The one thing you cannot ever in the business is:

We have no competition.

Because that is a flat-out, BS lie!

If you don’t know your competition, you may have not (as a business) done your homework completely. Or there’s no market for your business. Either way, this lack of knowledge you get you in big trouble. Especially when you take your efforts into the digital world.

I’ll give you a reason…

Other Companies Want Your Customers

Directly or indirectly, there’s someone out there trying to get a piece of your action means that you’ve entered a profitable market. And these other businesses want part of those people who want to buy the products or services you offer.

Even if you are presenting a new, groundbreaking product to the world. You have to expect competition. Because, while there might not be a product or service that is not comparable to your business, they might still manage to fit the market’s needs.

Therefore, they have the chance to attract a chunk of your target, and make profits out of them.

Which is why it’s so important that you not only know who the competition is; you need to understand their methods of persuasion.

In the next series of posts, I’ll explain to you why it’s important for you to know your competitors, how to distinguish yourself from them, and how to learn from (and perhaps even aligning with) them.

But first, you need to know where to look for your competitors.

Types of Competition

When you enter your market, you’ll face two types of competition:

• Your direct competitors are those businesses selling goods or services like yours, and the consumer might perceive them as an alternative to your offerings.
• Your indirect competitors are those who that selling something different from than what you offer; yet, they meet the same or similar needs as you do. Which makes the consumer see them as a substitute for your offerings.

I’ll use myself as a short example to explain this.

As a web copywriter, my direct competitors are other web copywriters. Simple enough, right? Not quite.

When I go to my indirect competition, I find marketing consultants, research experts, advertising agencies, and copywriting software. Just to name a few. They – in one way or another – can fit the need of my prospect: find a way to create new customers.

Which is why I need to learn about them, what they offer, and what they don’t. And find a way to differentiate from them.

To be continued…

We’re reaching the end of our series of posts on data research. So far, you know where to get the information you need, what you need to know about your business, and what you need to know about your prospect client.

Today we’re digging a bit deeper, because we’ll be taking a look at how to stay aware of the different trends within your industry. This is a very important part of your research efforts, yet one that many entrepreneurs push aside.

With the fear of “following what’s now fashionable and becoming another sheep of the herd”, some business people tend to not pay attention to trends. They instead hold on dearly to their methods and personality. Mostly in the name of being different and innovative.

Well, here’s some news for you: if by being innovative and creative you’re not doing the things necessary to bring the prospects in and turning them into loyal customers, you’re simply spending time, money, and resources on a hobby. You’re not in business.

Change Happens

Things change. We can’t control it. We can’t stop it.

We can’t predict how our would-be consumers will behave in the next year, in the next month, or even the next week. But we can be aware of what’s going on around our industry, and prepare for best and worst case scenarios. It’s what we call “looking out for market trends”.

It’s what most successful businesses do. And what I urge you to at least consider to do.

What Trends You Should Look for. And Where.

Perhaps the most important trend you should stay aware of is the rate growth of your target market. Pay close attention to your geographic area and customer type, looking for these specifics:

• growth of population;
• local and national hiring boom (or layoffs) of your target audience;
• if there has been a shift in the population of people or businesses in your area;
• and the new technologies that are affecting the lives of your prospects.

This information comes in-handy when you’re getting ready to create sales projections for your campaign. Other trends you should consider keep an eye on have to do with the make-up of your market. These include (but are not limited to):

• changes in technology;
• the economy;
• and social value and concerns.

Trade associations publish valuable information on market trends. Check out your industry’s trade association for studies and forecasts on current customers and the trends affecting the industry. The US Government has a list of over 50 trade associations (contact information included) across the nation on their website. Take a look at the PDF to see if you can find yours. If not, there’s always Google and Bing.

Thanks for keeping up with this series of posts. I hope the information I’ve given you serves as the launching pad for a successful digital media network. And a successful business.

Donna Flagg wrote an article in 2010 for Psychology Today on what makes an effective salesperson. She basically narrowed it down to three things: their ability to communicate, educate, and to affect their target audience.

