Competitive research is a type of research that small businesses should be doing to monitor and analyze what your competition is doing. For animal, equine and pet based businesses it can be a way to better understand why your customers choose you over the neighboring business right down the road OR why they choose your competitor over you. Join Kim and Cara as they share the reasons you should be doing competitive research for your animal, equine, or pet-based business and the types of information you should be looking for.

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Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. Saddle up for a

gallop to the top of the animal industry. Where you'll learn how

to tame your wild business beast, with tips, techniques,

and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school,

and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts,

Kim Beer, and Cara Taylor Swift

Hey there business animals, it's Kim with

Be More Business

and Cara with Fast Horse photography.

And welcome to The Business Animal podcast. So

today our topic is one that should be of interest to to

every business out there, and especially animal based

businesses, because we have such a tight knit community around

our animals that we often run in to many opportunities as

consumers to fulfill our needs for products and services in

association with our animals. And today's topic is about

competitive research. It's about you as the small business owner

as the animal based business owner, being able to recognize

where you fit in to your consumers overall situation

around whatever they're trying to solve, whether it's buying

food for their animal, getting a service for their animal, or

getting training or education or photography, I don't care where

you rank in that being able to know what your competition is

doing. And being able to see where you fit into that bigger

picture, especially in context to where your consumers are

coming from both your similarities and your

differences are really key in being able to understand how you

fit into the market and being able to do your sales Cara, how

do you define competitive research?

Well simply put, I think of competitive

research as a type of research that monitors and analyzes what

That is exactly right. And you have a wonderful

your competitors are doing. So for animal equine and pet based

businesses, it can be a way for us to better understand, first

list here of reasons why people should be doing competitive

of all, why our customers chose to work with us or buy from us,

but also why they chose a competitor over us. So if

they're out there choosing competitors, why are they doing

that? And competitive research is a way for us to figure that

research from an article that you found. And I think this is a

out.

great opportunity to present that to people so they know why

they need to hang around and listen to our big three which

are steps to get you to the place you need to be with

competitive research.

Absolutely. I found this great article by Elsa

Berry on LinkedIn actually, of all places. But there are lots

of reasons that you should be doing competitive research, here

are a few of them. First of all, you can really get a better

understanding of your market like what's happening current,

what is current, what's happening out there, you can

also find gaps or opportunities in your market. You know, we

always talk about looking for those places where we can feel

the pain point and are there things out there that are

happening that people are looking for, but they can't find

access to it, this might be a great place for you and your

business to jump in and kind of save the day. You can also

identify your personal your own businesses strengths and

weaknesses. When you compare them to your competitors, you

can identify new and emerging trends in your market to help

you stay current. Sometimes, by doing competitive research, you

can be tipped off. So, to trends that are starting to happen,

things that people are interested in that maybe they

weren't interested in before and get in at an earlier stage, I

have found that competitive research can help inspire new

ideas for me and for my business. You can also spend

some time learning your competitor strategies, which

ones are working and which ones aren't working. This can be huge

in terms of saving you costs down the line, if you see a

competitor trying something that you have been thinking about

trying in your business, but it doesn't seem to be working for

them. But they're having a lot of hiccups. This could really

save you a lot of time and trouble down the line either by

troubleshooting in a different way or skipping the option

altogether. And finally, competitive research, which

we're going to talk about a little bit below is just a great

way to set you apart from your competitors. And we'll dig into

that a little deeper as we start working through the big three.

Absolutely. So our big three for this episode

are first of all identify the standard for your industry. You

have to know what is out there for people and how your business

is positioned in that and then number two is to get super clear

on what are your competitive differentiators what you offer

that they don't offer, what they offer that you don't offer. And

then finally, just to remember that competitive research is

ongoing and make some plans to make sure that you stay on focus

in keeping your competitive research up as you go along. So

the first of the big three is to identify the standard for your

industry. Now, I know that you would like to dearly believe

that your customers that you currently have are incredibly

loyal, and that they would ever even interact with another

business that provides the same service or product that you do.

