program which might be a good fit for your business.

I thought of numerous other examples but you get the point - understanding your negatives along with your competition's negatives will only help improve your business and give you an invaluable edge in bettering your business both in the short and long term.

The value of understanding your competition It’s important to understand your competition because it helps you plan and manage your business more effectively. Looking at your competition means analyzing them from every angle: their advantages, weaknesses, market share, target audience, pricing models and more. By understanding these vital pieces of information, you can begin to form a strategy for how to position yourself against them within your industry. Doing so will help you better connect with your potential clients who are in the process of deciding which companies to reach out to. It also gives your business insight into what kind of strategy is working best for other businesses that serve a similar audience as yours and why they are successful.

Understanding your competition is an essential step toward success and such an easy step for you to take. Our Full Competitor Analysis is essential for any business – new or established, small or large. As a business owner, we also invite you to explore our Business Owner Consulting Program.

SayWhat Consulting offers a detailed competitor analysis which will provide you with detailed information on your competition along with detailed and actionable suggestions that will help your business grow. If you are interested in learning more visit the Competitor Analysis on our website.

Written by David Phillips, CEO and Founder of SayWhat Consulting. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Phillips has consulted with small, medium and large businesses in marketing, business management, staff training and day-to-day operations. SayWhat assists clients in numerous industries including cosmetic surgeons, plastic surgeons, med spas and attorneys in family law and criminal law. We also assist other industries as well and our primary clients are small and medium sized businesses.