It’s understandable to want to focus a marketing campaign on the strengths and benefits of the products or services in question. However, something that’s easy to overlook is how your business and its offerings differ from the competition. Competitive intelligence is the process of legally and ethically gathering and analyzing information on your competitors.
Making this distinction isn’t as simple as, “We’re better because we say so.” When you can present prospective customers with accurate data and solid reasoning behind why your products or services will fulfill their needs better than other options, you’ll stand a much better chance of turning those marketing dollars into revenue. This is where competitive intelligence comes into play.
Competitive Intelligence can help you collect valuable data on their:
This information enables you to not only recognize your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses but also better identify and anticipate market trends. As a result, your marketing campaign should emphasize what customers need, how you can deliver it, and where the competition falls short.
Gleaning intelligence is relatively simple. At the most basic human level, chatting with customers and prospects, bank reps, financial services providers, and other business contacts can help keep you in the know about what’s going on in the marketplace. You might encounter these individuals in the regular course of business or seek them out at trade shows, conferences, and networking events.
Relying on fortuitous conversations alone won’t get the job done, however. You (or an employee) will need to gather information regularly. Scan major news providers — as well as relevant business publications — for updates on your competition or industry in general. Your competitors’ brochures, catalogs, press releases, annual reports, and other collateral also contain valuable information. And, of course, don’t forget to regularly visit their websites and blog and their public social media accounts.
In addition, there are a variety of powerful search engines and online resources that can boost competitive intelligence efforts — though some do charge for a subscription. For example, Dun & Bradstreet offers industry, market, and company-specific intelligence for both public and private businesses. The Securities and Exchange Commission (sec.gov) provides free financial reports on public companies.
Be sure to fact-check and verify any information you find. Inaccurate data can skew your observations, negatively affect your business decisions and hurt your reputation in the marketplace.
To succeed at marketing today, you need to make a strong case based on accurate and timely data relevant to your company’s purpose or industry. Competitive intelligence can help you find this information and integrate it into marketing campaigns. Contact our firm for help evaluating your marketing efforts from a return-on-investment perspective.
A marketing campaign should focus on the strengths and benefits of the products or services in question. But don’t overlook pointing out how your offerings are superior to those of competitors. That’s where competitive intelligence comes in. Competitive intelligence is the process of legally and ethically gathering and analyzing information about competitors. This includes their financial positions, business practices, and products and services. To gather such data, you can actively network, scan news sources, visit competitors’ websites and social media pages, and collect collateral such as sales brochures and annual reports. The end result: a more fine-tuned marketing message.
Business owners, you can sharpen your marketing efforts through the effective use of competitive intelligence. If you have any questions be sure to contact us!
The U.S. economy has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride for the past year and a half. Some industries have had to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges, while others have seen remarkable growth opportunities arise.
If your business is doing well enough for you to consider adding a location, both congratulations and caution are in order. “Fortune favors the bold,” goes the old saying. However, strained cash flow and staffing issues can severely disfavor the underprepared.
Ask the Right Questions
Among the most fundamental questions to ask is: Will we be able to duplicate the success of our current location? If your first location is doing well, it’s likely because you’ve put in place the people and processes that keep the business running smoothly. It’s also because you’ve developed a culture that resonates with your customers. You need to feel confident you can do the same at subsequent locations.
Another important question is: How might expansion affect business at both locations? Opening a second location prompts a consideration that didn’t exist with your first: how the two establishments will interact. Placing the two operations near each other can make it easier to manage both, but it also can lead to one operation cannibalizing the other. Ideally, the two locations will have strong, independent markets.
Run the Numbers
You’ll need to consider the financial aspects carefully. Look at how you’re going to fund the expansion. Ideally, the first location will generate enough revenue so that it can both sustain itself and help fund the second. But you may still need to take on debt, and it’s not uncommon for construction costs and timelines to exceed initial projections.
You might want to include some extra dollars in your budget for delays or surprises. If you must starve your first location of capital to fund the second, you’ll risk the success of both.
Account for the tax ramifications as well. If you own the real estate, property taxes on two locations will affect your cash flow and bottom line. You may be able to cut your tax bill with various tax incentives, such as by locating the second location in an Enterprise Zone. But the location will first and foremost need to make sense from a business perspective. There may be other tax issues as well — particularly if you’re crossing state lines.
Assess the Risk
For some businesses, expanding to a new location may be the single most impactful way to drive growth and build the bottom line. However, it’s also among the riskiest endeavors any company can take on. We’d be happy to help you assess the feasibility of opening a new location, including creating financial projections that will provide insights into whether the move is a reasonable risk.
Is your business doing well enough for you to consider adding another location? “Fortune favors the bold,” goes the old saying. However, strained cash flow and staffing issues can severely disfavor the underprepared. Ask yourself fundamental questions such as: “Will we be able to duplicate the success of our current location?”, “How might expansion affect business in both locations?”, “How are we going to fund the endeavor?”. Ideally, the first location will generate enough revenue to cover some of the costs, but you may need to take on substantial debt. Consider the tax ramifications as well, such as paying property taxes on two locations. We can help you assess the feasibility of the idea. Contact us for more information!