But the truth is, those other businesses that do what you do,

or do something similar to what you do, they're doing their

marketing too. They're doing their outreach, they're getting

in front of people, and there's always the open door for them to

have a conversation with your customers. Now, if the customer

is always pleased with your service, and your prices aren't

dramatically different, you know, there's not a lot of

motivation for them to change. But here's the thing, if you

don't know what is out there, it's really, really difficult to

know what the opportunities for losing customers that might

exist, that you're not aware of. So there's a guy in score that I

teach with his name is Ed, and he is he's an awesome

businessman. And he definitely has a heart for helping small

businesses really be successful. And his part of the score

marketing program that I teach in, he talks a lot about this

competitive research part and understanding the industry

standards. And he tells a little story based on cable TV, right?

So when the cable TV salesman person comes to your door, let's

just pretend that happens in this day and age. So the cable

TV salesman approaches you basically, and says we have 72

channels that are available. Well, if you've only been

watching 10 channels as the consumer 72 Sounds awesome. So

you think I will sign up with you. But if you don't do it

right then or if you do it and there's an out, and then the

next cable TV person comes along and says, Hey, I have 225

channels. Well, now on the first guys offer sure doesn't sound as

good as the second one. But maybe the first company has some

benefits that aren't really obvious. Maybe their services

more reliable, there's there's a lot of other things in there. So

basically, what the moral of the story is, is that there is a lot

of choice out there for consumers. And you have to be

super aware as a business owner of what those choices are, and

how your business fits into it. Because your consumers, like it

or not, are getting approached by these other businesses, they

inadvertently even learn about the opportunities that are out

there that your competition has. So you need to figure this out,

so that you know what you're doing and where you rank and how

to combat or how to position yourself and maybe be a better

word in your differentiators. So you've got to identify that

standard. What are the standard options? And Cara, you have some

amazingly good suggestions around that. So I'm gonna let

you roll through those.

Absolutely. The first three things you need

to think about when you're trying to identify the standard

in your industry is first of all who your competitors are. That's

that's where you're starting this whole thing. So you need to

look at three things. First of all, who do they consider their

target market? Because I'm an equine photographer, and I have

other equine photographers in my community, but my target is very

specific. And there might be a lot of other equine

photographers, but their targets may be completely different than

mine, they may be choosing to do a different type of photography

within that that market. So who do they consider their target

market to be? And then secondly, what makes them or their

services and their products unique? What is different? What

What are they doing that's different? What is their unique

thing that they bring to the market? And third, you want to

look at their price points, what do they look like? How are they

put together? What type of you know are they charging sales

tax? Do they have some kind of convenience fee? What are they

what are their shipping options look like? These are all

elements this is that are a great place to start. Once you

pull that information together then I like to think about it in

terms of you know, do you have different type of competitors

that fall into different categories? Are you in direct

competition or indirect competition with these other

businesses for example, in the equine photography world, I am a

full time photographer that specializes in creating you know

wall art for my clients have their own horses I'm full time

I'm professional, but I might be up against and competing with

part time photographers that have a full time job doing

something else. So there may be weekend photographers, the

hobbyist, enthusiastic hobbyists might be somewhere in this list

thinking about things like are they you know, in your industry?

Are there accreditations licenses, you know, are they

insured? These are all things to me that fit into industry

standard and can be later turned into your competitive

diffierintegrators. I'm gonna say that word 500 times, Kim,

I'm gonna say it wrong every single time. So just warning you

now

No worries. We all know what you mean.

So it's a tough one. Some other things

that you can look for what do their systems and procedures

look like in comparison to yours? You know, what is the

onboarding look like? How do you get them in your front door?

