Staying Ahead of the Competition in an Over-Saturated Market

strategy ideas

marketing planStrategies for your small business to stand out from the pack when your industry niche is over-saturated with competition

There are SMBs and startups around every corner, which makes it more difficult to stay afloat and beat the competition in the modern business world. It’s most likely that your industry niche is already over-saturated. However, it’s vital to get a few things right, while keeping a close eye on your rivals.

With these valuable tips for staying ahead of the competition, you can manage it and make the impossible happen in a saturated market.

1. Plan less and do more

The strength of every small business lies in their ability to be nimble. Get things done at a good level by following the 80/20, instead of trying to be 100% perfect. Aiming for absolute perfection will help you be innovative, but not necessarily stay ahead in the market game.

Startups have the option to do everything they want right away, while big companies need to invest a lot of time and energy in planning and getting approval, just to get things going.

2. Be the best at one thing

You don’t have to be strong in every aspect of your business and better than your competitors in order to succeed. Explore the market, find a weak spot to exploit, and aim your efforts at making a breakthrough there.

Focus on one aspect of the service/product you provide, base your whole marketing campaign around it, make it your selling point, and be the best. Once you’ve done it, many other doors will be opened for you.

3. Follow the fundamentals

Companies get ruffled when a competitor comes out with a new marketing campaign or a flashy offering. However, if you analyze what’s adding value to their business, you’ll often find that there’s not really much there.

Regardless of the hype or buzz they may be getting, their business moves shouldn’t worry you unless they manage to build a strong customer base within the confines of their burn rate. Don’t look at vanity, but think of the actual fundamentals and numbers of whether you’re growing your business’ bottom line.

4. Lower the prices

In order to gain a competitive edge, it is of the absolute importance to lower your prices. If your products are clearly superior, it’s okay if they cost more. However, you need a new plan if you offer the same product as your competitors.

On the other hand, your prices can’t drop forever, because at one point you’ll start losing money. This is why you have to find ways to save your money – from switching to smart freight to simply outsourcing the non-core tasks.

business competition

5. Focus on customer feedback

Focus on staying consistent when it comes to listening to your customers instead of investing a lot in analytic consultations and tools. Pay attention to what your customers complain the most about, and have your customer service employees file elaborate reports on those issues.

Your social media management team should also track the brand mentions on social media platforms. People appreciate when they can reach and talk to your company directly, and they don’t hesitate to be direct regarding all the shortcomings of your business or product. They’ll even go as far as to write their opinion publicly on your social media pages. Listen to what your customers have to say about your work, and use the feedback to fix certain issues and improve your product.

These ideas are just a few good solutions to stay ahead of your competitors. They can be combined with others or used alone to further improve your business model. The best thing is that these ideas are very flexible and can easily be integrated into almost any industry.

Another thing that you can perceive as your advantage is the fact that many business owners ignore them, even though they may seem quite intuitive. This means that you can be better than other companies by just avoiding this one, crucial mistake.

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Dan Radak

VPS Security Specialist
Dan Radak is a web hosting security professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of online security, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.