For many small to midsize businesses, spending money on marketing calls for a leap of faith that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Much of the planning process tends to focus on the initial expenses incurred rather than how to measure return on investment.
Here are five questions to ask yourself and your leadership team to put a finer point on whether your marketing efforts are likely to pay off:
Determine as specifically as possible what marketing success looks like. If the goal is to increase sales, what metric(s) are you using to calculate whether you’ve achieved adequate sales growth? Put differently, how will you know that your money was well spent?
Decide how much of your marketing will be based on recurring activity versus “one-off” or ad-hoc initiatives.
For example, do you plan to buy six months of advertising on certain websites, social media platforms, or in a magazine or newspaper? Have you decided to set up a booth at an annual trade show?
Fine-tune your efforts going forward by comparing inflows to outflows from various types of marketing spends. Will you be able to create a revenue inflow from sales that at least matches, if not exceeds, the outflow of marketing dollars?
It’s critical to ask new customers how they heard about your company. This one simple question can provide invaluable information about which aspects of your marketing plan are generating the most leads.
Further, once you have discovered a lead or new customer, ensure that you maintain contact with the person or business. Letting leads and customers fall through the cracks will undermine your marketing efforts. If you haven’t already, explore customer relationship management software to help you track and analyze key data points.
In addition to generating leads, marketing can help improve brand awareness. Although an increase in brand awareness may not immediately translate to increased sales, it tends to do so over time. Identify ways to measure the impact of marketing efforts on brand awareness. Possibilities include customer surveys, website traffic data, and social media interaction metrics.
It may sound like a nice problem to have, but sometimes a company’s marketing efforts are so successful that a sudden upswing in orders occurs. If the business is ill-prepared, cash flow can be strained and customers are left disappointed and frustrated.
Make sure you have the staff, technology, and inventory in place to meet an increase in demand that effective marketing often produces. We can help you assess the efficacy of your marketing efforts, including calculating informative metrics and suggest ideas for improvement.
For many businesses, marketing requires a leap of faith that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Here are five questions that can help determine whether you’re on the right track: 1) What do we hope to accomplish? Identify what success looks like. 2) Where and how often will we spend the money? Choose which avenues you’ll traverse and the mix of recurring activity versus “one-off” initiatives. 3) Can we track sources of new business, leads, and customers? The right software can help. 4) Can we gauge brand awareness? Find ways to measure the impact of marketing efforts. 5) Are we prepared for an increase in demand? You might “suffer from success” if you can’t satisfy all your new customers! Contact us for more information!
Most business owners would likely agree that strategic planning is important. Yet many companies rarely engage in active measures to gather and discuss strategy. Sometimes strategic planning is tacked on to a meeting about something else; other times it occurs only at the annual company retreat when employees may feel out of their element and perhaps not be fully focused.
Businesses should take strategic planning seriously. One way to do so is to hold meetings exclusively focused on discussing your company’s direction, establishing goals and identifying the resources you’ll need to achieve them. To get the most from strategy sessions, follow some of the best practices you’d use for any formal business meeting.
Every strategy session should have an agenda that’s relevant to strategic planning — and only strategic planning. Allocate an appropriate amount of time for each agenda item so that the meeting is neither too long nor too short.
Before the meeting, distribute a document showing who’ll be presenting on each agenda topic. The idea is to create a “no surprises” atmosphere in which attendees know what to expect and can thereby think about the topics in advance and bring their best ideas and feedback.
Depending on your workplace culture, you may want to state some upfront rules. Address the importance of timely attendance and professional decorum — either in writing or by announcement as the meeting begins.
Every business may not need to do this, but meetings that become hostile or chaotic with personal conflicts or “side chatter” can undermine the purpose of strategic planning. Consider whether to identify conflict resolution methods that participants must agree to follow.
A facilitator should oversee the meeting. He or she is responsible for:
If no one at your company feels up to the task, you could engage an outside consultant. Although you’ll need to vet the person carefully and weigh the financial cost, a skilled professional facilitator can make a big difference.
Recording the minutes of a strategic planning meeting is essential. An official record will document what took place and which decisions (if any) were made. It will also serve as a log of potentially valuable ideas or future agenda items.
In addition, accurate meeting minutes will curtail miscommunications and limit memory lapses of what was said and by whom. If no record is kept, people’s memories may differ about the conclusions reached and disagreements could later arise about where the business is striving to head.
By gathering your best and brightest to discuss strategic planning, you’ll put your company in a stronger competitive position. Contact our firm for help laying out some of the tax, accounting and financial considerations you’ll need to talk about.
Businesses should take strategic planning seriously. One way is to hold meetings focused on plotting your company’s future. To get the most from these gatherings, follow some best practices for any formal business meeting. Set a clear and feasible agenda so there will be no surprises. If necessary, lay down rules to preserve decorum and prevent (or resolve) conflicts. Choose a facilitator to oversee the meeting. If no one at your company feels up to the task, you could engage a qualified outside consultant. Record the minutes of the meeting to document what took place and which (if any) decisions were made. Contact us for help with the financial aspects of strategic planning.