Finding out how your competitors secure business can be a useful way to grow your company. Martin Brassell, hub director for the SEEDA Enterprise Hub Network, examines how to learn from the marketing techniques of your rivals.
Let's face it: while we all like to think that we're the best in the business, we sometimes look enviously at the marketing achievements of other organisations in our sector and think, "How did they pull that one off?" The answer, often, is that if you can't beat them, you should join them – or, more precisely, try adapting some of their techniques and putting them to work on your own business.
Before diving in, though, it pays to think about your competitors' motivation and methods. For instance, I've sat round boardroom tables looking at rival advertising campaigns listening to colleagues saying, "look how much they're spending, they must be doing well".
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