Do You Know Your Competitors?

Today I was thinking about how to best stay on top of your game whether you’re an individual, a small business or a big business. This goes beyond knowing what they sell or what they do but rather to put the emphasis on HOW they do it. No matter what the current success is, it’s always good to look at how your competitors are leveraging the tools they are using, their processes, their campaigns or communication strategies with customers. See how everything ties in together. And, do it often. It's quite useful if you’re about to enter into an area you aren't familiar with, such as social media.

Knowing your customers is key to your marketing strategy. You know what you’re up against. Moreover, for a generation that isn't as brand loyal, Gen Y-ers maybe less forgiving if they aren’t treated right or if their customer experience doesn’t match that of the underdog. All it takes is one unhappy Gen Y customer to do up a quick text message from their phone that is linked to their Twitter and Facebook accounts before their entire network finds out about it.

Questions About Your Competitors

So, here are a few questions to ask yourself about your competitors (using my example for social media):

• What social media platforms are they on?
• What other tools are they using to help them integrate the different communications they have with customers or to manage the relationship with customers?
• What are they doing on these different social media platforms?
• What is unique about what they are doing?
• How does your company online image compare to your competitors?
• How does your competitor interact with their customers? Is their service prompt and efficient?
• How does your online experience compare to your competitors?
• Who does a better job in keeping customer profiles and how is this information being leveraged?
• Who appears more often on these different social media platforms over the same period of time?

How to Get Started
Try the following:

• Subscribe to their newsletter
• Become a fan on Facebook
• Follow them on Twitter
• Download their mobile apps
• Check their website statistics with analytics-type tools
• Set a Google alert for your name as well as your competitors