Starting Your Own Business Step 2: Take a Look at the Competition

Welcome to the next step in creating your own content strategy. So far, you've defined your offer and your target audience. You know what you want to do and for whom. Now lets take a look at your competition.

Photo: Andrew Neel

Examining your competition does not mean you plan to copy them or will try to offer exactly the same (nor the exact opposite). This exercise will give you an overview of what’s out there in your field and it will probably inspire you. Your competition might well turn out to be your mentors. I've created a worksheet for your competitive analysis. Just download the spreadsheet for yourself to fill out.

This exercise will be as big or small as you want it to be. Pick at least three businesses in your field but not more than ten. Analyse their offers first and the content they offer second. You might find a blog or a newsletter or a really helpful ebook. What you see might inspire you to use a similar content type for your very own ideas. You might see things you would do completely differently. In the end, you will have gathered a lot of information about your market niche. Stay tuned for the third and last part of this series in four weeks.