Step 2: Find your Inspo-Competitors
That’s a made-up word, easy to spot, right?
We’re in week 2 of our walk-through of the 4 steps in this framework for doing your own market research.
Step 1 (last week) was creating your Starting Point Sentence, a basic description of your business, what your business does and for whom.
Once you’ve got your SPS, the next step is to compile a list of competitors in your niche. I call them Inspo-Competitors because while they may be competitors, some of them may also be companies that you aspire to be like. They may actually be the companies that inspired you to start your own business.
Start by simply entering your SPS into an internet search and see what comes up. Look through the companies – likely of various sizes and offers – and see what’s happening in your niche.
Sources: I want to pause here and talk a little about the results you’ll get when you start your search. The things you choose to look at in-depth are your Sources (capital S because these are important) and need to be considered carefully. You probably already know that not everything your search returns is going to be a good source of reliable information for your business. Doing your own research means you need to have a realistic and critical eye open as you narrow down the inspo-competitors and other sources of information you want to include in your research.
After these Inspo-competitors, look also at industry information. That’s going to come from industry associations, government websites, reputable business news, and perhaps reports from consulting firms. The broader your sources, the more realistic your results. Cross-checking works.
We’re not trying to bend the information to what we want it to be. That’s called confirmation bias in research circles, where we only look at the things that re-confirm what we already think. What we’re trying to do is to understand what’s truly going on and adjusting our offers based on what’s missing in the market and how that matches up with our own expertise. We can’t do that if we limit our search to sources that already agree with all our ideas. It’s tough love.
As you research, there will be helpful inspo-competitors and not so helpful ones. There may be blogs or articles that show up in your search that are just off. So keep your reasonableness checker on as you review your results.
As you search, ask: Are there businesses doing *exactly* what you plan to do? If so – take a deeper look at the “what” and “how” of their business. Is there something about it that –from your point of view -- seems to be missing? Is there something about it that you would do differently? Is there something you’d do the same way?
Write all these points down.
Honestly, this can be the most difficult step. At least it is for me. No one wants to think too much about their competition because it feels like part of your market is already taken, it can make you question why you are even going into business if others are already doing the same thing.
BUT, if you keep your eyes and mind open to how your experiences and expertise CAN be used, you have a much better chance of building a successful business. That’s the whole reason for going through these steps – so that you go in with your eyes and mind open.
Subscribe here and get all 4 steps in the Finding Your Wedge download.
More next time!