Competition can be a blessing and a curse in the business world. A blessing, because you’ll no doubt see that competition can make you a better firm over the years. It inspires you to perform better, to offer more value to your clients and customers, as well as to innovate and keep up with industry standards. Just as exercising each morning takes something from us, it ultimately makes us better people and keeps us on the straight and narrow.
Competition can also be a curse, because… well because opposing businesses would like nothing better than to take all of our customers, profit as a result, and enjoy less competition. While the ‘rules of engagement,’ are perhaps more sportsmanlike than that, and there’s always room for more than just one company in a given area or industry, no rules are suggesting that a company has to send business your way just to level the playing field. It’s quite legal for them to outperform you and lead you to your enterprise becoming irrelevant.
So – what techniques can we use to stay relevant and even thrive, despite this growing local competition? With the following advice, you’re sure to see:
Develop Your Web Presence
Developing a competent web presence is a key element of getting and staying noticed. But as any business can open a website, it pays to make sure that yours is good, and backed up by social media profiles that are regularly updated.
First, think about what the scope of your website should be. Perhaps you could offer services and appointment booking forms, to make attending your real-life location simpler and smoother to deal with? Or, maybe you could have appropriate branding designed by an outsourced graphic designer, allowing you to maintain a consistent visual theme from place to place? This can all work wonders, for clear and obvious reasons.
Utilize The Full Extent Of SEO
Utilizing the full extent of search engine optimization (SEO) will help you stand out more readily in organic search results. The best SEO company can work with you to identify areas you need to work on, such as the keywords you target, and develop a blog filled with interesting content that Google is inclined to recommend as appropriate.
Furthermore, ensuring that high-quality posts, updates, and insights are posted as part of your web presence gets people talking. It helps you grow followers, who may share what you have to say with their friends and connections. With all of these measures combined, you will develop organic reach, and that can be quite useful when you hope to get noticed in a particular town.
Run Promotional Events
It’s important to note that you’re running a business now. Not in the past. This means that if you cannot drum up excitement now, you may not be able to at all. After all, while a business reputation and generation of goodwill can mean a lot for your overall marketability, it’s not the absolute be-all and end-all of your success.
The best businesses know how to drum up interest. For instance, running regular promotions, seasonal events, or simply being a part of the scene (such as attending a local SEO convention) can make a massive difference in helping you seem relevant and part of your industry. If you want to be a step above that, then serving as an ambassador for your industry can help you seem like part of the furniture, as it were.
Think of how restaurants must do all they can to get their local guests interested in seasonal and local produce. The same principles of excitement and development can apply even if you’re nowhere near serving people plates of food.
Reward Loyal Consumers
Of course, when competition bites, one of the most essential elements to get right is retaining loyal customers. But we need them to stay not just because of a misplaced sense of allegiance, but rather, because they want to, because they believe in you, and because you take good care of them.
That might mean running loyalty discounts, providing exclusive access to your newest products before they hit the shelves, or simply offering VIP memberships that allow them a deeper look into the process you offer. No matter what that entails, an approach like that can help you flourish, and if the customers are loyal, they will also act as your ambassadors. The new competition won’t know what it’s gone up against.
With this advice, you’ll be able to retain your relevance despite growing and feisty local competition in the area.