Author: Franz Malten Buemann

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According to a 2020 survey, most businesses have an average of 29 competitors. Do you know who yours are?

All businesses have competition — and knowing yours is key for innovating your products, services, and marketing strategies. But identifying the competition isn’t always obvious. Some are direct, while others may take more time to uncover.
Here, we’ll cover the three types of competitors to watch, and five ways to identify them.
3 Types of Competitors in Business
1. Direct competitors.
A direct competitor probably comes to mind when you think of your competition. These are businesses offering similar (or identical) products or services in the same market. They also vye for the same customer base.
Some famous examples of direct competitors include Apple versus Android, Pepsi versus Coca-Cola, and Netflix versus Hulu. But direct competition isn’t exclusive to well-known national or international brands. Two shoe stores in a rural town are direct competitors. So are a handful of realtors servicing one area.
Digital companies also see direct competition. For example, after the success of Twitter’s Periscope app, Facebook pivoted its focus to live video to keep up.
Since direct competitors sell similar products in a similar manner, this type of competition is often a zero-sum game — meaning, a customer that buys a competitor’s product won’t buy yours. For example, if you buy a hamburger at McDonald’s, it’s not likely you’ll swing by Burger King to buy another one.
2. Indirect competitors.
Indirect competitors are businesses in the same category that sell different products or services to solve the same problem.
For example, Taco Bell and Subway fall under the same category — fast-food — but they offer entirely different menu options. While they both seek to solve the same problem (feed hungry people), they provide different products to solve it.
Here’s another example — residential painters experience indirect competition with home improvement chains like Home Depot or Lowes. Again, the category is the same but the product offerings differ.
Indirect competition isn’t necessarily a zero-sum game. Consider someone buying supplies from Lowe’s to re-paint their home —only to do a sloppy job. They may call a local painter to fix the mistakes.
3. Replacement competitors.
A replacement competitor offers an alternative to the product or service that you offer. You both seek to solve the same pain points, but the means are different.
For example, a restaurant and coffee shop in the same neighborhood could be replacement competitors. Walking down the street, some customers may choose to grab a to-go lunch from the coffee shop, while others prefer the restaurant.
The idea here is that customers are using the same resources to purchase the replacement that they could’ve used to buy your offerings.
These competitors are potentially dangerous if there’s more than one way to solve the same problem you seek to resolve. Additionally, these are the most challenging competitors to identify. After all, we can’t read people’s minds and understand all the choices that led them to us.
But we can find other ways to uncover this information — such as requesting feedback from customers or keeping an eye on their social media mentions. With this insight, you can better understand your audience and identify your replacement competitors.
As you work to identify your competitors, you may discover more than you anticipated. Don’t get overwhelmed. Remember that not all competitors are built the same — some are less of a threat than others.
Now let’s discuss ways to identify the players above, below, and next to you.
5 Ways to Identify the Competition
1. Check the first page of Google.
An easy starting point is doing a quick Google search. Think of a few keywords someone might search to find you, such as [service or product] + [location]. For example, general contractor Sacramento.
Then, note the top companies on the first page of your search results. You may notice your keywords return thousands of results, but you shouldn’t stress. The most relevant section is the first page and the competition directly above and below you on it. Those tend to be your direct competitors.
2. Research targeted keywords.
Check the keywords you are currently targeting to identify other businesses targeting the same ones.
This is a solid strategy for finding your indirect competition since they likely target the same keywords. For example, the keyword “fast-food” may reveal Subway and Taco Bell — both indirect competitors —as the top two results.
3. Monitor social media conversations.
Opinions are aplenty on social media — so it’s relatively easy to find what your customers are saying. To find relevant conversations, enter your businesses’ name in the search bar and check the results.
For instance, someone may post a question to Twitter asking what hair salon they should visit in your city. A follower may respond with the name of your business, along with a handful of others.
You can expand your search beyond social media to include community forums, such as Reddit or Quora — along with review sites like Yelp. Both of these resources can reveal helpful insight into your customers and why they chose your business over the competition.
4. Perform market research.
Check the market for your product or service and note any companies with a competing offer. Market research can be done a number of ways — whether that be with a Google search, by browsing through trade journals, or by talking with your sales team to see what other companies are commonly brought up by customers (to name a few).
5. Ask your customers.
Customers are crucial to identifying your competition — after all, they likely sifted through most of them before landing on you. There are many ways to solicit feedback from customers — both online and in-person. That could mean striking up conversations while cashing them out or sending an email survey after each sale. One way or another, try to find the best approach and regularly check the feedback for any trends.
Every business has competition, and it pays to know the top players. But remember, as your business grows and evolves, so too will the competition. A direct competitor may go out of business, or an indirect competitor may become a direct one. All this to say, make a habit of routinely checking those above, below, and next to you.

