How to Find Potential Competitors
Obviously before you can start researching your competitors you must first identify who they are. The important point to remember is that it’s not always the readily identifiable ones that you need to worry about.
Remember the poor guy who opened up an Internet cafe´ in my local town only to find that the local library were offering Internet access? These sorts of events aren’t as uncommon as they might sound. Around about the same time as the Internet cafe´ disaster our local council opened a new restaurant, which they offered as a concession to a private company.
The location of this restaurant is superb in that it gets the best views of the harbor. Naturally it’s doing very well, but what about the private restaurant owners who are having to work doubly hard on the almost impossible job of winning customers back to their restaurants which have no sea views?
It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what your local council is up to. If nothing else you may well spot a business opportunity – a worthwhile concession up for tender.
The main ways to find your competitors is to check:
- advertisements in your hobbies’ magazines, club websites and your local paper;
- the Internet – using the main search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc);
- trade directories;
- Yellow Pages;
- Thompson directory.
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