Marketing Strategies According to The Godfather

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” – Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part II

Along with being one of the most memorable movie quotes of all time, the phrase could be mistaken for a powerful piece of marketing advice. Before marketing a business or closing a big deal, it is vital to identify the competition, know their strengths and weaknesses and understand how your product or service is superior. By doing so, you are “keeping your competition closer.” But how do you do this? Here’s a short and simple roadmap to get you started. As a new business owner (or someone who plans on starting a business), identifying the competition is step number one. Thanks to Google, this is a painless process. Use a variety of search terms that are key to your industry. If geographic region is important, add the city, state or country that you will be focusing your business. Make a record of each business. Be sure to include each competitor’s offering(s), value proposition, target market, slogans and anything that they tout as a key differentiator. This information will help you position your business. After identifying your competitors, label each as a direct or indirect competitor. A direct competitor offers the same product or service to the same market that you do. An indirect competitor offers the same product or service to a different market. During this exercise, you might identify an underserved segment that you will be able to capture. Second, track your competitors’ movements. Set a Google Alert for each competitor. When news about the competitor is reported, Google will automatically email you. In addition, bookmark the competition’s webpages and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Pay attention to how each brand presents itself on social channels and the type of content posted by their fans. Third, create your marketing plan using what you have just learned. By identifying your competitors and understanding their strengths and weaknesses, you are better able to differentiate your business through your marketing and social media efforts. But remember that “keeping your enemies (competitors) closer” is an endless cycle because new competitors will emerge and current competitors will change their offerings. Putting on the blinders for an extended period will put a chink in your armor, and your competition will gladly use it to take a significant slice of your business.