As a consulting business, it is important to keep up with the competition to stay ahead. To do this, it is essential to engage in competitive research or market research to gain insights into your competitors’ strategies. Through market research, you can discover your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, their services, and how they compare to your own. In this blog post, we will discuss what competitive research is, its benefits, and how to keep a check on your competitors through market research.
WHAT IS COMPETITIVE RESEARCH?
Competitive research is the process of tracking and analyzing the activities of your competitors to gain insights into how they operate and what sets them apart from you. It’s a tool that consulting businesses use to compare themselves to their competition to identify strengths and weaknesses. In essence, it’s about understanding who your competitors are and what they offer that sets them apart from you. Competitive research involves gathering information on their services, pricing strategies, marketing efforts, customer service practices, and any other related aspects of their business. Through this analysis, businesses can better position themselves to succeed in a crowded market by developing stronger strategies. By keeping a close eye on your competitors, you can get a better idea of how to best position yourself in the market and stay ahead of the competition.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KEEP A TRACK OF YOUR COMPETITORS?
Competitive research is essential in the modern consulting business environment as it provides invaluable insights into your competitors’ strategies, pricing, and services. By conducting competitive research, you can gain a better understanding of the market, potential customer preferences, and competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Keeping track of your competitors allows you to stay ahead of the competition by understanding their current strategies and reacting appropriately to changes in their approach. You can also use this information to improve your strategies, helping you to stay competitive and attract customers.
By identifying gaps in the market and capitalizing on them, you can create new growth opportunities. This could include launching new services that are more attractive to customers than those offered by your competitors.
Competitive research also helps you understand how other consulting firms are using new technologies or trends to succeed. By understanding these strategies, you can develop similar strategies for your own business and ensure that you remain at the forefront of innovation.
In short, keeping track of your competitors can be essential for long-term success and growth. By understanding their strategies and responding accordingly, you can gain an advantage over them and increase your chances of success.
6 STEPS TO COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
1. Identify Your Competitors: Before you can research about your competitors, you need to identify them. This is easier said than done, as it requires an understanding of who your direct and indirect competitors are in the market. Start by searching for companies that offer similar consulting services to yours and make a list of the ones that stand out.
2. Research Their Offerings: After you’ve identified your competitors, it’s time to find out what they offer. Look into their service range and see if there’s anything unique about their offering. If you can’t find much information, try to contact them directly or ask people who use their services.
3. Compare Your Offerings: Once you’ve done your research on your competitors’ offerings, it’s time to compare them with yours. Are there any areas where you stand out? Can you provide something that your competitors don’t? If so, make sure to include that in your marketing strategy.
4. Analyze Their Prices: Pricing plays a key role in consulting business success, so take some time to analyze your competitors’ prices and see how they compare to yours. This will give you an idea of what kind of price range you should be aiming for when pricing your services.
5. Assess Their Online Presence: As businesses move more and more online, it’s important to assess your competitors’ online presence. Look at their websites, social media accounts, and other digital channels to get an idea of their online marketing efforts. Compare this to yours and see where you can improve.
6. Monitor Them Regularly: Finally, remember to monitor your competitors regularly. This will allow you to keep up with changes in the market and ensure that you stay ahead of the competition. Keep track of their pricing, promotions, and new services, and adjust your strategies accordingly.
IDENTIFY YOUR AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
After conducting competitor research, the next step is to identify and analyze your areas of improvement;
1. Identify your strengths: Your competitive research should reveal the areas in which you are strong and the areas in which your competitors are weak. Make a list of these strengths and weaknesses and use it as a reference when making decisions about where to invest time and resources.
2. Compare yourself to your competitors: Once you have identified your strengths, use this information to compare yourself to your competitors. What do they offer that you don’t? What services or features can you incorporate into your consulting business model?
4. Investigate the competition’s marketing techniques: Try to find out what strategies your competitors are using to reach their target audiences. Are they using social media? Online advertising? SEO optimization? By analyzing their strategies, you can identify the areas in which you could be doing better.
6. Adopt best practices: Look for ways to borrow from your competition’s best practices. How are they successfully engaging their customers? What type of content do they produce? Answering these questions will help you develop more effective marketing campaigns and customer service practices.
Competitive research is an important part of any consulting business, as it allows you to gain insight into your competitors and the current market. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, you can develop strategies to stay ahead of the competition. Keeping a track of your competitors through market research will give you the information you need to create an effective plan for your business. With this knowledge in hand, you can better assess where your business stands in the market and make necessary changes to stay competitive.