A Wren Says

I have been focused on competitors this week. Maybe I should explain the concept in the marketing sense. Your competitors are those other brands and businesses who are doing similar things to you. They are in the same product category and could very easily take the same people you want as customers. That is the quickest way to explain it of course I could give your more depth on the topic, but let’s get this done fast.

As you think about your competitors, you should ask yourself three basic questions: What? Who? Why?

• What do you sell? Do you sell a physical good or a service? What is it? What category would you place it in?
• Who buys your product? Who do you want to buy your product?
• Why do they buy it? What is it that you do so well?

Now, look at wrote you wrote out, or just remember what you thought. Hmmm… Is there anyone else out there who is also trying to do this? If the answer is yes, then look at that, you’ve got some competitors.

“But, wait,” you say. “I’ve created something completely new, that has never been done before.” Sorry to break it to you, but even you have competitors. The same humans you want to buy your product have been using other products to fill that need for years. Maybe they have never used a teleportation device, but they have definitely traveled before somehow, and they have also found alternatives when they couldn’t get there fast enough. So maybe your competitors would be car companies, public transport, or web conferencing services. If you think about it everyone has a competitor. You might just have to think a little harder.

Listing your competitors is not an exercise to make you anxious about who might be gunning for you. Think of it more as a jumping off point to tighten up your own strategy and focus on your pathways to success.