Social media platform LinkedIn has more than 800 million members, and has carved out a niche for itself among giants like Facebook and Twitter for its ability to connect job seekers and employers across the globe.
Less talked about, however, is the potential of this work-focused networking site for marketing, advertising, and sales opportunities. While it’s true that the primary purpose of LinkedIn is streamlining employment and recruitment efforts, the platform also supports more social connections and in turn, opens the door for targeted campaigns that speak to the needs of its specific user base.
The challenge? Measuring the impact of these efforts. Sure, visitors might see your ads on LinkedIn, but what then? How do you know if they subsequently stopped by your website, signed up for your newsletter, or actually made a purchase?
This is the purpose of the LinkedIn Insight Tag, more commonly called the LinkedIn Pixel. Here’s what you need to know about what it is, what it does, how it works, and why it matters for your website.

Worth noting? This isn’t a piece of third-party code — it’s provided by LinkedIn directly and is designed to streamline the process of connecting ads campaign data with LinkedIn user information. According to the platform’s official LinkedIn Insight FAQ, the tag shouldn’t impact website performance since it’s both lightweight and designed to load asynchronously with other web elements to reduce resource demands.

In effect, the LinkedIn Pixel works like a beacon that lets the platform keep sight of users after they click through onto your website and then provides a detailed report to help you measure the impact of your campaigns.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning the obvious caveat here: Always make sure you’re up-front about the use of the LinkedIn Pixel on your site. While user agreements with LinkedIn provide the legal framework to make using this Pixel possible without users having to opt-in on every webpage, it’s a good idea to be straightforward about your policies around data collection and use.
Otherwise, post-Pixel contacts may not go as planned if visitors start asking questions about where you got their information — and don’t like the answers.

Part of this process comes from basic website engagement metrics. Overall statistics about how many unique visitors your site sees each day, how many newsletter or email signups occur, and how many users move from browsing to cart to purchase all impact your broader marketing approach.
When it comes to drilling down and pinpointing target market segments, meanwhile, tools such as the LinkedIn Pixel are critical. Here’s why: As noted above, the social nature of LinkedIn skews toward business and employment, which means that marketing campaigns must take this perspective into account when designing any ads or promotions. While general data about conversions and customer contacts offers a generalized view of success across all platforms, it doesn’t tell marketing teams if LinkedIn-specific ads are effective.
The LinkedIn Pixel makes it possible to segment traffic and determine where visitors are coming from, in turn allowing your teams to see how many click-throughs and referrals come from LinkedIn and how many are from the web at large.
Ready to get the LinkedIn Insight Tag up and running on your website? Follow this step-by-step guide.

Now, let’s explore each step in more detail.
1. Sign into your Campaign Manager.

First, sign into your Campaign Manager. To do this, head to your personal or company LinkedIn profile and look for Advertise in the upper right-hand corner. Click it, and you’ll be taken to the Campaign Manager page.

2. Select Your Ad Account.
Now you need to select your ad account. In the example image below, there’s only one ad account but if you have more than one, make sure you’re selecting the one that’s associated with the right campaign and website.

3. Click on the Account Assets dropdown.
Once you’ve selected your account, look for the Account Assets tab on the right-hand side of the top navigation menu. Click it to get the next dropdown menu and select Insight Tag.

4. Select Install my Insight Tag.
If you don’t have any Insight Tags installed, click on the blue button that says Install my Insight Tag.

5. Decide how you’ll install the tag.
You have three options when it comes to installing your tag: You can do it yourself, send the tag to a developer or use a tag manager — such as Google, Adobe, or Tealium — to install the tag.

6. Copy the tag.
If you decide to do it yourself, click I will install the tag myself and then copy the code in the code box that appears.
7. Add the code to every page.
Now you need to paste the Insight Code tag on every page in your domain. LinkedIn recommends pasting it just above the closing HTML <body> tag in the global footer.
8. Check that the process worked.
Finally, head back to the Insight Tab page in your Campaign Manager and make sure your domains are listed. As noted by LinkedIn, this could take anywhere from a few minutes up to 24 hours.
Linking Outside the Box
The LinkedIn Pixel makes it possible to connect ad campaign performance with LinkedIn-referred traffic, in turn making it possible to better understand how your ads are performing and also allowing you to follow up with LinkedIn users to help drive increased conversions.
Ready to start linking outside the box? Opt for the LinkedIn Insight Tag.

