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Researching The Competition

Competition comes from many sources. Some of your competition will be direct competitors such as other food processors selling the same product or indirect competition selling a different food product. You must pay attention to both direct and indirect competition if you are to market effectively.

In doing research on your competition, you must learn who and what you are competing against. Some of the factors you will want to look at are:

• products - what do they sell? What is their niche?
  
• prices
  
• customers - who are they?
  
• image / reputation
  
• longevity - does it have staying power?
  
• type of promotion - is it effective?
  
• strengths and weaknesses

Your Competitive Advantage

Once you have researched and studied your competition, you will want to think of different ways to compete. You will want to look for your competitive advantage by asking yourself:

• What can you do better than your competition?
• What can you do differently than your competition?
• What will make your business stand out from your competition?