Gaining Competitive Advantages with Research

Keep your audience close, and your competitors closer

All businesses must conduct research to understand their market in terms of who are their potential customers and potential competitors.

When conducting research, the first step is to clearly determine what is the problem that you are trying to solve. In this case, we are trying to gain competitive advantages over the companies that serve the same audience as your business. 

We can simply by addressing several questions, such as:

  • Who are your competitors?
  • What are their products/services (consider details such as price, offers,  customer service, logistics or delivery)?
  • What is their market share?
  • What is their income?
  • What is the size of their enterprise (number of staff, specialists, buildings, cars, machinery, etc)?
  • What is their production capacity?
  • Who are their partners?

These are some, but not all, of the most key questions you should answer with the information you can gain from conducting research.

Realistically, all information about a competitor is good information, but what is more important is that you collect the relevant data that will ultimately enable you and your team to make strategic decisions and gain a competitive edge.

Ways to gain the edge with research

Conducting research can help your business gain competitive advantages in various ways:

  • Understanding customers – by conducting research, you can gain a better understanding of your customers’ needs, preferences, and behavior. This understanding can help your business tailor its products and services to meet those needs and differentiate itself from competitors.
  • Identifying market trends – changes in consumer behavior or new technologies that could disrupt the market. By being the first to identify a trend, your business can adapt its strategies and offerings to capitalize on them, gain a first-mover advantage, and stay ahead of the competition.
  • Product/service development – your business can gain insights into what customers want from their products, what features are most important, and what improvements could be made. This information can be used to improve product development and create products that are more competitive and better suited to customer needs.
  • Marketing optimization – research is a key responsibility for the marketing department, as it helps you understand how customers perceive their ideal brand, what messages resonate with them, and what channels are most effective for reaching them. By using this information, your business can create more effective marketing campaigns that differentiate itself from competitors and resonate with customers.

Finally, conducting research is essential for businesses to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. It’s important to note that conducting research is a process that requires careful planning and execution.

To ensure the research is effective, businesses should also consider the resources and expertise required to carry out the research, as well as the potential limitations and biases that may affect the results.

By carefully planning and executing the research process, businesses can gain valuable insights that can be used to make informed strategic decisions and gain a competitive advantage.

Articles

Join my Newsletter
Based in the United Kingdom. Operating Worldwide