How to Discover Who Your Marketplace Competitors Are

Every business has competition. No one is completely alone in a marketplace.

That’s actually a positive thing. Choices are good for customers. And competition with other brands pushes us to be better and prevents complacency. Markets with multiple businesses are good for everyone involved.

However, not every business leader fully understands their competition or the marketplace they serve. We’ve heard plenty of clients say “no one else does what we do.” While this may be true, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a competitor. You may just not have the rival you think.

In the spirit of better understanding who we’re up against, here are a few methods to discovering who (or what) is competing with for your audience’s attention and business.

Do a Google Search

Let’s start in perhaps the most obvious place-an online search. This may sound basic, but it can get you started with some helpful results.

Search for your industry. This could be general like: “banking,” “clothing store,” or “digital marketing.” Google will do some of the work to narrow the search results down based on what they think is relevant.

However, you can help this process by being more specific with your query. Instead, search for…