Managing a Small Business
Competing With The Giants - Study, Block and Tackle!

Study, Block and Tackle!

You may not be able to keep up with your competitor’s strategy move by move. You should, however, be ready and able to blunt or block the impact of their moves. Then, later, you can make your own offensive move at your own pace and in your own ball court.

For example, let’s say you are selling a product on a national basis through retail outlets. You discover that your competitor is about to launch a gigantic, multi-million dollar advertising campaign. You don’t have the time or money to create a competing campaign. What you may be able to do, though, is offer a special one-time deal to the trade—something like buy five items, get one free—for a limited period of time. This way, you can stock up the trade and limit the shelf space that is available to your competition. The added consumer traffic attributable to your competitor’s advertising efforts will largely benefit your product since it is the available product. At a later point in time you can launch your own marketing effort or product introduction—perhaps during a typically slow period for your competitor.