“We know all our customers. And we know all our competitors.” This is a line we hear all too often in our industry. If this was truly the case, why put any of your budget into marketing efforts.
Through our experience with the various marketing strategies and tools we implement for our clients, we have learned that many times, your competition isn’t always who it seems to be.
Based on statistics collected by NOBSCOT, there is a 56% turnover rate within general business services, and a 23% turnover rate in manufacturing personnel. Couple that with the fact that the sales cycle has increased by 22% over the past five years due to the greater number of decision makers present (SiriusDecisions), things are always shifting and changing. The same people aren’t calling all the shots. Processes evolve.
Being able to take in a full picture of our clients’ industries has helped us to identify any new players or companies to watch. For example, we recently conducted follow-up calls after a campaign involving 100 contacts. We discovered one of the potential customers on the list was using a company to meet their needs and was never identified as a competitor. This gave us valuable market research to take back to our client.
We are also able to glean information from our media contacts and during tradeshows and conferences. Media reps always have the inside look on what is happening within an industry. Through our conversations with them, we learn of any up-and-coming companies or pertinent news.
We also do a lot of social media listening. Content moves so quickly on social media channels, so we have set up a lot of tools and alarms to stay on top of specific trends, keywords and companies.
Identifying your competition is more than just making a laundry list of companies you think you need to watch out for or ones that have historically been on your radar. Ask us how you can stay up to speed.