Peter Drucker once described customers as the “most important stakeholders.” While this may be true, your customers are dependent on one thing.
No, it’s not your product (though that’s definitely important). It’s actually your employees. Without your employees, products won’t get made, customers won’t learn about those products, and there will be no one there to sell or deliver those products, or provide customer service to them after they’ve purchased.

While your customers may be your most important stakeholders, in a business or organization, your employees are your biggest asset. Their performance, mindset, attitude, and loyalty can make or break your company’s performance and determine whether or not you will have any customers to sell to.
Because of this, you will want to ensure that your employees are meeting expectations, and improving in necessary areas. Performance management aims to foster the best possible employees so your organization can thrive well into the future.
What is performance management?
Performance management is a process that allows managers to assess their employees’ work and support of business objectives. The goal of performance management is to track and improve the skills employees need to perform their necessary job duties.
Elements of performance management include giving performance appraisals, utilizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and management dashboards, peer review, 360-degree feedback (multiple individuals from managers to subordinates assist), and the use of employee management software.
A similar term, performance appraisal, also focuses on goals and self-improvement, but is focused on the individual and does not take the strategic goals of the organization into account.
Performance management is not only important to the organization, it’s essential for the individual as many growth opportunities including bonuses, promotions, and ultimately dismissals, are tied to this process.
Effective Performance Management
Effective performance management will look different depending on your specific industry and your organizational goals. However, there are two approaches you can take to get started.
Behavioral Approach
This works well when your employees work (and achieve) as part of a team and measuring individual results is difficult to do. In this approach, you evaluate your employees based on their behaviors and effort. Feedback looks like identifying current behaviors, communicating desired future behaviors, and providing training or coaching to bridge the gap between where they are and where you would like them to be.
Results-oriented Approach
This approach is ideal when performance metrics are easy to quantify such as meeting a sales quota, clocking billable hours, or reaching certain call statistics. In this approach, you focus on the quality and quantity of the end result.
Performance Management Process
A performance management plan consists of a five-step process. Let’s take a closer look at the five steps.

1. Plan
While employees’ goals and responsibilities are outlined in the job description when they come on board, it’s essential to review this information with them regularly. Clearly set and communicated goals will help your employees understand what is expected of them and when they are falling behind.
2. Monitor
Management should be monitoring their employees’ performance continuously. If you only check in once or twice a year, a slight veer off the prescribed path could have lasting impacts on one’s performance. That’s why staying in constant communication with your employees, and keeping an open environment for feedback is essential all year long.
3. Develop
If you have identified areas of improvement for your employee, you can work with them to provide training, mentoring, educational courses, or other materials that can help them get back on track or fill any skill gaps.
4. Rate
Without a rating scale, it can be difficult to recognize whether employees are improving from their development plan. Additionally, with a rating scale that is communicated to employees, they know where they currently stand, and what is needed to move them to the next level of performance.
5. Reward
While every step of the process is necessary, the reward may be the most important. Positively reinforce employees who are hitting their goals or working towards them. Recognize them for their hard work and for striving to be better and do better for the organization.
This can be in the form of bonuses, thank you cards with token gifts, public recognition, or through an employee rewards program. It not only inspires the employee who is being recognized but motivates others who may need an extra incentive.
Remember that the performance management process is a cycle that must be continuously employed throughout an individual’s time at your organization.
You’re never “done” with performance management and this should be conveyed to your employees when they join the company, and then communicated to them throughout their employment. Without open communication throughout the process, employees may become complacent in their lackluster job performance or disengaged.
Performance Management Best Practices
This concept and process have been around for years and thankfully, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There are a number of performance management best practices that you can incorporate into your plan.

Re-evaluate goals regularly. If there’s anything the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that societal shifts can demand a new approach to business. Goals may need to change and clinging to old decisions in a new world could cause you to penalize (and lose) good employees.

Employ SMART goals. In order to be achievable, goals must be clearly defined and communicated, and Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Employees will be more likely to achieve goals when they are properly crafted.

Utilize the objectives and key results methodology. The OKR methodology can help your team set, communicate, and track organizational goals. This will foster accountability among your employees.

