How to Grow Your Studio Business By Doing A Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis - Definition: Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses compared to your product or service.

Have you done a competitive analysis for your business? If not, my hope is that this article will help to position you better in your local market. Read on!

Doing a competitive analysis is one of the best ways to establish your place in your market. By identifying who your competitors are and comparing your business to theirs, you can better determine your rates and services to attract your target market more effectively.

Let’s break down what goes into doing a competitive analysis.

1. Be Honest With Yourself

The first step and possibly the most important is to be real with yourself about the quality of your work. Humility can be difficult for us artists. A lot of us have a hard time admitting our weaknesses, but this is crucial to completing an effective competitive analysis.

Action Steps:

1. Build a list of local and online competitors (pick 10-20).
2. Reference your latest work against theirs.
3. Narrow down the list to 3-5 competitors who have similar results as what you can honestly deliver for your customers.

2. Identify Your Competitor’s Weaknesses

Put yourself in the shoes of a potential client. Imagine you’re on the hunt for a producer, studio, mixer, etc. for your next project.

From your list of competitors, identify things you see as weaknesses in their business. Does their website load quickly? Do they list their rates and services or send you to a contact form? Do they make it easy for you to hear their latest work? Make note of these details and be sure to prevent making the same mistakes.

3. Address Your Competitor’s Strengths

By identifying your competitor’s strengths, you can get some new ideas. I’m not encouraging you to steal their work, but being inspired by things they’re doing right can help your business tremendously. Put your taste to the things that they’re doing well and make them your own.

4. Compare Rates and Services

Don’t just look at the $$$. It’s equally important to know what comes with the listed rates and services as well as what’s excluded.

As an example, let’s say competitor #1 charges $1,000 per day for recording while competitor #2 is $500. Assuming their sound samples are comparable, we would think that #2 is a steal! However, let’s look at the fine print. Competitor #2 charges $250 as an additional fee if you want to use any of the studio’s instruments, $50/hour extra for an engineer (non-negotiable), and the clock starts the second you arrive. All of those details are included in competitor #1’s price.

Important stuff, huh? 😉 It turns out that competitor #2 is more expensive!

Action Steps:

1. Make a list of your rates and services.
2. Make a list of your competitor’s rates and services.
3. Add a column for what’s included for the $$$.
4. Add a column of what’s NOT included in the cost.
5. Determine what the final price would be after add-ons or deductions in price.
6. Evaluate the numbers as they make sense after the analysis.
7. Establish (or re-establish) your business rates & services.

Do you have anything to add? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!