subject: How to Pull Your Customers from the Competition [print this page] How to Pull Your Customers from the Competition
So you want to open up a business. Or you already have one, and you are looking to grow. There are so many businesses out there, and in today's global economy, the competition has grown stiffer. What is there to do? Plenty. Here are several strategies to gain customers in a competitive environment.
Study the competition and do what they do, better. There is a reason that people are doing business in the places they currently shop. Maybe they like the dcor, or the customer service is really good. It could really be anything. Focus on your competition see who's in the number one spot and figure out why. Do they sell higher quality merchandise? Do they have wittier advertisements? Whatever it is, copy it, but do even better. If you discover that people are frequenting Betty's handbags caf because they love the unique marketing concept, develop one for yourself. Don't choose the exact same theme of course, but if it's marketing that works for designer-inspired handbags, focus on marketing. If you discover that customers rate them as a highly customer oriented handbag supplier, go all out for customer service. Capitalize on the research your competitors have already done and steal it for yourself.
Be even more competitive. Undercutting the competition only works well in a very competitive environment where the customers are expecting good deals; otherwise it looks cheap and cheesy. Offer great promotions and incentives. Offering buy-two-get-one-free for replica handbags is a fabulous deal. Don't let it go on for too long or you look less valuable.
Make your name known. Whether through traditional forms such as print advertisements or banner ads, social media, or classic networking, you have to get the word out. Attack from all sides if your budget allows. If you can't purchase fancy, expensive ads, hype up the social media. Make blog comments, write your own blog, plug in SEO all over your web site, and do anything else you can thing of to get the word out.
Choose a niche. This is somewhat of a different approach from the others mentioned, because you will forfeit some of your target market. The strategy here is to make up for that by getting a much larger share of the smaller niche, perhaps small purses, that you are targeting. Only go this route if: you are not pushy enough to do either of the others, or you are looking for smaller growth.
