Know Your Market and Competitors

Make A List Of What Your Competitors Don’t Have

When researching competitors, don’t just focus on what they are doing; you also want to be aware of what they are not doing. What are they missing?

Most of the time, you can easily spot exactly what your competitors don’t have. It’s obvious to you, but they just don’t see it.

Where are they lacking and how can you make up for what they’re missing?

There are two sure fire ways to dominate a market. One is to be better and the other is to be different.

Knowing what your competitors are missing will allow you to be both better and different, guaranteeing your success in that marketplace.

Follow All Of Your Competitor’s Blogs

There is a tool called Feedly. You can find it at Feedly.com. It gives you a simple way to follow blogs.

Every time they update their blog, Feedly will update and you’ll see a list of all the updates your competitor creates.

It’s very simple so you can follow exactly what they’re doing on a daily basis. I do this with a lot of new information as well as to follow competition.

For example, I have one tab in my browser is called Gadgets. I follow the gadget blogs, because I like gadgets and I like to see what’s hitting the marketplace.

One of the main ones that I follow is Google’s blogs. I follow Google AdWords, Google AdSense and all this other stuff in Google. I do this because I teach a lot on Google topics so it makes sense for me to keep up to
date on what they are doing.

I also follow all my competitor’s blogs, and you should too. This keeps you informed as to what they are all doing on a daily basis and ensures that you are never left behind.

Join All The Forums In Your Industry

Note that I said, “join all the forums.” I didn’t say participate in them. I’m not a big proponent on participating, but I would at least join all the forums because I want to log in and see exactly what the industry is actually saying.

I want to see what people are saying, what they’re posting to the forum and, more importantly, what questions are they asking in that forum. Remember, the questions are the most important part to me.

Many people don’t want to join forums because they think a lot of time will get tied up with them. Trust me; it doesn’t take a lot of time to scroll through and see what others are saying, and the time will be well worth it if you come away with new ideas for products you can offer the market.

I also like to see who is actually responding to the questions, what they’re saying and if they’re right or wrong (in my opinion). I would join forums and message boards on whatever your topic is. If you go to Google and type in your topic and the word forum you’ll find ones that are pertinent to your particular industry.

Make A List Of Questions People Ask In The Forums

Let me give you another scenario. A friend of mine does a lot of with seminar promoters. He does that in order to get on their stage. He may be their MC, as an example. He may do teleseminars for them or something like that.

The important thing is that you listen to the questions people are asking in the forums. Listen and find out what they want.

If this is something you do not have time for then delegate it. Best thing about this task is it could someone else within your team or be outsourced. Simply have them monitor the different blogs and forums you subscribe to and compile a list of questions they see coming through.

This will arm you with the knowledge you need to create products that people want and need, giving them the answers to the questions they are asking.

Make A Complete List Of What You Feel The Industry Wants (Based On The Research You Have Been Doing)

The research I’m talking about is from the information you have collected, such as, going to events and seminars, following the forums, reading competitors’ blogs and looking at the comments on their blogs.

Based on that research, I would make a list of what I feel the industry actually wants. Notice that I didn’t say I would make a list of what I want to give them. I think this is another mistake people make.

They make the mistake of thinking what they want is the same thing as what the customer wants. They will say “I have this for them” or, worse yet, “I have this already so I’m going to give this to them.”

I don’t care if you have it already. It doesn’t really matter, the customer may not want it. If you give the customer what they actually want then you’re guaranteed to get sales.

If you give them a product based on your wants or based on the fact you already have it done, you run the risk of no one buying it.

I don’t care how much time and energy you put into a product; if it’s the wrong product, don’t use it. Give them what they want. Don’t dictate what they want. Let them tell you, and then just give it to them.

This is the easiest way to do business and make sales each and every day.