If you want to know how your business can stand out, you need to know what the competition is up to.

That means it’s time for some competitor analysis.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be as boring and corporate as it sounds!

Make a list of all the local decorators you know and any that you can find with a Google search too.

Now start looking into them individually.

You’re looking for their strengths, weaknesses, what they are doing and what they aren’t.

Here are some questions to get your started:

• Do they have a website? And is it easy to use?
• Do they use social media? And which platforms do they use?
• How many followers do they have? How often do they post? How much interaction do they tend to get on their posts? (Likes/comments/shares)
• What services do they offer? Do they spray? Hang wallpaper?
• Do they have many reviews on Facebook or Google?
• When you search on Google for local decorators, are they top of the results page?
• Are they a sole trader or bigger company?
• How expensive are they?

Put yourself in the mindset of a potential customer and ask yourself ‘Would I choose to hire this decorator?’

Once you’ve gone through this process for your competitors, do it to yourself and see how you compare.

Now you can establish your strengths and weaknesses compared to the competition.

You may find one of your competitors has a much better looking website than you.

Or that none of your competitors use Instagram.

You might realise that one of your competitors mainly sprays kitchens, but doesn’t hang wallpaper.

Once you’ve brought all this information together you can start to work on your weaknesses and double down on exploiting your strengths.

Imagine if you found out that none of your competitors offer wallpaper hanging or use Instagram.

You’d have a service and an audience all to yourself. You could absolutely dominate that area!

Similarly, if you found out all of your competitors offer similar cheap prices and basic levels of service, then could start positioning yourself as a premium service with premium pricing.

Competitor analysis might sound boring to start, but once you’ve done it, your whole business could change for the better, and what’s more exciting than that!

Want more marketing tips like this?

Get your FREE copy of my 60-page eBook

‘7 Marketing Secrets Guaranteed to grow your painting & Decorating business’

by joining my email list below