Stop Watching Your Competition. Go and Experience Them. Competitor analysis for businesses
Phuket High Season Marketing Series
High season is coming.
And across Phuket, businesses are getting ready.
Restaurants are changing menus. Hotels are preparing promotions. Padel clubs are opening courts. Gyms are launching memberships. Wellness centres are creating packages. Yoga studios are planning retreats. Tour companies are preparing campaigns. Beach clubs are getting their events ready.
Everyone is thinking about marketing.
Facebook.
Instagram.
TikTok.
Google.
Influencers.
Advertising.
Content.
Promotions.
But I've got another suggestion for something you should be doing before high season.
Go and spend some money with your competition.
Seriously.
When was the last time you sent members of your team to experience another business like yours?
Not to copy them.
Not to steal their ideas.
But to answer three very important questions:
What do they do really well?
What do they do badly?
And most importantly:
What aren't they doing particularly well that WE could do spectacularly well?
Because the answer to that final question could become one of your biggest competitive advantages this high season.
Get Out of Your Own Business
One of the problems with running a business is that you spend an awful lot of time inside it.
You know how everything is supposed to work.
You know the booking process.
You know where the toilets are.
You know who customers should speak to.
You know which door is the entrance.
You know what's included.
You know the Wi-Fi password.
You know how long things are supposed to take.
Your customers don't.
And after spending months or years inside the same business, you start becoming blind to things.
So get out.
Go and experience other businesses.
If you run a restaurant, go and eat at other restaurants.
If you run a hotel, spend a night in another hotel.
If you run a padel club, go and play at other padel clubs.
If you run a gym, go and train somewhere else.
If you run a wellness centre, book a treatment somewhere else.
If you run a yoga studio, go and take somebody else's class.
If you run a tour company, send somebody on another tour.
If you run a beach club, go and spend an afternoon at another beach club.
Become a customer again.
Because you'll start noticing things you don't see when you're the owner.
Don't Just Look at What They Do Well
This is where competitor analysis often goes wrong.
You visit another business.
They do something brilliant.
You come back and say:
"We should do that!"
And suddenly everybody starts copying everybody.
The restaurant down the road starts a brunch?
WE NEED A BRUNCH.
Another hotel starts floating breakfasts?
GET THE FLOATING TRAY.
The padel club gets an ice bath?
WE NEED AN ICE BATH.
Another gym starts selling protein smoothies?
GET THE BLENDER.
Competitor launches a sunset yoga class?
WE NEED SUNSET YOGA.
And eventually everyone starts looking exactly the same.
There's nothing wrong with learning from competitors.
You absolutely should.
But I'd be paying even more attention to something else.
What don't they do well?
That's potentially much more valuable.
Mystery Shop the Entire Experience
Don't just evaluate the main product.
Look at the entire customer journey.
Start before you even arrive.
How easy were they to find on Google?
Did their social media make you want to visit?
Was their pricing clear?
Were their opening hours correct?
How quickly did they respond?
Could you book easily?
Did you have to send seventeen WhatsApp messages just to find out the price?
Then look at the arrival.
Could you find the entrance?
Was parking easy?
Did somebody greet you?
Did they know why you were there?
Did you feel welcome?
Was the receptionist interested in you or their phone?
Were the toilets clean?
Was everything explained?
Then experience the actual product.
And finally look at what happens afterwards.
Did anyone ask how it was?
Did anyone say goodbye?
Did they ask you to return?
Did they make another recommendation?
Did they ask for a review?
Did they follow up?
Did you receive anything afterwards?
And then ask the simplest question of all:
How did the business make you feel?
Because you're not really auditing restaurants, gyms, hotels, padel clubs or wellness centres.
You're auditing the customer experience.
Competitor analysis for businesses
Find Something You Can Do Spectacularly Well
And this is where the exercise gets really interesting when you are doing a competitor analysis for businesses
Because you're not simply looking for things your competitors aren't doing.
You're looking for something:
Other businesses aren't doing particularly well that you could do spectacularly well.
There's a big difference.
You don't necessarily need 20 differentiators.
Sometimes you need one thing people remember you for.
Something where the normal expectation is six out of ten...
And you decide you're going to make it twelve.
Think About Apple
Arguably, this is something Apple has been incredibly good at.
Apple didn't invent the computer.
It didn't invent the MP3 player.
It didn't invent the smartphone.
It didn't invent the tablet.
But it became incredibly good at taking existing categories and obsessing over parts of the customer experience.
