Comprehensive Competitor Analysis for Your Baby Keepsake Business

If you are thinking about starting a Baby Life Casting Business or Keepsake Jewellery Business, it makes sense that you should check out your local competition before launching your business.

Competive Research for your Keepsake Business

If you are in the early stages of starting a Baby Life Casting Business or  Keepsake Jewellery Business or Pet Keepsake Business, it makes sense that you should check out your local competition.

I have put together a couple of quick strategies that you can use to discover what the competition is in your area, what they are doing and how you can make your business, brand and products and services stand out.

First of all decide if you are planning to start a Baby Life Casting Business, Keepsake Jewellery Business or Pet Keepsake Business,  then begin the searches below to find out what the competition is in your area. You will want to assess their strengths and weaknesses and determine how your own brand and product range can compete.

First things first! Don’t be put off if similar products and services exist in your area. Finding competition is a good sign. It means that a market exists for your product and services. The trick now, is to see how well your competitor is doing in terms of actively promoting their products and services in your area.

Analysing your competition is important, as it allows you to develop and improve your own brand, brand messaging and the products and services that you offer. Whilst, looking at your competition is important, never be tempted to copy. If you wish to create and establish a successful Baby Casting Business, Keepsake Jewellery Business or Pet Keepsake Business, try to think outside of the box to determine how you can make your brand even better.

Look at the competition to see what they do well and what they do not do so well. Then ask yourself how you could improve upon what they do. Make sure that you build in a strong USP (unique selling proposition), which helps you to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Never be tempted to compete on price. Always look at how you can offer something better than your competitors, in order to create a “wow” experience for your customers. This may be something as simple as your packaging, or a ‘promise’ that you make to customers in your brand messaging. The point is, don’t copy – be unique.

Remember, that people buy from people, so make sure that you make ‘yourself’ a big part of your brand. Make yourself visible on your website, in your emails and on social media, so that you become a unique and welcoming part of your business.

When people are buying Baby Keepsakes or Pet Keepsakes, remember that they are buying something at a very emotional level. They will not be simply buying a Baby Cast or a piece of Fingerprint Jewellery or Pet Keepake Jewellery. They will be buying a memory, an experience. You will be helping them to capture a precious moment in time, which will be priceless and irreplaceable. However, many businesses offering Baby Keepsakes  and Pet Keepsakes are not doing a particularly good job of communicating this in their marketing, so if you can get this nailed, you will be onto a winner! Developing a strong brand identity and brand messaging will be invaluable, as it will enable you to stand out from the competition and prevent you from having to compete on price.

Examine your Competition’s Branding & Marketing

When you begin researching your competition, make sure that you go beyond simply checking out their products and services. Be sure to study their branding, messaging and their sales and promotional strategies.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How is your competitor positioned in the marketplace?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses?
• How do they promote and communicate with their customers?
• What sales and marketing channels do they use?
• What prices do they charge and how do they communicate their value?

Remember; never be tempted to copy your customers. The purpose of competitor research is to identify their strengths and weaknesses, identify any unmet needs and discover how you can be different.

How to find out which competitors are in your area:

When embarking upon competitor research, I recommend that you research online to see who is already operating in your area. There are a few different places that you can check, as outlined below.

The Keepsake Guild

If you are looking to start any type of Life Casting Business, Keepsake Jewellery Business or Pet Keepsake Business,  the first place I suggest you search is www.thekeepsakeguild.co.uk to see if there are any businesses operating in your area.

The Keepsake Guild is an organisation of professional life casters and keepsake artisans, who exist to promote the fine art of Keepsake Artistry worldwide and to provide a standard and level of professionalism on which consumers can rely.

It is also a place where consumers can go to find an accredited Keepsake Artisan in their area, by searching the Directory of Guild Members and Keepsake Guild Map.

Google Search

The next place that I would search would be Google. Simply type into Google, “Baby Casting near me” (or your town)” or “Fingerprint Jewellery near me” (or your town) and see who comes up. However, if you wish to take your research one step further you could consider doing some Google Adwords Research, using Google’s Keyword Planner.

You will first need to create a Google Adwords Account and navigate to the Keyword Planner. Then type in a keyword, or phrase, which is relevant to your niche. I.e. Baby Casting, Keepsake Jewellery, Baby Keepsakes etc. It will then provide you with a list of related keyword phrases, which people are searching for, along with information about how popular the search term is. This is a really great way to get some ideas about what people are searching for online within your potential niche. It is also a great tool to use, when you begin creating content for you website, to ensure that your site is optimised with relevant keywords relevant to your niche. 

Connect with your Potential Target Customers

There are many ways that you can connect with your potential target market and find out what they think about particular products and services in your niche. This is invaluable in getting a ‘feel’ for what people think about the types of products and services that you hope to offer. But it is also extremely valuable in helping to define your own product development.

• Google and Facebook Reviews– check out reviews of similar products to find out what customers are saying about the types of products that you aspire to offer. This can help you discover why a customer likes a particular product or company, what type of complaints (if any) they have received and if there are any weaknesses, missing features, or missed opportunities that you could capitalise on. 
• Forums and Social Media Sites – try searching forums, groups or pages on social media that your target customer might use or visit to express opinions. Look for post and threads which or relevant or create your own post to canvass opinion.
• Speak to people in real life – this involves talking to consumers at the places they most commonly hang out in real life. So, if your target market is the parent of young babies, this may include ante-natal groups, post natal groups, crèches, nurseries etc. If your target are dog owners, this could include, dog walking groups, dog training groups, canicross groups etc.

The purpose of connecting with your target customers is to find out what their wants, needs and desires are, in relation to products similar to those that you wish to offer. Ask them what they love about the types of products that you aspire to offer and what do they dislike. What emotions do they feel about the products and what would compel them to buy.

Finished your Competitor Research?

With all of the valuable knowledge and wisdom that you have gained from this research, hopefully you are feeling confident and inspired about starting your own Life Casting Business, Keepsake Jewellery Business or Pet Keepsake Business? But, if you’ve still got more questions, I’m here to help!