Competitor Spying

For years I was a ‘secret shopper’ – I shopped at restaurants and stores incognito.  I would purchase specific foods, a service (like an oil change) or a product and I’d ask the employees specific questions and report back on their customer service, presentation, etc.  It was always fun and if the pay were better, I’d still do it!  

Later on I became intrigued by participating in focus group studies – even more so after I consulted at a focus group facility in Memphis and managed their website design and online advertising.  Well…I’ve promoted myself to competitor spying and it’s a blast!  Using various web tools, you can find out if anyone snagged the copy from your website, as well as your title and meta tags, you can get automatic emails when a competitor changes anything on their website -along with- details on the changes they made, find out how much competitors are spending on pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and even get an email when their name is mentioned in a Tweet on Twitter and when Google lists a new web page that mentions their company name!  It’s mind-blowing how much you can find out about a competitor – all you need is time and lots of patience to stay on top of the new tools introduced constantly.

A successful business person knows what their competitors are up to.  And with the Web, it’s eerie when you realize just how much you can find out about them.  Think about it – what you know about your competitor can only help you, never hurt.  Learn something new today! 

“The highest form of ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.”   Dr. Wayne W. Dyer