Anyone who listens to the sportscasters, reads ESPN Mag or Sports Illustrated, or has ever watched any football movie ever made will tell you that every successful coach and player spends hours on end reviewing the game films of the competition. They do this to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent. They look for the smallest details to explain how and why they are successful. They take notes, draw pictures, and replay the important parts in slow motion. Why go to all this effort? Why not just play their own game and hope for the best? Because competition is all about doing your homework and finding a way to win. If the offense is set up a certain way, the defense must be ready to respond accordingly. It’s no different for startups.

Scouting the competition is a critical aspect of any startup. You need to know who is out there doing what you do. You need to know how they do the work and what features they offer. You need to know how and where your most successful competitors are reaching their target market, and what that market thinks about the competition. If you do your homework, finding the right angle to fit your business idea into the market will be much easier and, ultimately, far more successful.

Effective marketing is at the heart of any successful startup. Never assume that your great idea will sell itself – it won’t. And the trial-and-error method of developing a marketing plan is costly and time-consuming. Study the competition. Read every advertisement, scour their websites, visit their stores. Pay attention to how they do what you want to do, and figure out how to do it better. Entrepreneurship is the world’s biggest competition – only those willing to do the work come out on top.

Start Here. Go Far. LaunchX.com