Business is hard. This is a common phrase uttered by the vendor on the side of the street selling tacos to the tech CEO sitting in his multi-million dollar San Francisco office suite. Since the advent of capitalism by the Dutch and British, Khuram Dhanani has been specific about one thing; business can have its upsides and downsides, but it is never easy.
Competition is the lifeblood of any modern-day capitalist economy. You need to make sure that you are better than any other company or individual offering something of similar value. The traditional way to do this is to provide something better, lower your price, or put a simple twist on your offering. However, these are just the fundamental pillars of capitalism. In today’s world, Khuram Dhanani insists you need more.
How to compete in today’s world, you may ask? Here are some of the most important ways to ensure that your business has a leg up on the rest.
Identify your niche market
Very few companies have a unique innovation that absolutely everyone needs without alternatives. Most businesses need to focus on a niche that they are very good at and be able to do it exceedingly well. This is one of the essential facets of business: understanding your target market and providing them with an offering that more than suits their needs.
Is what you have to offer more targeted to divorced couples over 60 years old? Is it for kids? Is it for immigrants arriving in the UK? Whoever it is for, you need to make sure you know absolutely who they are and how to reach them. Luckily, it’s much easier to find your niche market and target them with the advent of digital marketing.
Make your offering different
You should try to obtain as much data on your competitors. What are they offering? How much are they charging? What is the structure? Get to the point of differentiation, so you don’t have real competition.
Once you understand this, it’s essential to make your offering stand out. Make it unique and different from the rest. It might be the price; it might be the packaging; it might be the customer service opportunities. Either way, make sure you are different and unique in some way to stand out in today’s market.
Marketing is key
Now that you have identified your niche market and how you are marketing it, you need to make sure your marketing strategy is efficient. For example, how are you spending the least money to gain the best result? The lowest customer acquisition cost with the highest return on investment possible.
The best part about the modern-day business is that there is much analytics to help you market your offering. So whether you are marketing on Google, Facebook, or any other way, make sure that you are tracking the data and analytics well. This way, you will know precisely where to invest your marketing dollars in the future.
Be willing to take on new opportunities
Once you have a successful company doing the initial business you envisioned perfectly, it’s easy to sit back, relax, and take it easy. But the fact is, fast just isn’t fast enough anymore. According to Khuram Dhanani, being complacent in today’s tech landscape is one of the gravest mistakes in business. Remember that Netscape used to be the No. 1 internet browser and Yahoo used to be the No. 1 search engine. Part of the reason those don’t hold today is their complacency. The Harvard Business Review just released a study on the importance of noticing a change and searching for new opportunities.
Make sure you notice significant changes in the marketplace and take advantage of them. Is technology changing? Is the niche you are in either changing or going to change? Is the social responsibility angle associated with this offering changing? Survival of the fittest is predicated on a deep understanding of anything and everything happening in the marketplace.
