With the information boom in recent years, aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners can easily start a business. Although this creates a healthy business environment, the space is becoming more competitive than ever. In this article on business competitors for small business owners, I’m going to highlight 3 differentiation techniques you can apply to differentiate yourself from the competition within your niche or industry.
Sometimes business competition can create the false impression that the only way to survive is to quit your business altogether. This is not true, especially today where the costs of exiting a business are very high. With that, let’s get started with the 3 differentiation techniques that will literally make your business competitors totally irrelevant.
Stop following your competitors
Many business owners today are sucked into the euphoria of copying what their competitors, especially the market leaders, are doing. What they don’t realize is that what the competitors are doing publicly might not be the ultimate weapon they use to win the race. Copy pushes your business deeper into the bloody red sea of competition, where you’re already losing ground.
To be different, you need to stop copying what your competitors are doing. Start finding the reasons customers come back to you and broadcast the reasons as your unique selling point. It may be the quality of the products you offer or the shopping experience you provide that your competitors cannot. This also means that if one of your competitors starts cutting their price, you don’t need to cut your margins and get into a price war.
Promote innovation within your business
If you’re in a traditional business, like local retail or battery manufacturing, where it’s hard for you to differentiate yourself from the rest of your competitors, you need to start driving innovation throughout your business. Open yourself up to new ideas from customers, employees, or even other business owners who are from other industries.
How are you going to discover these ideas? Easy! Start attending your local Chamber of Commerce meetings and business conferences that are held across the country. Innovation is not about brainstorming a completely new idea, but about trying to apply something from another industry to your business to stand out from the rest. Instead of following industry standards set by market leaders, start setting your own standards that will make your company the leader.
Discover new marketing opportunities
Getting your business in front of more eyes is becoming easier due to globalization and the rise of the Internet. If you’ve been marketing to locals only through the yellow pages or classified ads in your local newspapers, it’s time you made the switch to the internet. Why does a local small business need to have an online presence? Well, more people, including those from their local community, are going online today to do their research before investing their money in something.
If your company can provide them with assistance, such as a free consultation or helpful content that solves their problem, you are indirectly building a relationship and trust with them. They will definitely prefer to be your customer compared to a large international corporation or a small business that they knew nothing about.