For awhile I just always assumed the team that wins does so just because they are physically better, however I know now that this is not the case.

It is that other attribute that propels a team to win. It could also do so for your business. We`ll get to more on that in a moment.

What amazes me about the sport is watching an offense operate. Being able to watch a good quarterback throw the ball where the defense isn`t, and the running back be able to run by guys twice his size.

How is it possible that this can be done? Do they know what the defense is doing? Do they have their plays? Yes to both questions. They do, because the offense knows their competition.

What I mean by this is, they spend countless hours studying film of previous games of their opponents to understand what their every move will be. All teams do this, but those who do it properly and correctly will get the advantage. You need to do the same for your business, to allow your advertising to be affective.

No I don`t mean watch countless hours of film on your competition (although if that is relavant you should). What I mean is, know your competitors. Knowing everything about your competitors is just as important as knowing everything about your own business.

Find out who your competition is and write down everything about what they do. How much do they charge? How often do they advertise? Where do they advertise? How long have they been in business? You get the point.

Before you get to work on finding out as much information as possible on your competition, take the time and write up a list of questions that need to be answered. Remember, the more questions you can ask, the more information you will eventually have on them.

You can make it a fun company project where every employee can submit `x` number of questions and so on.

Once you have the questions in hand, start researching to get the answers. Look far and wide and you will be able to obtain the information you seek. Do not forget to ask your own customers. Some might have done business in the past with your competition. Ask them what they liked and disliked about them.

Once you know everything about them, you can now begin to design a plan of action to get a step up on them. You know their plusses and negatives. Whether you advertise on our website, in print, TV or radio, you can now use that information in your advertising campaign.

The goal here is to know everything there is to know about your competition. Once you do that, everything else should just fall into place.