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Actual for You - Competitive Analysis - No Company Exists In A Vacuum Online
Brainstorming is a very powerful method for generating lots of ideas very quickly about almost any problem or issue that needs an innovative or creative solution. However, brainstorming is also a very fragile process. It is intended to be a very free flowing non-judgmental exchange and list generator that sparks everyone's creative fires but at times that is very difficult to achieve in an organized public meeting.There are lots of distractions in most meeting situations. What another person says more often than not funnels down everyone else's thinking rather than opening it up. There are almost always dominant and passive personalities in any given meeting situation. People who are normally afraid to speak in a meeting will often shut down completely during a brainstorming session. Only one person at a time can effectively speak in a group meeting and unfortunately that blocks other people from talking. The bigger the group, the bigger the blocking problem. Of course there is always someone in the group who will do and say whatever it takes to please the boss. Once that person speaks up others will be hard pressed to do anything
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis: http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this d
If you’ve dreamed of becoming a store owner and are thinking about making the transition from working for someone to working for yourself, there are a few things you need to consider before making the move.The allure of “being your own boss” is very powerful, but actually succeeding at doing so can be elusive. To increase your chances of being successful you need to do your homework and really think about what you’re about to undertake. Running a business can be rewarding, but it is takes hard work. Below are some of the things you need to ask consider before you go any further.1.Get the FactsDo you know anything about the type of store you want to open? In other words, what kind of experience do you have? Have you worked in retail before? Or do you want to have a store because you like to “shop” or because you love “antiques”?Be realistic. If you’re lacking knowledge, educate yourself. Talk to people; read everything you can get your hands on about the type of store you want to open and the products you want to carry. Is there a demand for what you want to offer or is the market already flooded w
1. What is competitive analysis?
A competitive analysis is a formal evaluation in which you review the businesses of one or more companies that compete, directly or indirectly, with your own. Online, competitors have access to each other's company information and marketing materials that they might not be able to gather as easily in the offline world. This allows for even greater opportunities to benefit from competitive analysis data. But how can companies improve by analyzing their competitors? And what is the best way to implement a thorough competitive analysis? For a business to succeed, you need to know almost as much about your competitors as you do about your own company and customers. Unfortunately most business owners make the mistake of waiting until a competitor opens up shop across the street and is cutting into profits to find out who and what they are up against.
A Competitive analysis allows you to identify your competitors and evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses. By knowing the actions of your competitors, you will have a better understanding of what products and services you should offer; how you can market them effectively; and how you can position your business.
Competitive analysis is an ongoing process. You should always be gathering information about your competitors. Look at their Web sites. Read their product literature and brochures. Get your hands on their products. See how they present themselves at trade shows. Read about them in your industry’s trade publications. Talk to your customers to see hoe they feel about competitive products or services.
2. What are the benefits of conducting a competitive analysis?
The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:
1. You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
2. You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
3. Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.
You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors. These are the market leaders, the companies who currently dominate your market. Next, look at your secondary and indirect competitors. These are the businesses who may not go head-to-head with you, but who are targeting the same general market.
Finally, look at potential competitors. These are companies who might be moving into your market and who need to prepare to compete against.
Analyze strengths and weaknesses
After you have figured out who your competitors are, determine their strengths and find out what their vulnerabilities are. Why do customers buy from them? Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Focus on as many “perceived” strengths and weaknesses as you do on actual ones.
Tabulate the strengths and weaknesses in a table format. This will allow you to see, at a glance, where each competitor stands.
Look at opportunities and threats
Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.
Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic. You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analysis.
1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.
These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.
2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc
3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this da
Have you ever spent hundreds or thousands of dollars placing an ad in a magazine and not have a good response? Have you been confused as to why your ad did not work like you had hoped?Here are 9 basic tips for advertising your business in magazines.1. Color ads are generally more effective than black/white ads. The exception is, if the page you are advertising is in color and your ad is black/white. The black/white ad can even be more profitable if it is done well.2. A full page ad is often thought to do better. Again there can be exceptions to the rule. If you have a black/white ad against color ads, you can have the ad smaller and generate more response. Or, if your ad is placed in a more opportune location in the magazine.3. The most effective placements in a magazine are the following: First the back cover of the magazine, second, is the inside front two pages. Third, the inside back two pages. Also good placements
2. What are the benefits of conducting a competitive analysis?
The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:
1. You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
2. You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
3. Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
4. You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
5. Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.
You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors. These are the market leaders, the companies who currently dominate your market. Next, look at your secondary and indirect competitors. These are the businesses who may not go head-to-head with you, but who are targeting the same general market.
Finally, look at potential competitors. These are companies who might be moving into your market and who need to prepare to compete against.
Analyze strengths and weaknesses
After you have figured out who your competitors are, determine their strengths and find out what their vulnerabilities are. Why do customers buy from them? Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Focus on as many “perceived” strengths and weaknesses as you do on actual ones.
Tabulate the strengths and weaknesses in a table format. This will allow you to see, at a glance, where each competitor stands.
Look at opportunities and threats
Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.
Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic. You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analysis.
1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.
These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.
2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc
3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this d
AdGenius is a piece of emailing software that promises you can actually email millions of 100% opt-in prospects a day. In addition to that, these opt in prospects are guaranteed to be 100% spam free, and all it takes to reach them by email is just 1 click of a button. This review of the Ad Genius ad blasting and emailing software For marketing will help you understand the adblasting industry.Not only that, it will also serve to help you understand their claims as we compare them to the facts. The AdGenius Company claims that their lists are the most responsive in the industry. The price of Adgenius is just a one time fee of $29.99, and here’s is why I have a problem with this system: Usually adblasters do not work.Quality advertising to just a couple hundred real, targeted visitors can cost hundreds. Anything that promises that you can email millions of responsive opt-in members is a pie-in-the-sky deal. Usually, people who develop and promote this adblaster software are people who want to prey on new internet marketers who don’t know any better. prices? The best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
6. You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected. You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position
Identify your competition
Every business has competitors; you need to find out who your customers can approach to get a product or service that fills the same need as yours does. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers would purchase.
