How to use your brains NOT brawn in business

Far too often we hear how big companies are muscling out smaller companies in the hopes of holding onto supremacy in the marketplace; Bill Gates being a perfect example.

It’s true, bigger companies do have the money to slug it out but with the rise of the Internet, database marketing, data-mining techniques and other research methods, the playing fields have now levelled off quite considerably.

So instead of trying to take on the big boys at their own game, why not out think them instead?

But the simple truth is, you can’t beat your competitors until you know them and yourself, like the back of your hand. And gaining this sort of intelligence requires the utmost patience.

A British statesman and novelist Benjamin Disraeli said;

“Patience is the necessary ingredient for genius.”

So start flexing your patience muscles by watching what your competitor is up to in the marketplace; see how it likes to position itself. Is it positioning itself as the best, the cheapest, the best quality?

Watch them long enough and that sort of information will filter through to you in due time. The best places to find your competition is in trade press ads, tv and radio commercials, web advertising and direct mail.

By paying close attention to what your competition puts out in the marketplace, will give you a clear indication as to how they position themselves and how this compares to your positioning.

Having this vital information at your finger-tips will enable you to design a unique message in your promotions, products and services. It will also empower you to answer key strategic questions like these:

• How do my competitors position themselves, and what promises do they make?

• How will our future set of promotional messages compete against theirs?

• What sorts of offers, messages and creative tactics are our competitors using?

• Marketing investment wise, how much is the competition pumping into their campaigns, and will our company survive or be bogged down by those investments?

• What types of advertising does our competitors do?

• What types of messages, offers and creative marketing styles, must we avoid so as not to look like we’re copying our competitors’ promotions?

Collecting this type of information is not difficult. But it does take time and asks for considerable patience, while you collate all the information and put it together carefully to reveal one cohesive story.

And through the process, you never know, you may encounter sparks of marketing genius!