What is the process that they go through? When they're working

with you, or purchasing from you? How do your systems look

different? Of course, look at your pricing structures, I

mentioned that above. How are their prices put together? How

do they compare to yours? You know, and that's going to be

something that, you know, when you've got consumers out there

looking, one of the things they look for is pricing. So being

able to talk about that in terms of your differentiators. Here we

go again, it's gonna be big. I also like to look at things

like, you know, what kind of content are they putting out to

the world? And what does that look like? For example, what is

their website, say? What kind of imagery? Are they using? You

know, is it professional imagery? Is it unprofessional

looking imagery? Does their website look really good? Do

they have a blog? If they do, what are they talking about? Do

they seem to have a content strategy? What does that look

like? And then in terms of their social media strategy, if they

have one? Are they getting engagement on their social

media? And not only? Are they getting engagement? How are they

responding to things like social media posts and comments, you

know, and then are they responding to them? How are they

responding to them? Is it professional, you know, what is

their personality that's being represented in that brand? And

then looking for other forms of advertising? Are they running

ads on Google? Are they in your local newspaper or magazine? You

know, where are these pieces popping up that you're seeing

them, I also suggest looking for things like special promotions

that they might be offering, especially if they're seasonal,

you know, it helps you know, where you're going to be at when

you've got these little promotions happening in your

community, or in your market looking for things like, are

they using email marketing? Where are they popping up on the

search engines? You know, when you type in your industry

information into a Google search? Where are they popping

up in relation to where your business is popping up? And then

I always like to think about, like, what do their point of

sale options look like? And that kind of goes back to the

pricing. But the big thing is, is it easy to buy from them? Or

easy to book with them? You know? Do they have options

available? If you're purchasing a product from them online that

gives options for people? Or is there a multiple step process

that they have to go through? And how does that compare to

yours? You might have a leveled system like I do, where people

can't just click a button and work with me they have to go

through a process. So how does your process compare to those? I

know that was a lot Kim. But these are things that I think

are really important when you start doing competitive

research.

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Absolutely. And when you look at these things,

there's a couple of caveats. I want everybody to maybe maybe

think of these as lenses that you need to put in front of you.

As you look at these things. The first thing I really want you to

examine is what do people say about that business behind the

scenes? Like what is their true success? When people are talking

about that business, what are they saying? Are they really

truly as successful as they appear? Do they have a slick

website and maybe a nice storefront or product packaging,

but when you really examine things, not that many people are

purchasing from them. Now, when you do that, if you look at your

competitors, and you see a super successful one, I don't want you

to consider that a bad thing. I want you to consider it a good

thing because you can learn a lot from that competitor about

what is working in your industry. That's when the list

that Cara gave you becomes really critical because what you

can do is look on there and identify where your business is

maybe not fitting the bill in the same way that business is.

And it will tell you what you need to step up or what you

might want to shift and do a little bit differently. Now, I'm

not advocating that you copy what they do, that's not the

point here, what you need to do is understand what is the secret

sauce over there, that is getting people to really dig in

and purchase with that business and really drive them forward.

Now, again, you're going to take all of this with a grain of

salt, because you do want to understand is that business

really, truly successful underneath the hood, so is

everything running on the inside the way that it appears to be on

the outside, and that can also be flipped around, right? So you

can run into a business that really their website isn't all

that great, maybe you don't see a lot of marketing from them.

But you always hear good scuttlebutt throughout the

industry about them. So also examine those businesses and

say, you know, what is it that they're doing that means that

they really maybe don't need some of those other things or

need to push on them quite as hard as you have been. So what

again, is the secret sauce in there, as Ed likes to say, you

know, we all all create our businesses, and we try to do it

from scratch. And a lot of times, we try to figure out this

without looking at competition, because we're afraid one that

we're either going to get ideas that aren't really ours, or and

copy stuff, or that we're going to do it differently than they

do. But the truth is that there's enough market space for

all of us out there for these businesses. And what your

competition is doing, they've already learned a lot, because

they've been in business longer than you have in that startup

phase kind of thing. So if you are in a startup phase, make

sure you look at your competition and really

understand them and don't approach it as I'm going to be

different or kind of as a as an opposition to them. But as a

learning experience to see what they're doing right. Another

thing you can do, if you have a business that is local, like it

has a radius by which it serves, this is harder for people who

work with people in a large geographic area. But if your

customer base is in a small geographic area, find a

competitive business that is not in direct competition for your

market. In other words, if you live in Chicago, you know, look

for the same business you have in Los Angeles, and then see if

you can find some buddies that are in your same industry have

your same business, and that you can talk to and say here, let's

form a little coalition so we can understand each other's

businesses better. And it'll give you all a new perspective

of the target market that you're trying to reach. Because it's

like you're looking through a multifaceted glass then right,

you get all kinds of different opinions about what that

business is for your target market. And it's the same

consumer, they just live in different geographic areas. So

you're really not cross competing with each other. So

the sharing is a little bit more free and open. And it's a really

good relationship to have. I see this a lot in our photography

world, where we all we have competitive businesses. I mean,

technically, Cara and I are competitive with each other. But

we're in very different markets. And we're also in very different

geographic areas. So there's a camaraderie that can happen

because we can help each other without worrying about the lack

of customers or somebody taking more than the other. How does

that all sound to you, Cara?

Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things

that probably one of the best decisions I made is I teamed up

with two other photographers in other parts of the US, but they

have very similar business models to me, where we're

providing a really elevated level of service and providing

high end in product to our, to our clients. And we have weekly

meetings where we cover everything from products that we

are offering to our clients to how we're pricing them to, you

know, way we can add things on the types of editing packages we

can put together. I mean, we go through and our attempt is that

we dedicate each one of our meetings to something where

we're digging in deeper, and we share just everything I mean, we

send them product things that we've created together and help

bounce language off of each other. And it's huge. And it's

it is about learning about your direct competition your market

and what's happening and then in seeing how you stack up and then

you know that next step is what are your competitive

differentiators? God I can't say that word. Differentiators. And

because the that to some way Kim I think can be the secret sauce,

you know, and that can be two different things they can be how

are the products and services that you offer to your community

different from your competitors, but more importantly, how like

you said earlier how Do consumers see you as different

from your competition? I feel like that's something you need

to know too.

It is it is. And that brings us to our number

two, which is to get clear on your competitive

differentiators. I have a feeling you're going to pass

your inability to pronounce differentiator off on to me so

like I'm no I'm like super focused on pronouncing it. It's

crazy. So So yeah, aluminum. So it took me a while to learn how

to pronounce aluminum. Okay, so when you're looking at your

competitive differentiators, so, differentiators are both things

that are their positive differentiators, as in things

you've added that your competitors don't do. And then

there's also negative or subtractive differentiators,

that are things that you don't do that your competitors do. So

if it's something that is key in the aspect to your consumer,

like in other words, it's something that they use to make

a decision purchase decision, and you don't do what your

competitors are doing. You need to have a really good reason for

that. And it needs to be very public. As in I realize you're

basically what you're saying. And in terms that are much more

eloquent is I see you competitor, I see what you're

doing there. I know this is what it is. But dear consumer, this

is the reason why we have chosen in our brand not to do that. And

competitive differentiators are all about branding. This is all

about how that conversation differs when people when you're

not present and your competitor isn't present how the

conversation goes with the customers when they're talking

about their options for whatever product or service that you and

your competitor are offering. And I would like to refer you

back to our episode where we talked to Meredith about

branding, because that episode had a lot of really solid gold

information about branding and about how to set up your brand

in a really mindful way. And the differentiators are a part of

that equation. It's understanding that conversation

that people have when you're not in the room, and making sure

that what you're putting forward to the public. And also, behind

the scenes when you're working with customers really follows

your brand to the point that it's obvious how your brand is

different from another you have perfect clients for your

business. Your competitor has perfect clients for their

business, there are plenty of clients to go around. But the

key is you've got to be clear enough in your communication,

and in the way that you do business that the consumer can

easily identify which person which business that they would

be the best fit with. And trust me on this. When you find the

best fit as a consumer, you are much happier when the consumer

is happier, trust me, dear business owner, you are happier

too. You don't want an experience where your brand

wasn't good for the person that was there, it wasn't the best

fit your competitor would have been a better fit. And then that

person has a disappointing experience with your business

goes and hires your competitor and is now incredibly vocal

about how your business didn't satisfy them. But the

competitors did that social proof, as we've talked about is

super powerful with consumers. So just be really aware of

making sure that what you place out in the world really is your

competitive differentiator, your brand differentiator from your

competitors, and Cara has some awesome ways for you to learn

how to do that.

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Well, I would add to that, that it needs to be

like an actual I don't want to say a legit differentiator but

something that's tangible. That is something that you can see

like I'm not finding the right word tangible is not the right

word. But for I can give you some examples. You know, like

something like one of your differentiator is something

along the lines of well, we work with the best people and you've

got that on your website. Well, okay, sure we all have great

clients, but maybe you've narrowed it down and you can say

something like, you know, we work strictly with horse owners

and understand their unique needs. So that might set you

aside from a business that works with other animal owners or that

works with folks that don't own animals or don't own horses? Or

maybe that works with folks that just board horses. Does that

make sense? Kim, what I'm trying to say like being able to pull

out what is different about you that your competitor can't say

can be a real bonus for your business. Well, another example

I like to use as an equine photographer is that a lot of

photographers might say something like, Well, you know,

I provide high quality framing options. Okay, that's wonderful,

you know, you're a professional photographer, that's excellent,

you have a great company that you work with, I'm sure if

you're someone that offers maybe an exclusive line of frames that

are only available to a select group of professional

photographers, and so maybe in your area, you're the only place

they can get that then being able to say something like, I

offer an exclusive line of frames that are only available,

you know, if you work with me, that can be a positive

differentiator for you.

