5 Important Lessons Your Competitors Can Teach You

At the beginning of any Artists journey a lot of the time the best way to learn can be from those that have gone before you. You have so many questions…

How Do I,
Why Do I,
When Can I…

The simplest way to find a lot of answers to these questions is to turn to those in your industry. Who’s doing things right? Who’s making waves the right way. Take a look at what they’re doing and how they’re making it work, and put that to work for your brand.

Here are 5 important lessons you can learn from your competitors

IMG: https://seoguide.wix.com/en/article/fresh-content-the-key-to-seo

1. CONTENT

Content is such an easy place for us to start.

Look to see what you competition is doing. If they use a particular platform, style of imagery, language in there captions. Pick it apart and take notes where necessary. You’re not here to copy you’re here to see what works and how you can translate it into something that works for you.

This is particularly useful when your early in the game because it can help you avoid a lot of early mistakes.

I am constantly looking to competitors content and seeing what works. An important lesson here is don’t just look at other Artists, you can consider anyone posting content that has a larger following then you as a competitor.

I follow a designer crew called @thefuturishere and recently picked up this technique they use on instagram. They post 10 slide carousels that teach really simple lessons. Why? Because the more someone lingers on your content the better the algorithm thinks your content is. Its so simple you’ll wish you had already been all over it.

2. NOTHING COMES EASY

Absolutely nothing in life comes easy.

When you look at your competitors sometimes its easy to forget that they worked hard to get where they are.

I’m not saying that it can’t come a little easier for some but overall most people that see results in their lives have put in the hard yards.

So if something is happening for your competitor and not you the first thing you should be comparing is your work ethic. If you can safely say you are outworking them then congrats, stop worrying about them and get back to the grind because your time will come.

This is not easy, but know that hard work pays off in the end.

3. NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE YOU

You want to become a successful artist? This is how it will go – some people will admire you, but a lot more of your peers will be jealous or envious.

What can you do about it? The simplest answer is: Nothing.

No point wasting your time trying to keep everyone happy. It’s hard enough doing everything else required to achieve success that wasting any thought whatsoever on this is almost stupid. The only thing you need to do is face the fact that there will always be people who don’t enjoy your success. If you don’t hurt anyone intentionally and you feel like you’re doing the right thing, there is absolutely no need to react.

Pro Tip Don’t fall into the trap yourself. You should be happy at a competitor’s success because this should be giving you your road map to success. What did they do to get there? If they’re peers of yours congratulate them and ask for some pointers. The worst they can do is say no. But you’d be surprised at how many people actually enjoy helping others. There is plenty of room at the top for everyone to eat.

4. PERFECTION DOESN’T EXIST

Making mistakes is part of every day life! The best thing you can do is learn from them.

If they are smart your competitors are continuously making mistakes. This is how you improve, your first release is never going to be as good or sound as good as the next. As humans we learn and we grow with every day that passes. The more work you put in, the more you put out into the world, the more you learn.

“I want it to be perfect." is a sentence so commonly thrown around by producers.

What perfection is to one person may not be so for another. When you understand this simple statement, that inherently all humans are different, you will sit back and wonder why you’re sitting on those 30 unreleased tracks. How do you know they aren’t perfect if no one else has listened to them.

5. SOMETIMES CHANGE CAN BE GOOD

Is something you’re doing just not working?

Artists that do no adapt are doomed. If you see a chance to improve through change it’s time to leave the old behind and embrace the new.

Now this isn’t the case all the time of course. You don’t need to change something just for the sake of it. But so many of you hang onto the familiar.

• That logo you had designed 10 years ago can be updated.

• Those press pics you took back in 02 might need a reshoot.

• That set list that was dialled 6 months ago not cutting it anymore? Maybe throw in some of that new flavour.

• You’ve fallen out of love with your previous releases and want to start making something different? Go for it!

As I said not everyone needs and you just may be at a spot where some more hard work is required. But if you’ve been in what feels like an uphill battle for a long period of time maybe its time to start looking at some change.

Whether its your brand, attitude, music or look sometimes we can all do with a bit of change in our lives.

CONCLUSION

Competition makes you stronger. Embrace them, let their success and failures guide and shape you. Every lesson you can learn from a competitor is time you get back to improve yourself.