5 ways to stay ahead of your competition

No matter your chosen field of expertise, there would always be competition and directly or indirectly, these competitors would seek to keep you on your toes. Whether or not you start in a fresh and untapped industry, it's only a matter of time before others join in and become your competition. With the rapid development of new technologies and the subsequent surge in social media usage, one of your major worries as an entrepreneur would be how to overcome these competitions and ensure that you not only stay ahead but at a pace they can't catch up with. Here are five effective ways to always lead while your competitors follow right behind. 

1. Know your competition: Find out those who are competing with you in your industry and what is working for them. To identify your competitors, you would need to carry out detailed market research, understand how people respond to your goods or services and how they respond to that of your competitors. One thing to note is that customers, for the most, are not keen on loyalty, they are keen on getting the best deal(s) and so they would hardly think twice before jumping at a better offer. With this in mind, find out the ways through which your competitors are getting and retaining their customers. Identify their unique selling point (USP), what attracts the target customers to them and then be clear on what makes you stand out. Craft your USP, make yours more appealing and do not imitate. No matter how little, there's always a lapse in your competitors' strategy that you can always leverage.
2. Listen to your customers: Customers are the voice of any business so they must be put into consideration at all times if you want to consistently win their loyalty. Learn what your target customers really want (the JTBD – jobs to be done, I’ll write on this soon), keep contact with them, ask for their suggestions and listen to their complaints. Let your brand make them feel wanted and like they matter. If you only seek to sell your product without putting your customers in consideration, they would have no problem taking their money to where they feel like they come first. 
3. Follow the trends: We live in a digital age where the demands of consumers are evolving consistently. Stay updated with the latest invention or creation that can offer your patrons the best service experience. People care a lot for their social credibility to stay intact and would not mind spending money to purchase social currency just to tend to their want for respect and public admiration. This means they need a brand that is forward and can bring the trendiest deals straight to them. One way to beat your competition is by creating a brand that makes your customers and prospective customers feel like they measure up socially and so it becomes a thing of pride to identify with your brand. An example of a brand doing this efficiently is Uber (in Nigeria). 
4. Position strength to weaknesses: Identify the weaknesses of your competitors and leverage on them. You do not need rocket science to discover these weaknesses - monitor their offers, social campaigns, marketing strategies, prices, the quality of their products and services down to the kind of values their business is built on. What this helps you discover is your competitive advantage and the other ways you can effectively harness it. 
5. Be strategic: You cannot compete against your competitors without a working strategy and your strategies should capitalise on the weaknesses of your competitor's business as well as the strengths of your own business. The need for a strategy is tantamount because you need to understand where exactly to invest that would increase your ROI and overall business performance. Also, when developing strategies for your business, make them flexible. As times change, they must be easily adaptable. One common mistakes business owners make is to think customers would remain because they have stuck to their business strategy for years and always gotten results. However, as more businesses keep springing up, your customers are availed the choices of more options. It is the digital age and it no longer matters who it is that started out first but who is in the market with the most acceptable strategy to the customer. 

Finally, know your numbers. track analytics, follow up on how people engage with your contents, products and services. It helps you measure out the pace of growth and ensures you make realistic forecasts and projections for your business.