As you can see, being great at sales has nothing to do with genetics, but with passion about what you do. That, and having the right information at your disposal. Recently we have talked about learning what you need to know about your product, and painting a picture of who your target audience is. Now, we’re going to take it up a notch.

What Makes Them Buy?

If there’s something I’ve learned when it comes to selling, is that those who are great at it know how to establish a relationship with their prospects based on nurture and trust. Whether they build that relationship in one day or “forever and a day”, they manage to show how much they want to help their clients solve the one (or multiple) problems they have at the moment. This is known to laypeople as being empathetic.

That is exactly the message your digital network must carry throughout your channels – regardless of their purpose. You need to show whomever is interested in buying your goods that you truly care about helping them out.

And to display this sentiment across your different platforms, you must know first what motivates your audience to buy your product or service.

Marketing to the Thoughts of Your Prospects

In addition to having a clear view of who your target audience is, you need to know and understand what influences their buying decisions.

To make the right choices when you’re building your sales and marketing strategy, you have to know:

• what motivates them to buy your product or service
• what are their purchasing patterns
• how the prospects see themselves
• how do they prefer to make their purchase
• and how they actually buy.

To acquire this information, go back to the documents you collected at the start of this process, and answer the following questions:

• How many different buying influences does your strategy need to appeal to?
• How do they see themselves as buyers? Are they leading-edge, tech-savvy, good house keepers, or smart shoppers?
• What concerns them most when making purchases? (price, quality, convenience)
• Why do they need your product or service?
• Why do they need it now?
• Where do they usually buy their products or services?
• When do they do it?
• How often do they buy?
• How quickly do they make their buying choices?
• What kind of companies do they prefer to deal with? (small businesses, large corporations, local, socially responsible, etc.)
• How do they pay? (credit card, cash, purchase orders, online, etc.)

Now you’re one step closer towards building a consumer-driven digital media network. There’s only one piece of information missing: your market trends. Which we’ll discuss next.

To be continued…

Market research is a necessary component in the survival of any business. But it kind of falls into the “things I must do, but really don’t want to” category – people are terrified of doing research. Not just on the business side of things. Most people hate the idea of sitting through countless amounts of data to figure something or someone out.

Me, I’m a sucker for research. I love learning about how things work. And the reaction of people towards them.

I also realize this is not everyone’s cup of tea. And that there isn’t really an exciting way of doing it.

So the next series of posts will focus on how to do smart research – so you can save time, effort, and your hairline.

Get Some Time-Saving Tools

Let’s get off on the right foot, and gather everything you need to get this task done. These documents hold all of the information you need to understand your business, as well as your target market.

Start collecting:

• Maps of your target market area (for brick-and-mortar businesses)
• Previous advertisements
• Brochures and catalogs
• Internal memos
• Annual reports
• Public relations materials
• Technical paperwork
• Product/ service specifications, blueprints, and plans
• Past website content
• Archived feedback from product / service users
• Your competitor’s ads and literature
• Customer surveys
• Illustrations, video, and photos of product prototypes
• Market research reports
• Industry research indicating market trends
• Engineering drawings
• Books, magazines, and other media related to your target market
• Business and marketing plans
• Census data showing buyer demographics
• Sales proposals

Collect as many of these documents as you can before moving on to the first part of the research process.

Step One: Understand Your Product or Service

Before starting to look around for information on who’s going to invest in your business, you need to know your business. That means understanding your product or services on every aspect of its delivery.

Here’s what to look for in the documents I listed above:

• A complete list of product / service features
• A complete list of product / service benefits (highlighting its most important)
• How it works
• How it differentiates itself from the competition
• Should the product / service be no different from its competitors, look for attributes that can be presented to prospects that your competition has not
• What it’s made of
• The sizes and models available
• The technologies you’re competing against
• The product’s applications
• How to use and maintain it
• What it does for the consumer
• And any proof that backs up its claims
• How you’re positioned against your competition
• The efficiency of your product / service
• How economical it is
• How much it costs
• The time it takes for delivery
• Where it can be bought
• Services and support you offer
• Any guarantees

Once you’ve found and archived this information, you’ll be ready to move on to the step: getting to know your audience.