Competitive analysis
You may have already analyzed the competition in your area. But in our experience, you can’t do it enough, and there’s nothing like fresh eyes.
We want to know everything about your competitive situation:
- Who you think your direct competitors are currently;
- What kinds of distractions and opportunity costs are posed by your indirect competitors;
- What differentiates you from your direct and indirect competitors (and they from each other), both in your estimation and in the eyes of your target audience;
- Where and how new competitors are likely to emerge on the scene, in terms of region, price, efficiencies, style, technology, and positioning.
Everyone must consider the competition
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a one-person shop, a consultant, an author, a not-for-profit, a painter, or a blogger. You want the attention of your target audience, but so do many others.
Anyone can choose to pay attention (or money) to you — or to someone else. It’s that simple.
That’s why competition is always on our radar. Designing communications without deep knowledge of and respect for the competition is a waste of everyone’s time.
Are we darwinian?
You bet, but we’re not so glib as to confuse the process of natural selection with the process of creating success.
Natural selection is a long, slow process based on lots of tiny accidents and random events. It’s a beautiful and powerful process, but none of us have time for that.
Our job is to speed and skew the selection process — in your favor — by designing a better position for you in the market. And that means one-upping (or two-upping) the competition. In a nice way, of course.