How can you avoid common mistakes when copying your competitors?

1 Know your goals

Before you decide to copy any aspect of your competitors' business, you need to have a clear idea of what your goals are and how copying them will help you achieve them. Do you want to attract more customers, increase your revenue, improve your quality, or differentiate yourself? How will copying your competitors' products, services, pricing, marketing, or operations help you do that? You also need to consider the risks and costs of copying your competitors, such as legal issues, customer backlash, loss of innovation, or reputation damage. Copying your competitors should not be a shortcut or a substitute for your own research and development, but a strategic and selective decision based on your goals and resources.

2 Analyze your competitors

Copying your competitors blindly or superficially can lead to poor results and wasted efforts. You need to analyze your competitors thoroughly and understand their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can use various tools and methods to gather and analyze data about your competitors, such as SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces, benchmarking, customer surveys, online reviews, social media, or mystery shopping. You should also monitor your competitors' performance and changes over time, and be aware of their reactions and countermeasures to your copying. By analyzing your competitors, you can identify the best practices and gaps that you can copy or exploit to gain a competitive edge.

3 Focus on value

Copying your competitors is not enough to create a sustainable and profitable business. You also need to focus on creating value for your customers and stakeholders. Value is the perceived benefit that your customers get from your products or services, compared to the cost and alternatives. You need to understand what your customers value and how you can deliver it better than your competitors. You can use tools and methods such as value proposition canvas, customer journey map, or value chain analysis to design and communicate your value proposition. You should also measure and improve your value proposition regularly, and test it with your customers and the market. By focusing on value, you can copy your competitors without losing your identity and differentiation.

4 Be ethical

Copying your competitors can be a legitimate and effective strategy, but only if you do it ethically and legally. You need to respect your competitors' intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, or trade secrets, and avoid infringing or violating them. You also need to respect your customers' trust and expectations, and avoid deceiving or misleading them with false or unfair claims or comparisons. You should also respect your own values and principles, and avoid compromising or contradicting them with your copying. You can use tools and methods such as ethical decision making framework, stakeholder analysis, or code of conduct to guide your ethical behavior. By being ethical, you can copy your competitors without harming them, yourself, or the society.

5 Learn and innovate

Copying your competitors can be a useful way to learn from their experience and success, but it should not be the end of your learning and innovation process. You need to keep learning and innovating to stay ahead of your competitors and the market. You can use tools and methods such as feedback loops, learning cycles, or innovation funnel to support your learning and innovation culture. You should also encourage and reward your employees, customers, and partners to share their ideas, insights, and feedback, and to experiment and test new solutions. You should also be open and flexible to change and adapt to the changing needs and preferences of your customers and the environment. By learning and innovating, you can copy your competitors without becoming obsolete or irrelevant.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?