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When investigating your competitors, don’t limit yourself to visiting your competitor’s website but, instead, try to dig a little deeper. The time has come for you to don your dark sunglasses, felt hat and fake moustache. Talk to your competitors’ suppliers or distributors, or quiz customers who have defected to your side of the fence. You may even have to go undercover and pose as a customer (or ask a family member to do so) — I know that such clandestine activity can feel a bit weird, but the results are usually worth it.

Table 2-2 shows a detailed competitive analysis where the owner of a copywriting business does a comparison with three other copywriting businesses also offering services online, rating competitors according to what they do better (or worse).

TABLE 2-2 Rating Head-to-Head Competitors

Does this competitor …	ABC	CopytoGo	WriteNow
Have cheaper pricing than me?	Yes	No	No
Offer a faster turnaround time?	No	No	Yes
Offer specific services that I don’t?	No	Yes	No
Offer onsite services, not just online?	No	No	No
Offer a larger variety of pricing packages?	No	No	Yes
Have more expertise/a higher level of skill?	No	No	No
Service different niches?	No	No	No
Have more testimonials than me?	Yes	No	No
Have a more active social media presence?	No	No	Yes
Have a stronger online marketing strategy?	No	No	Yes
Have more capital and power to expand?	No	No	Yes