Have performance conversations throughout the year. Performance management conversations should not reveal any surprising information to the employee or manager. Ideally, managers are having open conversations with their team members about performance throughout the year, and performance reviews should serve as a check-in documenting performance over a specified time period. When you communicate regularly with each of your employees, they learn to expect constructive feedback and look forward to these encounters.

Standardize and automate your process. All employees should follow the same performance management process, and be held to an even standard. In addition to making the process fair, there comes a tipping point when you may have too many employees to manage throughout a continuous cycle, and having a set process and automated software solution to manage performance reviews can be a helpful asset.

While creating a performance management plan in your organization will take some time and effort, it’s a necessary process for a thriving organization. Knowing which employees are excelling in their roles and reaching (or exceeding) goals, which employees need more support is priceless information.

Last Updated on January 19, 2022 by Rakesh GuptaBig Idea or Enduring Question: How do you automatically send an Onboarding email to new users with Salesforce Flow? Objectives: This blog post will help us to understand the following How to use Salesforce Flow to send out an email alert with
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Last Updated on January 19, 2022 by Rakesh Gupta The Lightning Web Component modern framework is a User Interface framework to develop dynamic web apps for mobile and desktop devices. As is the case with each release, the latest Spring’22 release is packed with rich features including, the newly added
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A clever, well-planned valentines day email campaign can yield some seriously positive results. To help you play cupid with your subscribers this year, here are 45 of our favorite Valentine’s Day subject lines to inspire your own.
According to the National Retail Federation, the average American planned to spend $165 on Valentine’s Day gifts and celebrations in 2021. With so much money trading hands on Valentine’s Day, there’s no reason your customers shouldn’t receive Valentine’s Day emails from you.
Don’t let the florists and jewelers reap all the rewards: Your business can cash in on this holiday too. By sending the right Valentine’s Day emails, with the right subject lines, you too can sweeten your bottom line this February.
We’ve put together a list of 45 Valentine’s email subject lines your subscribers will love. Plus, you’ll find subject line tips and some examples of great Valentine’s Day email marketing that got our hearts beating a little faster.
45 of the best Valentine’s Day email subject lines
B2C subject lines
Here are some of our favorite subject lines from the worlds of retail, ecommerce, and other B2C industries. You’ll notice teases for a lot of special offers like gift cards, free gifts, or even free delivery that entice readers to open.

Society6: Valen-time’s Almost Up to Get 30% Off Everything

Edible Arrangements: Red roses are so last year

Starbucks: No flowers, but alllll of the chocolate

Paper Source: Will you be our Galentine?

Gordon Ramsay Restaurants: Make Valentine’s Day one to Remember

Hulu: Spend Valentine’s Day with Our Favorite Couples

Shutterfly: Personalize your Valentine’s Day gift

Moovly: Create a Valentine’s Day video in a snap

Sephora: Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for him?

Birchbox: Valentine’s Day treats for you and yours

Saxx: Hurry! Last Chance For Valentine’s Day with Express Shipping

Ink Cards: 6 HOURS LEFT to send cards in time for Valentine’s Day delivery

La Mer: Happy Valentine’s Day: enjoy a free sample

Birchbox: Last chance to gift Birchbox this Valentine’s Day

Nordstrom: Valentine’s Day gifts for her and him

Steve Madden: It’s love

Birchbox: This Valentine’s Day, think inside the box

Target: Sweet deal on Valentine’s Day gifts + in-store pickup

Nordstrom: Valentine’s Day gifts for the loves in your life

La Mer: A last-minute miracle for Valentine’s Day

Guess: Let us set you up this Valentine’s Day

La Mer: Seal it with a kiss: The lip balm for Valentine’s Day

Orbitz: Deliver your Valentine’s Day gift in person

Anthropologie: Show your love with these great gifts

J. Crew: Ditch the chocolates and check out these gift ideas

Orbitz: See the ones you love, hot fares for Vday

Bass Pro Shop: Unique gifts for a unique Valentine

LuLu: Be mine! Our Valentine’s shop is open!

Touch of Modern: A Valentine’s Day gift guide you want to open

Williams-Sonoma: XOXO Valentine’s Day favorites are here

FabKids: What will you wear this Valentine’s Day?

