Why Having Competition Is Beneficial

Jordana Klein

From playing tag outside after school over a decade or two ago to browsing other business’s social media sites to check out their followers, we have all been raised on the idea that competition is necessary. In fact, it can even be beneficial and healthy in the long run.

In short, without competition, how could we ever improve our own ideas and marketing skills or attempt to earn more views? How would we have any incentive to learn more about our field or eagerness to build upon our knowledge? This being said, competition in the marketing field can make ourselves and our customers even better than we already are.

I will lay out five of the benefits in this post so that your competitive side can get some ideas from me (even though I may in fact be part of your competition!).

Ironic, but nonetheless, useful.

1. It can and should improve your customer service: How do more and more grocery stores and health food restaurants continue popping up around town? Because competition leads entrepreneurs and businesses to want to join the market and make it even better for consumers. But, just as we have the decision to shop at the store of our choice, so do our customers have the ability to move from one business to the other. That being said, we must ensure that our customer service and communication is top notch and above our competitors.
   
2. It narrows your focus tremendously: Because so many of us can easily join new social media sites or create our own marketing sites, having competition forces us to identify our strengths and weaknesses in order to improve our own marketing skills. Without competitors, there would never be any incentive to want to improve ourselves and master those skills that we already claim to have. Also, because there is so much competition nowadays, competition makes us focus on the key customers we already have to better serve their needs.
   
3. It allows the ability to learn more: Remember when the new kid in school brought their favorite toy to class, and you had never even heard of it before? Well, social media marketing can be somewhat of a throwback to this very situation. Because there are so many other businesses targeting the same or similar audiences, it make it incredibly easy to gather new and improved ideas, even from our own competition. Almost daily, I am seeing new marketing strategies and ideas that I had never realized even existed. With this competitive market, learning from our peers makes both of us better and allows consumers to have the best of both worlds.
   
4. Employees will end up learning more: Because of the added competition in the field, your employees will want to develop new skills and knowledge about the marketplace to ensure an advantage. Typically, employees in social marketing have an excellent grasp on the field already, so having a desire to learn more and an eagerness to be better than the competition should not be much of a problem
   
5. There will always be room for improvement: No one can predict the future, and that includes your competition. Once new material enter the field, companies can efficiently gather the necessary strategies and ideas. This can ensure that your company makes the first move in the field and takes the lead over the competition in that category. Customers love to test out new ideas, products and anything they haven’t seen in the marketplace before, so your company can earn major brownie points by improving in all new aspects of social media marketing and those strategies surrounding the field.

Now tell us: how do you feel about competition in your marketplace? Do you feel that it ultimately improves your company?

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