When your rivals are outsmarting you online, don't cry... Try this instead!

Image by John Schnobrich from Unsplash

To say that online competition is fierce is an understatement. These days, there are millions of brands all competing for user attention.

In this post, therefore, we take a look at some of the ways you can fight back if you feel like your rivals are outsmarting you. Check out these ideas: 

Research Your Competitors Using SEO Tools
You can actually find out a huge amount of information about your rivals using simple SEO tools. These provide you with details, such as your competitor’s keywords, the number of website visitors they get, where their backlinks are coming from, and how they’re conducting their PPC campaigns. With this information, you can either emulate them, or respond in the optimal way. 

Critically, once you know what they’re doing (and why it’s working), you can copy them. Emulating their approach is often a good first step, after which you can refine your strategy. 

Use Page Changes Monitoring
You can also use tools, such as page changes monitoring, to get even more granular details on what the competition is doing. When they make changes, you can evaluate them and then ask yourself why they made them. This is the approach that many award-winning SEO services use in-house. They formulate hypotheses and then test them to see if they work in the real world. 

Keep An Eye On Their Social Media Activity
Keeping an eye on your rival’s social media activity is another popular option. Here you can see what they are talking about and their strategy. Set up a private account and join as many of their groups as you can. Ask them questions and see the type of material that they post. Glean what you can from their strategy, if they have one, so that you can use it yourself. 

Image credit: Windows from Unsplash

​Become One Of Their Customers
If you really want to find out what it’s like to do business with your rivals, becoming a customer is perhaps the best thing that you can possibly do. Transact with them anonymously to see what the experience is like. Compare their processes to yours and why they might be better. Put yourself in the shoes of a regular customer who has never interacted with the business before. Ask yourself who you would rather go to for a product or service: your brand, or your rival’s?

Improve Your Customer Service 
These days, running a successful business isn’t so much about the product as it is the user experience. Customers want to feel like you’re looking after them at every step of the way. 

The better the customer service you can offer, the more likely they will be to choose you in the future. If you’re friendly and kind, they will naturally prioritize your company over others. 

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s often tempting to skimp on customer service and professional etiquette. Everyone just wants to get the job done quickly so they can move onto the next task. However, if you take care of your customers, you’ll create a competitive advantage that can’t be beaten.