DIGITAL STARTUP SOCIETY BLOG — 30 Days to Leveraging Your Competition to Grow Your Online Business Fast

There is a thought in business and marketing that suggests even mentioning the competitor’s name in a commercial is a no-no. While this may be a valid idea when you don’t want your audience to find out about a competitor, but the truth is, they already know – why not be open and honest about the fact that the competition exists.  Sharing your competitor’s information can advantage you if you share it the right way at the right time.    When They Provide Good Information  If your competition has created some really great information that your customers will benefit from,...

If you’re still worried about competition, let’s go over many more ways that competition actually improves your business. If you can set your mindset right, you’ll soon realize that having competition means your business has a better chance than average of success and that you can improve your business by using the competition for your own purposes.    Building Self Awareness  It might seem contrary to your ideas right now, but the more you learn about everyone else, the more you’re going to learn about yourself. The more you educate yourself about what the competition is offering, how they set...

If you’ve decided that you want to create an outsourcing agreement with your competition, you can approach this from a few different angles. These agreements can be formal or informal.  You can informally start recommending your competition to your clients on a case-by-case basis just because you want to, or you can reach out to the competition and set up a formal legal agreement to share overflow through outsourcing, affiliate agreements, and subcontracting.   Outsourcing To / From Your Competition  If you outsource to someone else, you send the work off and expect to receive a completed project. For example,...

Leveraging your competition to help you build a more substantial business often starts with finding ways to work with your competition. One of the best ways to work with your competition is to start sending them any of your overflow work and vice versa.    Sole Proprietors This idea works best with individually owned and operated service-based businesses. For example, virtual assistants, customer service reps, graphic designers, life coaches – any company that doesn’t hire many employees who are often held back by the hours in the day can benefit from sharing overflow.   Always Be Marketing  It is clear...

If you’re not ready to start a Joint Venture, you can ease your way into an industry and group by going to your competitor’s events as a means to learn from the community and to promote yourself.  Let’s look at ways you can use your competition’s events to promote yourself ethically.   Choose the Right Events  One key to using other people’s events to help you build your business is to choose the right type of events. You want to figure out who the main event is meant for. Is it industry-centric or customer-centric? You want the most attendees at...