You do not need a long report on your competitors. You need to know who your customers compare you with, what those businesses do well and badly, and where you can stand out.
Find your real competitors
Your competitors are whoever your customers consider instead of you. That includes doing nothing, or doing it themselves.
- Search for what you sell the way a customer would, including on maps.
- Ask recent customers who else they looked at.
- Check marketplaces and review sites in your field.
- Include the 'do it yourself' option if it is common.
Pick three to five to study.
What to look at
- What they offer. Products, services, packages.
- Price. What they charge, and what is included.
- Who they serve. The customer their marketing speaks to.
- How they sell. Website, social media, ads, partnerships.
- What customers say. Their reviews, good and bad.
- What makes them different. Their main promise.
Reviews are the most useful source. Bad reviews show what customers wish were better. That gap is often your opening.
A template
Name: ______
Main offer: ______
Price, and what is included: ______
Target customer: ______
How they get customers: ______
What reviews praise: ______
What reviews complain about: ______
Main promise: ______
In a spreadsheet, put these questions down the side and one competitor in each column. Add a column for your own business and fill it in honestly too.
Find where you can stand out
Look across the table and ask:
- What do customers keep complaining about that nobody fixes?
- Which customers does everyone ignore?
- What could we do better, faster or more simply?
- Where are we already different, and do we say it clearly?
The answers often become your value proposition. Standing out does not mean being cheapest. It means being the obvious choice for a specific customer.
Do not copy
Studying competitors is useful. Copying them is not. If you offer the same thing at the same price with the same message, customers have no reason to choose you. Use what you learn to be different.
Keep it up to date
Look again every six months, or when a new competitor appears. Add what you learn to your SWOT analysis, and check your prices against the market using how to price your services.