By Sean Ashcroft
ALL businesses face competition, no matter how small the niche. Even the only restaurant in a small town has to compete obliquely, with cinemas, bars and other leisure-time outlets where potential diners may chose to spend their time.
Small business competitive advantage: 1. Think global
Plus, with an increasing amount of goods, services and leisure options being purchased or researched online, firms are no longer competing only with businesses in their vicinity: you could find that you’re actually up against companies overseas, too.
Or it may be that rivals for customers and income could be a start-up that’s offering a substitute or similar product that threatens to makes your own redundant. Competition is not simply just another business that might take money from you – it can be a competing product or service that's being developed, and which you ought to be selling, or looking to license before somebody else beats you to it.
Small business competitive advantage: 2. Resources
And don't just research what's already out there; you need to be on the lookout constantly for new entrants to the market. The resources and strategies below are just some of ways you can identify competing companies, products or services:
-Local business directories
-Local Chamber of Commerce
-Press and online advertising
-Press reports
-Exhibitions and trade fairs
-Questionnaires
-Online searches for similar products or services
-Information provided by customers
-Flyers and other marketing bumpf sent to you (especially if you're on a bought-in marketing list)
-Search for existing patented products similar to yours
-Planning applications and building work in progress
The above article was drawn from content on Business Link, the UK Government’s website for businesses of al sizes.
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01/07/2010
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