Best Practice Competitor Research

People often get caught up in tracking every movement their competitors make  - they benchmark, look how a competitor differentiates themselves by product or service offering, and how they position themselves. All good-to-know stuff.

However, competitor or competitive research involves looking outside the boundaries of those identified competitors who do exactly what you do. You need to understand what substitutes there are for your product or service. These can include new technologies which are more convenient and cheaper or changing consumer preferences such as fashion trends or new social dynamics.

Competitors play a small part in the success of your product or service. In the end, its what your customers want that will have a much more lasting effect on the long-term success of your business.