Ways to get in Front of your Competitor’s Audience

When you started your business, you had a skill or a passion that you wanted to use in some way. You probably did a little bit of research to determine if there was a need for your business idea. Once you figured out there was a need, you launched. You might have stopped looking at your competitors then, but the most successful entrepreneurs keep an eye on their competitors almost as much as they keep an eye on their competitor’s audience. 

The competition

Competition is not necessarily negative. Competition is what drives us to success. If you have a great product or service that you offer, and you are the only one who offers it, you may be overwhelmed and struggle to keep up. Maybe you are stagnant because you know you are monopolizing the space. The moment your competition comes in, you start to worry. Worry causes fear. Fear inspires change. Change is the father of innovation. Innovation keeps your business ahead of others. 

The competition’s audience

While competition isn’t necessarily negative, it does take potential customers or clients away from our business. That, too, is not always a negative! Clients are not always meant to be ours. Sometimes, it’s not a good fit. But we want the opportunity to test that out. The competition’s audience may not know we exist, so we have to work to get in front of our competitor’s audience. 

Strategy 1: Market research

Market research is another way to say that you’re checking out the competition. There is a lot more to market research, but one of the key components is to look at the competition. When we talk about market research, we’re talking diving into the analytics.

• Who is the competition?
• What do they offer?
• What do they not offer?
• Where do they come from?
• What do they have that you don’t?
• What do they have that you do?
• What do you have that they don’t?
• What tools are they using?
• What platforms are they using?
• What is their experience?
• What is their education?
• How often are they posting?
• What platforms are they using?
• Where are they on a Google search?

These questions (and more) drive market research of the competition and helps a business compare and analyze needs and structure. 

Strategy 2: Value

You and your competition need to provide value to your clients. If you want to get in front of your competition’s audience, you have to provide value to those clients. One of the easiest ways to do this is to blog. Not only does a blog provide value to your clients, but it provides value to the competition’s audience as well. Other forms of value include

• videos
• printables
• courses

Providing value is something that you are likely already doing, so you might be more concerned with getting that valuable content to the competition’s audience. 

Strategy 3: Invitations

One of the best strategies in dealing with the competition is to use them to get in front of their audience by getting invited to their space. With a few steps, you can get yourself invited to their podcast, IGTV, or blog. By providing value and by remaining friendly with the competition, you can snag an invitation to get a front-row seat to their audience. Click here to talk about how to get that invitation!

Then what?

Once you are in front of your competitor’s audience, you still have a lot of work to do. You have to woo them like you did with your existing clients. Prove your knowledge and innovation. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses as well as that of your competition. Be professional and kind. If you have a good product or service, you will find the right clients even if they are sitting in front of your competition.