Mr. Marketing: Where’s your competition?

Regular readers know I’m all about standing out of the crowd.

Yet lately I’ve been meeting lots of folks announcing their business is so unique that nobody else does what they do.

Balderdash!

Regardless of your product or service you’ve got competition in many shapes and sizes, including those who sell:

• The exact same thing you sell;

• Something similar;

• Something completely different that replaced your offering.

My 10th-grade geometry teacher instructed me you can’t be in two places at once. Church and baseball may compete for your Sunday mornings, but you can only choose one.

Competition impacts your prospects for jobs, home ownership, and dating. It typically has a direct impact on our fortunes at work.

Let’s say I sell upscale hats and discover:

• Joe sells the same hats for less; or

• He sells them for more but provides better customer service; or

• He sells similarly designed, cheaply made hats; or

• He sells environmentally-friendly paper hats.

If I insist that I alone offer the best quality, best prices, best service, and nobody’s my competition, I’m sure to lose out.

While I’m deluding myself, Joe’s stealing my customers. He’s actively marketing his business, adding new product lines, and running promotions to lure shoppers.

The truth is Joe will happily make less money on the first sale. He recognizes he’ll make more from every customer over the long-run if he can just get them to try him once.

Should I remain rigid, insisting I’m not going to lower prices or change in any way, I’m inviting Joe to drive me out of business.

Sure, I’ll get the occasional customer…but it can’t possibly be enough to keep me going long-term.

It’s not hopeless, though. I need to put a strategic plan into place and stop flying by the seat of my pants. I must commit to re-investing every dollar made from the business back into additional marketing to (hopefully) draw in more customers.

And to improve my chances of success, I’ll run my marketing ideas past target audience members to quickly find the winning concepts.

Because even if I like an idea, customers may not. And their opinions are way more important than mine for growing future sales.

With planning, strategy, creativity, and flexibility, I may just survive Joe’s competitive challenges.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

Neutralize your competition at www.askmrmarketing.com.