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=============== Publisher's Note =============== What You Can Learn From Your Competitors Your competitors know things that you don't know. There are also things that you know that they don't. I help firms close the gap between what they do and don't know relative to their competitors. "Market-Mapping" is one of the methods I use to help my clients. Market-Mapping gives clients a roadmap that shows where they are now and where they should be six months from now and beyond. One of the keys to Market-Mapping is benchmarking. I break benchmarking into three categories: 1. Your Category: You tell me your three top competitors. Together, we examine what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong, and what they're not doing at all. That hole where they're not doing anything at all may have your name on it and be a key indicator of where you want to take your marketing plans next. 2. Contiguous Category: We then look at companies that are in adjacent categories. Banks may learn from brokerage firms or real estate companies, while retailers of books can learn from those who sell music. 3. Far Away Category: This is where we examine together "best of breed" firms in industries that have nothing to do with your category. We identify best practices and often you can then become the first in your category to migrate these practices over, and thus leap ahead of your competitors. This is key. When you lead, you are then forcing your competitors to react to the new rules you set down. In other words, they're dancing to your tune, instead of vice versa. Market-Mapping isn't about how pretty your site looks, or how many awards it wins. Those things typically don't help the bottom line. Having the intentions of your site clearly addressed internally and externally will not only help your bottom line, it will also make for a better user experience, since visitors will instantly understand your agenda. People really do want to know "where you're coming from." If you can keep your competitors in a reactive mode rather than paying attention to their own Market-Map, so much the better. More often than not, it's tough to objectively track what your competitors are and aren't doing, or what they or you should be doing. An outsider, with a dispassionate eye, comes to this exercise with no emotions, no baggage and no politics. Market-Mapping is an intensive endeavour. I don't take too many of these projects on at a time because they are quite absorbing. But if your firm needs an outsider's objectivity, get in touch with me and let's see what we can work out. LC |  Order Larry's Book Now from Amazon.com |
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