Years ago, I’m talking about the dark ages, before globalization and
internet, a business had to compete with a rival down the block, or somewhere
farther in town, or at most in a nearby town. Checking up (spying) on the rival
business meant keeping up with their prices or products. If one increased it’s
prices, the other one would lower his. If one got newer products, the other
would do the same; or get different or newer products. It was as easy as that.
If you owned a business you felt relatively safe; you didn’t go around running
like a headless chicken, trying to stay ahead of your rival business. That was
then. Light years away.
With the advent of the internet, all that changed. Now your competitor is no longer the other guy from the block. Now your competitor is the WHOLE WORLD! That’s because the whole wild world is accessible to anyone. Sure, if you’re the type who can keep up with technology, you have probably put your business online. Yes, but so has nearly every other business in the world. Just as your customers, or potential customers, can access your website, so can they easily access your competitors’ website. This is probably giving you many sleepless nights, if not a nervous breakdown. How do you compete with hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of other businesses who sell your same product or provide the same service that you do and who are easily accessible with just a simple click? Why should clients stick with you or potential clients buy from you and not from your competitor? In this age of temporary everything, why should customers be permanently loyal to you? What makes you so special to make them come back for more? Do you have a USP? (For those of you who don’t know, USP means ‘unique selling proposition.’) If you don’t, then you better come up with one. Make sure it differentiates you from the others.
I will use an example that is close to my heart. In my town, there are hundreds of cafes/pastry shops. You’d think one of them would sell something different. No, they all serve the same plasticky croissants, the same old pastries, the same old flavors of ice-cream. I once dared to ask one of these shops if they served banana split. I got a look as if I came from Mars! They didn’t even know what I was talking about. This is to say, they obviously have never heard of USP and are not interested either. That’s why most of them, close as quickly as they open. If you don’t want to end up in the same boat, here are my suggestions:
With the advent of the internet, all that changed. Now your competitor is no longer the other guy from the block. Now your competitor is the WHOLE WORLD! That’s because the whole wild world is accessible to anyone. Sure, if you’re the type who can keep up with technology, you have probably put your business online. Yes, but so has nearly every other business in the world. Just as your customers, or potential customers, can access your website, so can they easily access your competitors’ website. This is probably giving you many sleepless nights, if not a nervous breakdown. How do you compete with hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of other businesses who sell your same product or provide the same service that you do and who are easily accessible with just a simple click? Why should clients stick with you or potential clients buy from you and not from your competitor? In this age of temporary everything, why should customers be permanently loyal to you? What makes you so special to make them come back for more? Do you have a USP? (For those of you who don’t know, USP means ‘unique selling proposition.’) If you don’t, then you better come up with one. Make sure it differentiates you from the others.
I will use an example that is close to my heart. In my town, there are hundreds of cafes/pastry shops. You’d think one of them would sell something different. No, they all serve the same plasticky croissants, the same old pastries, the same old flavors of ice-cream. I once dared to ask one of these shops if they served banana split. I got a look as if I came from Mars! They didn’t even know what I was talking about. This is to say, they obviously have never heard of USP and are not interested either. That’s why most of them, close as quickly as they open. If you don’t want to end up in the same boat, here are my suggestions:
1. Play your
cards right and make a unique selling proposition, that will attract not only
your present clients but new ones also.
2. Don’t
stagnate. Keep up with what is new in your business. The internet makes it
easy…just use Google Search.
3. Be a fortune
teller. Foresee the future of your business and plan accordingly. Do you see it
expanding or shrinking? Do you want to keep selling the same product or would
you want to sell additional ones?
4. Take your business
to conventions or EXPOS abroad to get known by foreign markets.
5. Last but not
least: INVEST. If you want to be known, you have to be seen. Invest in Online
Marketing, SEO experts and Social Media Managers.
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