Understanding Your Competition

In America today, there is almost no industry in which one company has exclusive rights. Even the door-to-door delivery of packages, once the sole domain of the United States Postal Service, is now filled with a half-dozen competitors, leaving the USPS in the proverbial dust.

Finding Who Your Competitors Are

It is easy to know how you will compete in a known market, but defining that market and who your competitors are can be quite challenging. There are, in effect, several levels of such competitions. Whether a particular firm is in competition with you depends on several factors, actual product, services provided, region of operation, and (in ever increasing importance) the manner in which the goods and services are marketed and its effectiveness.

Let me clarify this with an example. Mrs. Black lives in a small city of around 10,000 people. On Main Street you find there are three “competitors” in the retail clothing industry. At first glance, it may seem the community cannot sustain another clothing store. Mrs. Black, however, is planning on a store specializing in “Goth” teen fashions and knows there is not another shop like it in seventy or eighty miles. As such, are the other retail clothing stores competing with her? Even if this scenario was in a larger community, Mrs. Black might be marketing her fashions over the Internet instead of a physical store. This places Mrs. Black in an entirely different market than the other stores.

The Value of Professional Advice

Making such distinctions can be confusing. Consultation with seasoned professional is often helpful, but incomplete. The Entrepreneur might get the issue advice he needs, but be at a loss of how to communicate it to investors through his or her business plan.

This is where companies like ours enter the picture. With hundreds of seasoned, knowledgeable writers in our employ, we can fill this gap by helping you effectively communicate all aspects of your business venture, often tapping past experiences of our writers to ensure the quality of every project. Contact us today and see how we can assist you with your next project.