Design.
Simplicity.
Packaging.
Usability.
Retail.
How different products work together.
Attention to detail.
Apple itself describes great design in terms of focusing on what matters most to people, simplicity, craft and creating delight; its current design guidance explicitly talks about defining what sets a product apart and making important features truly great.
That's an interesting philosophy for any Phuket business.
Don't try to be slightly better at everything.
Ask:
What could we be noticeably better at?
Because people don't generally tell their friends:
"The overall customer experience was approximately 7% better."
They talk about the thing that surprised them.
Which brings me to one of my favourite examples.
Toilets.
Yes. Toilets.
If you've travelled around America, you might have come across Buc-ee's.
Buc-ee's is a massive roadside travel centre.
Fuel.
Food.
Snacks.
Shopping.
Barbecue.
An extraordinary amount of beaver merchandise.
And...
Toilets.
Really, really clean toilets.
Buc-ee's has deliberately made cleanliness part of its brand. Its own company history highlights its commitment to a clean customer experience, and in 2012 its restrooms won a nationwide US contest for restroom cleanliness.
Think about how clever that is.
What is traditionally one of the worst parts of stopping at a petrol station or roadside service centre?
The toilets.
Normally your expectation isn't particularly high.
You're just hoping for something acceptable.
Buc-ee's effectively went:
What if our toilets were spectacular?
Not acceptable.
Not reasonably clean.
Not "they'll do."
Spectacular.
And people remember them.
People talk about them.
People recommend stopping there because of them.
That's marketing.
Not a Facebook ad.
Not a TikTok campaign.
Not a billboard.
A toilet.
They identified something that the category traditionally didn't do particularly well and decided to do it spectacularly well.
What's Your Buc-ee's Toilet?
Not literally.
Although having spectacular toilets probably wouldn't hurt many Phuket businesses.
What I'm asking is:
What does everyone else in your industry accept as "good enough"?
That's what I'd be hunting for.
Restaurants
Maybe everybody focuses on the food.
Of course the food needs to be good.
But maybe your opportunity is somewhere else.
Could you have the best welcome?
The fastest response to reservations?
The best children's experience?
The best birthday experience?
The best explanation of Thai dishes for tourists?
Could your staff remember returning customers?
Could the bill arrive immediately instead of customers spending ten minutes trying desperately to make eye contact with somebody?
What does everyone else accept as normal that you could make spectacular?
Hotels
Maybe it's check-in.
Everyone expects hotel check-in to involve passports, forms, deposits and standing at reception after you've just spent 14 hours travelling.
Could you make yours incredible?
Maybe it's WhatsApp concierge service.
Maybe it's breakfast.
Maybe it's how you welcome children.
Maybe it's how you handle early arrivals.
Maybe it's the information guests receive before they even land in Phuket.
Padel Clubs & Gyms
Maybe it's the welcome.
Maybe it's immaculate changing rooms.
Maybe it's cold towels.
Maybe it's free water.
Maybe it's remembering people's names.
Maybe it's helping new members meet other people.
Maybe it's making complete beginners feel comfortable.
Maybe it's the community after the actual activity.
Wellness Centres & Spas
Everyone talks about relaxation.
What happens before the treatment?
What happens afterwards?
Could the arrival be spectacular?
Could you remember someone's preferences from their previous visit?
Could the tea afterwards become something customers genuinely talk about?
Could the follow-up experience be different?
Yoga Studios
Maybe your instructors are brilliant.
But what about the person walking into their first-ever yoga class?
They don't know where to stand.
They don't know what equipment they need.
They don't know the terminology.
They're worried everyone else is going to be better than them.
Could you become the studio famous for making beginners feel completely comfortable?
That's differentiation.
Tours & Activities
Maybe everyone is visiting the same beautiful locations.
So perhaps the destination isn't the differentiator.
Maybe it's the guide.
Maybe it's the food.
Maybe it's communication before the trip.
Maybe it's photography.
Maybe it's how you deal with children.
Maybe it's what happens when the weather changes.
Maybe it's the follow-up afterwards.
Find the gap.
Your Best Marketing Idea Might Be Something Your Competition Forgot
Imagine you visit five or six competing businesses and discover:
Nobody properly welcomes customers.
Opportunity.
Nobody follows up afterwards.
Opportunity.
Everyone takes ages to reply on WhatsApp.
Opportunity.
Nobody explains things properly to first-time customers.
Opportunity.