Begin looking at your primary competitors. These are the market leaders, the companies who currently dominate your market. Next, look at your secondary and indirect competitors. These are the businesses who may not go head-to-head with you, but who are targeting the same general market.
Finally, look at potential competitors. These are companies who might be moving into your market and who need to prepare to compete against.
Analyze strengths and weaknesses
After you have figured out who your competitors are, determine their strengths and find out what their vulnerabilities are. Why do customers buy from them? Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Focus on as many “perceived” strengths and weaknesses as you do on actual ones.
Tabulate the strengths and weaknesses in a table format. This will allow you to see, at a glance, where each competitor stands.
Look at opportunities and threats
Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.
Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic. You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analysis.
1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.
These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.
2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc
3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this d
1. Plan your day the night before.Have a list of to do things ready the night before of high and low priority. Aim to have things done before they become urgent so you are not always putting out fires. It is always easier to remember the things you need to do next when you are in the flow of activity, and so easier to get back into the zone the next day.2. Take half a day to plan your week.This was the hardest one for me to get into the habit of doing. I mistakenly thought that I could not afford to take that time out of my busy schedule. What I found after putting this into practice is that ‘busy’ time is not always productive time. Better to know exactly what you need to achieve and have a week that is already booked up with appointments or activities to move you towards your goal than to be planning minute to minute and just reacting to day to day emergencies.3. Sharpen the saw.This is a popular one in the personal development books. Another biggie for me in that I have always favoured the manic approach to work. I would do as much as I could possibly cram in, and stop only when exhausted. People with
Strengths and weaknesses are often factors that are under a company’s control. But when you’re looking at your competition, you also need to examine how well prepared they are to deal with factors outside their control. These are called opportunities and threats.
Opportunities and threats fall into a wide range of categories, such as technology, regulatory and economic. You should consider the following guidelines when conducting competitive analysis.
1. Utilize a multitude of resources to identify your competitors. Who else is bidding on your PPC terms? What sites come up as natural search results for your terms? Check trade association memberships and business registries. Use your referrer data to identify what sites your visitors are coming from. Don't overlook word-of-mouth information from your customers and investors.
These sources should yield a number of direct and indirect competitors. Narrow the scope of your analysis if necessary, but the most effective competitive analysis will compare at least three to five leading companies in your market.
2. Identify key success factors (KSFs) for your industry and rate yourself and others on each of them. One useful tool is the "strategic group map", which is part of a supporting Word document available for download:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysisSupplement.doc
3. Identify the competitive strengths of each company in the analysis, including your own. What makes each company unique? Do they own patents or copyrights that give them a competitive edge? Is there a dominant company with market share at or near "critical mass" level?
4. Identify the revenue models of your competitors. How do your competitors make money? Are you overlooking potential sources of revenue?
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis:
http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this d
Productivity is the key to just about everything when it comes to making a satisfactory profit in today’s business environment.Years ago, incentive programs became especially popular as a technique to help employees think like managers. Incentives were originally designed to exploit the “what’s in it for me” mindset many of us were born with. Immediately following the installation of an incentive plan, however, many managers make the mistake of believing that they no longer have to manage.This is a huge mistake! Incentive plans are no substitute for established management techniques. But when incentive programs are combined with quality management activities, organizational productivity almost always rises.The most frequently occurring productivity problem I observe on consulting assignments is that many employees don’t have a clear cut feel for how their jobs are measured. There are two key reasons:1. Management has never sat down with their employees and explained how their respective jobs are measured. Or,2. Management has never taken the time to determine the best ways to measure each job in the co
5. Do your competitors utilize partnerships, outsourcing, or other strategic relationships? Could your own company benefit from such relationships?
6. KEY POINT: In the course of your analysis, make note of unique or creative elements or approaches your competitors may use. Often, the greatest insights will come from where your competitors depart from convention.
7. Utilize search engines to discover the sources of your competitors' incoming links. These sites may be potential link partners for you as well. For more on linking strategies, see our research brief on that topic:
http://meclabs.com/cgi-bin/pl/pl.cgi?mls
8. If practical, make purchases from your competitors. How is their customer service? Are they utilizing drop-shipping or other forms of outsourcing? What can you learn from watching how they do business?
9. Monitor your competitors over time. Sign up for their email lists and analyze their marketing messages. How strong are your competitors' brands?
10. Analyze your competitors' Google, Overture, and other PPC ads. Knowing the best keywords for your market, it shouldn't be hard to locate your competitors' ads. These may give you ideas about how to modify your own campaigns.
11. Analyze your competitors' ratings and rankings on a number of platforms, including Google PageRank, Alexa, BizRate, comparison engines, and incoming links from other websites. The following spreadsheet may be useful in helping you track this analysis: http://www.meclabs.com/CompetitiveAnalysis.xls
Once you have compiled this data, you should be able to use it to gauge the effectiveness of your competitors' marketing efforts compared to your own.
12. Depending on entry and exit barriers for your industry, your competitive environment will change over time. Competitors will enter and leave and the most resilient among them will learn and evolve. Continue to analyze your competitors as time progresses. Consider performing a competitive analysis update on an annual or semi-annual basis. No company exists in a vacuum online. If you ignore your competition, you will lose the opportunity to discover your own strengths and weaknesses. Effective competitive analysis gives you the information you need to "remove the blinders" and see your company as your customers and investors do, and to tune your marketing and business strategies for success. March 11, 2007
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