Sometimes, you just can’t get ahead.
When you’re finding customers and making money, it can seem unfair that competition holds you back. The business world is cutthroat, though, so competition is a fact of life—you just need some strategies to deal with it.
Here are four business competition strategies that work in 2021.
1. Play the Social Game
Really, it’s hard to overstate the influence of social media marketing in 2021.
Social media marketing hits one of the big marketing buzzwords of the moment: relatability. It allows you to knock down that wall that once existed between customers and companies. Now, it’s the company that can present itself as a friend that wins out.
If your competitors haven’t made that leap, get ahead of them by connecting directly to your customers.
2. Try Outsourcing
The single greatest challenge facing small to medium-size businesses is the pressure to do everything at once.
You need to be an expert in IT, but you can’t afford an IT department. You need to be an expert in marketing, but can just about afford your core employees—and so on.
This is where outsourcing can change the game. The benefits of outsourcing your SEO could transform your place in your industry almost overnight. With outsourcing, you don’t have to be an expert in everything and you can punch above your weight in a crowded industry.
3. Emphasize Your Conscience
The ethical company is in right now. More shoppers than ever base their consumer decisions on the ethics of a company. This can be anything from a zero-carbon promise to the ethical sourcing of labor and goods.
It’s possible your business already has ethical practices you may not have even considered, like charity contributions. If not, start seeing ways you can engage in ethical business without breaking the bank.
Don’t be afraid to shout about your ethical credentials in your marketing. Turn on your TV right now and you’ll see it’s awash with companies advertising their ethics over their services—because it’s clear that this connects with the consumers of 2021.
4. Hammer Your USP
When you’ve been in business for a while, it’s sometimes easy to forget that you came to the market with the intention to stand out. To that end, you might have a USP that has fallen by the wayside—that one thing you do better than anyone.
If you’re falling short of your competition, return to your roots. Take a moment to reflect on your USP and what it means to the market. Then reorient your business to put the USP where it should be: front and center.
The best part about this strategy is that, when you think about it, it doesn’t even involve direct competition. By definition, no one does your USP like you do. That means you can outpace your competitors without having to go toe-to-toe with their business model.
Business Competition Strategies for 2021
These business competition strategies are the perfect solution to a crowded industry in the current decade. Competition is fiercer than ever, so employing even one or two of these strategies could give you the edge you need to stay in the game.
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