“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Sun-tzu, The Art of War, 722-481 BCE or 403-221 BCE

Anyone that has spent much time in the corporate world has heard this quote more than a few times, but in the real world of small business, can it still be applied to knowing your competition?

Absolutely. It takes time, and the ability to leave your prejudice at the door, but every business regardless of size should know and learn from their competitors by gaining an understanding of the marketplace from the eyes of the customer.

To begin, bias for one’s own product or service has to be set on the side. You must assume the role of the customer and view the offering choices as they do. See what they see. Think what they think. Question what they would doubt. Pace the buying process as they would. Fear what they would fear.

Start with the search. People looking to fulfill a need or want seek out a solution. Who and what (ads) do they find and where do they find them?

Offline marketing and advertising

• Gather all relevant information – yours and the competitors. Potential sources include: Yellow page ads, Direct mail pieces, Trade journal and industry magazine ads, Trade shows (look up the registration list online), etc.
• Track your advertising activity and the competitors’ in a spreadsheet (Ad type, placement, size, date, frequency, etc.)
• Compare your ads and their ads with a critical eye. Are you getting out- advertised? Which creative is the most effective? Take note of the headlines, the copy, the branding. Is there a call to action? Is there a consistent look, feel and messaging across delivery channels?

Online marketing and advertising

Organic or Free Search. Most product searches start with an online search, so begin there. Start with Google, but don’t forget Yahoo and MSN.

Now, what search terms do new product or service seekers use to conduct a search? The search term it is not, is your business name. Most small businesses are not known by prospects and must be found by the key words and key phrases entered into the search engine. Google has a free tool to discover/refine keywords and there are numerous others (free and not free) available.

Once you determine the key words and key phrases, work must begin to assess the SEO strengths and weaknesses of your competitors to gain a competitive advantage in search engine rankings. This process is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and is an entire topic on its own. If you are unfamiliar with SEO, you need to get familiar, and quickly. Google has a beginner’s SEO guide available or check out DIY Website Success.

Paid Search or Pay Per Click (PPC). PPC ads are the paid ads that appear on the right and top of search results pages and say “Sponsored Search” above the ads. Here is a simple method to gain a quick understanding of your ads versus your competitors:

• Determine your top key words from your keywords list
• Open a Word document and create a table, 4 columns wide with 14 rows
• Label the top row of each column with a key word or phrase
• Label each row of the left column Top 1, Top 2, Top 3, Right 1, Right 2, etc.
• Now search the first phrase and cut and paste the ad results into the table, one result per cell

When you finish, you should have all the page one PPC results for your top 3 key words or phrases. Repeat for as many keywords as needed.

Google also has quite a few free tools available for AdWords advertisers. Simply create/login to your Adwords account, go to Tools and begin exploring.

Next, for the top ads (the biggest competition because customers see them first), examine their landing pages, or the place where the person is taken if that ad is selected. Does the thought path flow well or does the landing page have nothing to do with the ad? Remember, the closer the landing page is to the ad creative and messaging, the more likely the success.

Competitors’ Web Sites

If you aren’t already visiting your competitor’s web sites at least a couple of times a month, again, you need to be. Simply create a folder in your toolbar, bookmark their sites and then choose a day of the week to visit them.

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