Absolutely. And the experience here counts to

not just the product, or even the actually the service, but

the experience of working with a particular brand. So I am really

free flow in working with my clients. I have a very open work

ethic. But I and I'm not highly let's put it in a spreadsheet,

as Cara very well knows. Let's put it in a spreadsheet and be

overly prepared. So my clients like that the good the clients

that I have the best luck with that we work the best together

enjoy the free flow, and they actually play off of that. I

have other clients where it just doesn't jive. And that's no

problem. They actually belong with a different business

consultant that has a different approach. It makes a difference

in the experience that people have in the colors in the

attitude. I mean, competitive differentiators are across the

board, it is a very intricate research topic for you to take a

look at. And what we're trying to do here is to get you to look

at both the big things and the small things that set you apart

from your competition. And how can you as the business owner,

play up the ones that really attract the perfect people into

your business. And also make sure that people have a really

clear decision to say, yep, your business is for me or nope, I'm

going with this other business over here that makes a better

fit.

And I can't stress enough how important it

is to put your ear to the ground and listen to what consumers are

saying about you. Like what are they saying about you that's

different from your competition, because that might be your

secret sauce, and you just need to figure out how to leverage

it. So I can't I can't stress that enough either.

I can't either. And that's it is very true. I

listened to clients tell when it's about the photography, like

or my commercial photography, I overheard one say to another who

didn't know I was sitting very near said, Oh, you have to have

Kim out she has so much fun. You will never laugh so hard in your

life as when you're doing her photo shoot. And I was thinking,

well, there was nothing in there about how talented of a

photographer I am. But the fact that they had a good time and

the recommendation worked. The person hired me so so there you

go. So our big three. Number three is that competitive

research is ongoing, you just it never ever stops. Part of that

is because we all uplevel each other so it's not just you doing

competitive research, your competitors are doing research

on you. This is a reflection, right. So as we all look at each

other, we all look at our differentiators. We all look at

what everyone is doing, we cohesive the industry. And

overall no matter what you're doing, that segment of the

industry gets lifted up. So you can't stop doing this.

Innovation in entrepreneurship is one of the driving forces.

And and I can guarantee you as an entrepreneur, you have

innovation in your bone somewhere. Because if you're

having fun as an entrepreneur, that's what it's all about. So

looking at how your competitors are interacting with their

customers over time, and also all the new businesses that crop

up in your area that are offering the same thing there's

there's always the new kid on the block you got to worry

about. So it definitely pays you to make this a regular and

routine part of being a business owner.

Absolutely. This takes us back to some of

the stuff we talked about in the beginning. But you know doing

competitive research is really it will continue to help you

identify gaps in your industry and improve your marketing

programs. It will help you find those gaps that could

potentially be your thing that could help you cash in on your

industry. It's going to be your source sometimes for those new

ideas and it's gonna keep you current. It's gonna keep you

looking for emerging trends in your industry and keep you

current and keep you you know, right there at the forefront of

what's happening in your industry.

Absolutely. And it's A fun, enjoyable ride along

the way to learn all of these things and see how we all help

each other grow and get better and consumers benefit from this

as well. So yeah, just never stopped the competitive research

and never stopped listening to The Business Animal podcast

because we always have good stuff to share.

That's right. And if you're a photographer out

there or enjoy photography, we highly recommend you check out

our new podcast that Kim and I have started with our pal and

fellow photographer Phyllis Burchett of Phyllis Burchett

photo. It's called Cowgirls with cameras we highly recommend. We

just recorded episode number two this morning, so it's going to

be fresh in your feeds very soon. And thank you guys so much

for listening today. Please hop over to social media. Let us

know what you think about this episode. You can find us at The

Business Animal on Facebook and on Instagram and of course

online at thebusinessanimal.com. We'll see you guys again soon.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business

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