8 Tips For Beating Your Business Rivals
/How can you beat your business rivals?
This is a question that's been around since the dawn of time – yet many companies and entrepreneurs are still struggling to find an answer to it.
In today's world, it's incredibly important that you nullify the threat of your rivals so that you can:
· Maintain and improve your market position
· Keep customer loyalty high
· Attract talented employees to join you
With that said, this article will provide you with 10 top tips that will help you beat your business rivals and ultimately take your company skywards.
Ready to learn? Let's begin.
1. Use Non-Disclosure Agreements
No matter what industry you're in, trade secret law is vital.
Some of – if not all – of your employees will know trade secrets that belong to your company. If these secrets were to be shared with rivals, then it would ultimately harm your market position, right?
For example, if you're a restaurant chain, you might have a super secretive recipe for one of your dishes. If this dish is one of the main reasons why you attract so many paying customers, then you simply can't afford to have the recipe shared with anyone!
Therefore, it's recommended that you make the relevant employees sign non-disclosure agreements, as this will prevent them from sharing any of your trade secrets. If they were to break their agreement, then you would be entitled to a legal settlement that would likely involve a pay-out.
Non-disclosure agreements are a smart way to protect your business, so don't be afraid to use them.
2. Create A Google Business Profile
The next tip is an incredibly easy one: create a Google Business profile.
This will benefit you in numerous ways.
· Your business will appear on Google Maps, making it more visible to everyday people and customers
· Customers can leave reviews to boost your reputation on the internet
· You can provide important details, such as opening and closing times
Remember, it's free to set up a Google Business profile, meaning you have nothing to lose.
Also, it boosts your credibility as a brand, as most customers want to examine a business's presence on Google before interacting with them.
3. Offer Internships
Internships are an excellent strategy to attract young and exciting employees to join your business, from college to university graduates.
By offering internships, you'll be able to offer young people a career path that's beneficial to them. Plus, if your rivals aren't offering internships themselves, you'll be giving yourself a major advantage in the market.
4. Adopt a Hybrid Work Model to Attract More Employees
Since the first quarter of 2020, hybrid working has gone mainstream. Now, it seems like every major company – from Apple to Microsoft – is allowing their employees to combine working from home with working in the office. The reason for this? Simple – it benefits both parties.
Without a doubt, people love working from home. This is so true, in fact, that millions of people don't want to work unless they can do it from home. Essentially, unless a company offers a hybrid work model, it will likely struggle to attract top talent – especially from younger generations.
With this in mind, it's highly recommended that you adopt a hybrid work model if your company fits the mold. For example, if you're a computer software company, your software engineers and coding experts will be able to combine remote work and office work without any problems. However, this obviously won't be the case if you're a restaurant, as employees can't cook food and serve it to customers from home!
5. Use Cloud Computing
Tip number 5: use cloud computing.
Essentially, cloud computing is when you use the internet to perform and take care of specific tasks, such as storing valuable customer data.
There are lots of different cloud apps that businesses can use, with Google Cloud Platform being an incredibly popular choice for many.
6. Focus on Customer Loyalty
Every business owner dreams of customer loyalty. However, this isn't always easy, as you can probably relate to. In fact, it's usually very difficult.
There are thousands of brands for customers to choose from in today's world. This oversaturation of choice has led to a major power switch between businesses and customers. Now, customers have the power. At any moment they like, they can ditch your business and switch to a rival brand: it's how things work now.
Therefore, you need to focus intensely on boosting customer loyalty. This way, you can reduce the prospect of your customers switching to any of your rivals.
To boost customer loyalty, you should:
· Launch a customer loyalty program with enticing benefits
· Provide customer service across a variety of different channels; from social media to over the phone
· Listen to feedback
· React fast to complaints and problems
When you tick all of these boxes, you're giving your business a great shot at keeping hold of modern customers.
7. Be Very Active on Social Media Platforms
Speaking of social media, you need to be active across all the major platforms. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Failure to do this will put you at a major disadvantage, as social media has become one of the biggest marketing tools worldwide.
On social media, you can post product updates, provide customer service, launch exciting campaigns, conduct useful industry Q&As, follow your target customers, and so much more. Plus, social media platforms are free for businesses to use, so you'd be crazy not to use them!
8. Target New Markets
If your business has recently been struggling, you should try targeting new markets. This is exactly what a business needs to get back on track in many cases.
For example, you might find that your products are actually suited to a younger audience, such as college students. If this is the case, you can target this market and even move to a location where you're closer to affluent college students, such as next to a college campus.
