subject: Will You Stand Out in a Crowded Market Place? [print this page] Will You Stand Out in a Crowded Market Place?
The Internet is full of potential customers but keep in mind that there are also a lot of businesses who are competing, and you have to figure a way to stand out from the crowd.
Similar businesses that fall in the same category of product or service could have many ups and downs in business.
For example, if you have the same exact business model, including the same products as your competitor, what makes a customer want to stay with you and not just always go for the lowest price. Your business could strive to be unique making it different from the rest of the businesses out there. The Internet is an unbelievable place, but it sparks major competition amongst business owners out there. Also, it makes it very easy for a competitor to copy exactly what you're doing.
Are you an ebay or amazon seller? These are two of the most notorious places for this to happen. People continually under cut each other on price until they effectively kill the market. They kill the market, by going so low on price that nobody can make money off of them anymore.
So how will you combat this? You do this by being what your competitor isn't. Offering more value to your customer is something that will leave you coming out a winner.
Here some strategies that would keep you standing in the global market place.
1. Follow a proven business model.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel. In fact, the best way to make money is to find someone that has done exactly what you want and duplicate it, only doing it better than your competitor.
2. Limit your focus.
Have you ever wondered why Apple OS installed in every computer has the same theme yet so many people love it in comparison to Windows, who changes themes every succeeding release? Apple could maintain the location of the sidebar, menu bars, and theme related stuff with their new release of OS yet improving functional features. Think narrow; don't extend your thinking to things that do not help expand your business. Laser focus is the way to go.
3. Improve.
The reason why some companies lose their track with the competition is that they never change their existing products or services. Once, people are already accustomed to your product they will be looking for the next best thing from you.
4. Target a certain group of buyers.
Back to the idea of focus, we have to target a specific group of buyers. Forget about the big markets. Unless you're a huge corporation with unlimited funds and are a household brand name, then you need to be targeting small niches within these markets. In niche markets, you can quickly dominate and develop expert status.
These are just few strategies but the most important thing is to work on not being the cheapest, but being the best. You can never fully compete with cheap, but you should be able to match customer service every time. With the right ideas and implementation, a company can withstand the pressures of any competitor.
