Competition is good when you know when to initiate the right strategy.
I have been consulted several times and I have been asked on this " I have lost my business ideas or project ideas to my competitor" Before we delve into how to beat those competitions. I would love to share this advice to you that competition in business always makes you strong and it is all about taking the right strategy at the right time, makes the journey and story worthwhile.
In any industry you might find yourself, you are not the only person who have one idea that can elevate and skyrocket the business, over 100 people in your niche have the same idea and believe to make it succeed. Your success on that idea is your ability to embrace competition and how to strategize on every move you take in the business lifecycle.
Now, let move to beating competition in your niche. Whether you operate a micro, small or medium business you need to stand strong on your feet to what you desire and want for your business.
How to Beat Competition in Your Niche
Develop a strong mindset for your Entrepreneurship Journey
Maybe you are thinking, as a business there is no need for a strong mindset as an individual. This is what I have for you. Before any business will become a strong business or brand stakeholders will love, needs an individual or group of individuals to make it function very well, which requires a mindset to succeed. There is a need to prepare your thought and yourself in order to win, you need to fight competition to thrive which requires your mind, perception, people and strategies to make it work.
It is all about getting yourself ready and fixing your mind to the growth mindset that challenges or threats can make you stronger. If you are still afraid that ideas are used by a competitor, I will need you to take it into account that you can beat your competitor by doing your assignment well and perceiving it as part of the business lifecycle to growth and profit.
Know your Why
One of the vital action you can take now is know why you want to start that business or why you must operate now as a business. A step to exist for long in the niche market requires you to start the action of revisiting your why, based on the solutions you are producing or rendering to people problems is a great point to stand firm during fierce competition and threat. Don't focus on the shinny object syndrome most of entrepreneurs encounter, they neglect their mission or the why they exist in business, focusing on the trend going on like how lucrative the industry or niche is, how business are booming forgetting that customers behaviours and preference can change at anything leaving them to slowing decline in sales or income in their threshold which might result in a lot of implications to the business. Before you jump on impulse decision, it will be great if you strategically assess the reasons why you exist, whether the initiative moves in line with your Mission and Vision and many other factors to put in place in order to take the final decision.
Know Your Customers
One of the reasons why most business exist in the market now is because they want to satisfy their consumers needs and requirements. They exchange business values or products with the money customers provides, making that act, a transaction, and most business are looking forward to experience that to stay in business. Sadly to say, they never have the chance or have few encounters with their proposed customers or consumers. Though, there are a lot of rivals companies doing similar things like yours, does not mean you must leave the competition to them. You need to succeed in your market and niche you operate in.
To stand firm in the industry, there is a need to identify who your customers are: their taste, the solutions they seek, their preferences, and many other parameters' to find out in order to satisfy them, not forgetting why you want to provide solutions to their problems in business and you can do that by researching about them, collecting data and whole more steps under this.
Do not use your perception to figure out what they want but go down to them to extract answers from them. In today's world, this process has become a bit easy, because there is the internet to help you, AI technology is also available to help you figure out their needs. Aside that you can use the traditional way to collect information, by visiting and asking them the necessary questions to find answers to what you are seeking.
Discover Industry news and trends
A business which is not ready to learn from the industry it exist and operate in is a step to destruction. There is an urgent need to abreast yourself with the news, updates in the industry and trends going on. This will help you to ascertain all the opportunities and threats in it, and how you can benefit or loose in the business environment. Always be on deck to study all information in and around the business environment.
Identify Your competitive advantage
After the research you do for the market you operate in, there is a need to make your brand and business unique from other competitors in the niche market. Knowing customers preferences and taste can allow you decide on components and features you have to add to the product or service to make it unique. This feature you add to your product or service should create a breaking edge for your products in the designated market you operates in. It is called the Universal Selling Proposition, where you make some things you do in the market sellable and differ from all the other business in your competition. Customer service, pricing, branding, diverse products that solve problems can be some of the competitive advantage business use to create a sharpening edge in the market they engage in. What makes your business unique from other competition? Critically, assess it.
Take a closer look at your competitors
Do not let your competitors discourage you because when you feel that they will take up your leadership from you. It is time to take a closer look at what you do in the business environment. As part of the research, it is good to take a closer look at what competitors do in order to strategize or perform a counterattack on them. You can critically assess them of what they do from afar, this will enable you to identify what they do, to copy and or add up to the strategy.
Also, you can use mystery shoppers to visit them or visit their stall to be customers of their brand to ascertain how the product looks like, how their relate to customers, systems they use to sell and operate to ascertain where to land.
Clinch yourself with right the networks and create alliance
In business, not everyone is your competitor, some can be your allies or friends in the network. There was a mineral water producing company in Ghana called Ice Pak, they had a slogan which they often use when running their ad on radio which says that " if you can't beat them, join them" I really liked this slogan, guess what, even with that they are out of business. If you realized that your competitor is stronger than you and have better feature to its advantage than yours. You can propose to them about that so you can collaborate together to fight same competitor. With this, ensure that you have strength in an area they lack, so that when you propose an alliance it will be easier to accept the deal of alliance and collaboration.
When you are able to clinched to them, it increase your superpower to perform well in the niche market and in order to happen there should be uniquify strategies the joint association establish can initiate to fight and beat rival in the niche market.
Note that not all businesses are good for alliance and collaboration. Critically assess them either from afar or draw near to them or both to ascertain if you are making the right network for your business.
Conclusion
All these can be used by micro, small, medium and large enterprises, never think you are starting small therefore you don't need it. You need it to prepare your mind for the competition because if you have plans for growth, never outlook this. Use it.
Which of these approach would you like to commence first?