There seem to be two frames of mind in business marketing: focus on yourself or the competition. Many businesses and even business academics recommend that you should focus on the competition. You should know what they are doing, what their prices are and how they are approaching the market so that you can adapt your offering to beat the competition. I have seen companies where their training strategy included going through the competitors offering and beating it line by line. In theory, this strategy is sound. If you can beat the competition at what they do customers will flock to your business with the superior product or service. However, in practice, this is not always the case.
Businesses that are always focused on their competitor become followers waiting for the next feature or benefit they can beat. Companies that just focus on what they are doing can devote more resources to solving their customer's problems and being true to their philosophy. Customers appreciate a business that is focused on its purpose and moving forward. This strategy does have problems as well, focusing on yourself and innovating can result in you doing the wrong thing. However, as long as you are true to your brand and continue to focus on your customers most people are happy to weather the blunders with the successes that you are sure to create.
There are many examples of this in the business world. think about two businesses in the same industry and I am sure that you will be able to identify which one is focused on themselves and who is focused on the competition.
This strategy doesn't just apply to marketing, what about how you hire people, train people, work with suppliers, etc. If you focus on making sure your business is the best it can be and not what your competition is doing you'll find that you will enjoy your business more and so will your customers.
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