The toilets are always average.
Opportunity.
Nobody remembers customers' names.
Opportunity.
Everyone's booking process is unnecessarily complicated.
Opportunity.
Nobody provides anything unexpected.
Opportunity.
Everyone disappears once the customer has paid.
Opportunity.
Individually, these things can sound tiny.
But that's the point.
Differentiation doesn't always need to be massive.
Sometimes it's ten tiny things.
Sometimes it's one thing you do so spectacularly well that it becomes part of your reputation.
Exceeding Expectations Is Marketing
This is really what we're talking about.
Expectations.
Customers arrive at businesses with an expectation.
They expect the hotel room to be clean.
They expect the restaurant food to be good.
They expect the yoga instructor to know yoga.
They expect the padel court to work.
They expect the massage therapist to be competent.
They expect the boat to float.
Hopefully.
Those things aren't necessarily differentiators.
They're what you promised to deliver.
The interesting part happens when you surpass the expectation.
I wasn't expecting the jug of water.
That's why I remembered it.
People don't necessarily expect a roadside petrol station to have incredibly clean toilets.
That's why Buc-ee's became known for them.
The gap between:
"That's what I expected."
and
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that."
is incredibly powerful.
Because that gap creates stories.
And stories create word of mouth.
"You should try this place because they..."
Pay very close attention to whatever comes after "they".
Because that might be your differentiator.
Don't Automatically Compete on Price
This is particularly important heading into Phuket high season.
When competition increases, businesses often panic.
Discount.
Promotion.
Happy hour.
10% off.
20% off.
Free this.
Free that.
Then the competitor responds.
And suddenly everyone is competing on price.
That's a dangerous game.
Because someone can nearly always be cheaper.
Competing on experience is considerably harder to copy.
If customers choose you because you're 100 baht cheaper, someone can steal them by becoming 200 baht cheaper.
If customers choose you because they love how your business makes them feel?
That's much harder to steal.
And Then Mystery Shop Yourself
Here's the uncomfortable bit.
Once you've mystery shopped everybody else...
Mystery shop yourself.
Find somebody your team doesn't recognise.
Ask them to experience your business.
Don't warn the staff.
Have them document everything.
Google.
Social media.
Website.
WhatsApp.
Booking.
Arrival.
Parking.
Welcome.
Service.
Product.
Toilets.
Payment.
Goodbye.
Follow-up.
Then ask:
What was brilliant?
What was frustrating?
What surprised you?
And finally:
Would you come back?
Don't get defensive about the answer.
Because that's the experience your customers are actually having.
Not the experience you think you're delivering.
Create Your Gap List
So here's something I'd encourage Phuket businesses to do now, before high season really gets going.
Get your team together.
Give them a budget.
Send them out.
If you're a restaurant, eat.
If you're a hotel, stay.
If you're a gym, train.
If you're a padel club, play.
If you're a wellness centre, book a treatment.
If you're a yoga studio, take a class.
If you're an attraction, visit attractions.
If you're a tour company, experience tours.
Then come back and create three columns:
What do they do really well?
Learn from it.
What do they do badly?
Understand it.
What aren't they doing particularly well that WE could do spectacularly well?
That's the column I'd be most interested in.
Because somewhere in there could be your high-season competitive advantage.
Stop Trying to Be Better at Everything
You probably don't need to be the best Phuket business at everything.
But you should try to become known for something.
Maybe it's your service.
Maybe it's speed.
Maybe it's your welcome.
Maybe it's cleanliness.
Maybe it's communication.
Maybe it's how you handle families.
Maybe it's your community.
Maybe it's what happens after someone buys.
Maybe it's how ridiculously easy you are to book.
Maybe it's your toilets.
Maybe it's a bloody jug of water.
It doesn't really matter.
What matters is that customers:
Notice it.
Remember it.
Talk about it.
High season is coming.
So instead of spending the next few weeks sitting in meetings trying to think of another promotion or another social media campaign...
Get out of the office.
Go and become a customer.
Experience your competitors.
Look at what they do brilliantly.
Look even harder at what they don't.
Find the gap.
And then ask yourself:
What could we do spectacularly well?
Because your best marketing idea for this Phuket high season might not be sitting in your marketing plan.
It might be sitting inside somebody else's restaurant.
Their reception.
Their changing room.
Their booking process.
Their customer service.
Or even their toilet.
Got it? Good.
Shark 13 Productions
Stop advertising. Start storytelling.
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