Check your competitors often

Check out the competition

Some small businesses don't know where to start when doing their marketing. I was speaking with a local builder today and it has all become just too hard. Most of you probably want to just get out and do what you are good at, not try and bring in the business.

A referral will only get you so far and these days it is not as easy as it once was. Embracing other forms of social sharing like Facebook, Review sites, LinkedIn recommendations are all now part of the mix. So how can you tell what you should be doing? I say the easiest way to get some insight and ideas is to check out your competition. You can sometimes get some immediate ideas about what you could be doing this will allow you to quickly see what your customers see when comparing you to others in the market.

Go to review sites and see why customers are choosing them. What are they doing well? Have a look at their website and see how they present themselves. Competition is good, and strong competitors elevate each other.

The way we see it, your competition is unwittingly spilling their best business tips. They are leaving best practice trails behind, and you're catching every breadcrumb.

They're ideal teachers because they are competing with you. You're going after the same audience. If they test an ad, you can learn from that test, too. The people who reacted to it are the same people you are aiming for.

So the key takeaway is you can fast track your marketing by learning from your competitors. Not making the same mistakes and copying their winning strategies.