I’m hoping to peak your business brain this year with a few business and marketing related posts. As always, if you want to delve deeper or want some advice for your own dance biz, feel free to contact me and we can schedule a time to get into the nitty gritty! This post will be one in a series all about researching your competition.
So you may be thinking, why is this important? Well, understanding your competition can help you figure out what mistakes to avoid, what works in your market, along with a myriad of things that you may not realize if you’ve got your blinders on and are only seeing what is right in from of you. Now, I am not saying to obsessively research your competition everyday, copy them and stalk what they do. I am not. I am saying that taking a look at your cmopetition at the begining of each year before you decide what you launch, isn’t a bad idea. Also, do you think they’re not already doing it about you?
1. Pricing- I am not advocating undercutting. But perhaps if your birthday bellygram package never gets booked and their does, it could be a price difference. Maybe you overshot the market? Or undershot? It’s always a good idea to make sure that your prices are in line with what competitors of your level are charging
2. Strengths- Maybe they have stopped offering something that you still are. Or maybe they aren’t offering something that you are. That’s then the info you need to start pushing that product more as it makes you stand out and unique when compared by customers on line to your competition
3. Weaknesses- Maybe your competitor is killing it at something that you’re struggling with. Maybe their classes are getting lots of students but yours are not. See if you can figure out what they are doing differently and use that info to tweak your own offerings.
4. Marketing- What do their websites look like? Is their site very simple or very flashy? What do their social media posts look like? What kinds of things do they post and when? Taking a look at this information can help you figure out where you might need to invest more or where you can set yourself apart.
5. Community- Is your competition working cooperatively or competitively? Do they work with other dancers a lot? Maybe they’d be willing to work with you? See what projects they may have done with other dancers and put together something that might work for the two of you.
Don’t worry, this isn’t it! I’ve got two more posts coming up that are more of a how to research your bellydance competition so make sure you stay tuned to this blog!