Stoneberry: Heat up this Valentine’s Day with a sale on heaters

Uncommon designs: Bright designs for your bright love

The Watchery: Time for love. Get these deals before time runs out

One Kings Lane: Silky sheets and sweet dreams for Valentine’s Day

B2B subject lines
A Valentine’s Day email campaign isn’t just for business-to-consumer brands. More and more, business-to-business (B2B) brands are getting in on the holiday email fun as well.

Movable Ink: Roses are red, violets are blue, this floral retailer lifted conversions – and so can you!

WordPress: Aren’t in love with your website? Make a change

Leo’s Tax Service: Get your taxes filed by Valentine’s Day

Commercial Cleaners: Book before Valentine’s Day and Get $50 off

Buffalo Web Creators: Nothing says romance like website design

Nonprofit subject lines
A Valentine’s Day campaign is also a great time for nonprofit organizations to drive donations, as some on your email list might want to give back this time of year.

Petco Foundation: Join The World’s Largest #ShelterValentine

SOS Children’s Villages: Share your love this Valentine’s Day

The Trust for Public Land: 7 Places to steal a kiss this Valentine’s Day

Austin Humane Society: Your furry Valentine

United Way: Send a Valentine that sends a message

Tips to create the perfect Valentine’s email subject lines
Optimize your subject line for your subscribers
A subject line should compel a subscriber to open the email. You have to choose your words wisely, especially since space is limited.
Most subject lines are about 50 characters, so your word selection is crucial. Get familiar with the email clients and devices your subscribers are using so you can optimize your subject line length for them. You can see this information in Campaign Monitor in the Campaign Reports section under Email Client Usage.
Here’s an example from our own Newsletter subscribers:

Since many of our subscribers view newsletters in Gmail and on iPhones, we optimize our subject line length for those devices. An ideal length is between 41 characters (portrait view on an iPhone) and 70 characters for Gmail.
Read more about how to determine the best length for your subject line in this post.
Show the love in your Valentine’s email
It might seem obvious, but you should mention the holiday in your subject line, or use words that are associated with it. You’ll notice most of the subject lines above use the phrase Valentines Day or words that coincide with the holiday, like love, sweet, or romance.
Or, for those last-minute planners, phrases like last day, not too late, last-minute valentine’s gifts, or there’s still time will compel readers to open.
Add an incentive to your Valentine subject line
If you can work an incentive into the subject line, do so. For example, if you’re running an offer for free shipping or a Valentine’s Day sale, be sure to let readers know about it in the subject line. Alluding to your offer ahead of time will increase the likelihood that your subscribers open your email.
Use an emoji to increase the

Do you want to set your email apart from others? Consider adding an emoji. Brands using emojis in their subject lines saw a 45% increase in their unique open rates.
The is one of the most popular emojis, and it can generate 6% more opens. What better occasion to break it out than Valentine’s Day? Several of the subject lines listed above contain a variation of the heart emoji, which means this symbol can be used for a number of email types.
If you’re planning to use emojis, be sure it makes sense for your brand. It should fit with your brand’s overall tone. As always, it’s a great idea to a/b test subject lines to see if emojis resonate with your audience.
To learn more about emojis and how to use them in your emails, check out our guide!
Valentine’s Day email examples
To go with Valentine’s Day subject lines, you’ll need a beautiful Valentine’s Day email design. Here are some of our top examples.
Modcloth

Notice how Modcloth focuses on the aesthetic of Valentine’s Day, rather than romance. The red background is bold and exciting.
Society6

Society6 uses artistic design to match their brand and style, and they even feature artist-made work in the email.
Prezi

Really Good Emails
Prezi uses a clean, subtle Valentine’s Day design in their email, which encourages users to send a valentine with their service.
Stocksy

Really Good Emails
Similar to Society6, Stocksy uses content from their site to create a beautiful, festive design.
American Red Cross

Notice how American Red Cross uses the holiday and authenticity to show their mission. The sweet story they share in the email above is bound to attract readers.
Plan International

Plan International uses images and Valentine’s Day colors to tug at readers’ heartstrings.
Share the love this Valentine’s Day
Are you prepared to embrace Valentine’s Day? With the tips and email subject lines in this post, you’ll be ready to create and send the sweetest, revenue-making Valentine’s emails, and that’s something everyone will love.
Use Campaign Monitor to make your own Valentine’s Day emails. And don’t forget to check out our library of email templates that make building your campaigns a breeze.
The post 45 Valentine’s Email Subject Lines Your Subscribers Will Love appeared first on Campaign Monitor.