Page 38 - My Marketing Sucks Book

● If yours is primarily locally bought and purchased, click on the Map
option. Every business listed with a 10 mile radius is likely a

competitor.
If you sell primarily online, it doesn’t matter if your competition is around the
corner or around the world. If they are listed on the first page of Google, they are

also selling to your customers.

Local businesses and services like doctors, landscapers, salons and spas, clothing
stores, pizza parlors etc need to be very aware of their competitors within a local
radius. Generally, people will not travel far for products and services that are

abundant and plentiful.

WHAT Do They Do, and WHY Do People Give Them Business?

The second critical component of good Competitive Intelligence is understanding
the ‘what and why’ components of your competition.

Here is a good place to start and a step-by-step plan to get answers those critical
questions:

1. For you brick-and-mortar businesses, begin with your Google Map results
you created when getting your WHO and WHERE answers. Identify your

main competitors within 5 miles and your secondary competitors in the 5 -
10 mile range.

2. Online business, look at your Google Search results and list those
appearing on Page 1 of the search results. Those above the scroll are your
primary competitions, while those below are your secondary.

3. From that list, select your 3 to 5 major competitors based on your history

in the marketplace. Try to pick those who you know you have lost business
to over the past 12 months.

4. Next, grab your Unique Selling Points worksheet. Here’s where you want
to be like a great trial lawyer and pull out information that only makes your
business look good. Make a list of the 10 to 12 features/benefits of your

products or services that you know are as good as or better than your
competitors.

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