Digitalks #25. Positioning and Competitor Analysis
Get expert insights on how to analyze and win over competitors.
Digitalks is a virtual brown bag meeting by Breadnbeyond’s Digital Marketing team where all valuable information, feedback, ideas, seminars, and training sessions are shared.
Strategic positioning and comprehensive competitor analysis are the guiding stars for success.
They are the pillars that gather necessary insights and allow your businesses to navigate the competitive market.
Our seasoned marketer, Fabrianne, shared insightful knowledge on these matters in our recent webinar session, Digitalk #25.
Drawing from years of experience, Fabrianne gave actionable strategies and practical insights to enhance market positioning and stay ahead of the curve.
Why are Competitor Analysis and Brand Positioning Important?
Competitor analysis and brand positioning directly impact several key aspects of a company’s success.
Here are some crucial components:
The whole thing about the business (Branding)
Competitor analysis helps your company understand how its brand is perceived relative to competitors.
It refines brand identity and messaging to stand out in the market.
What do you offer? (Product)
Analyzing competitors’ products and market positioning helps your company identify gaps in the market or areas for improvement in its product offerings.
Who do you offer to (Target market)
Understanding target markets and consumer segments enables your company to ensure products and marketing efforts meet your target customer’s needs and preferences.
How to talk to your market (Marketing)
Competitor analysis gives insights into marketing strategies by identifying competitor tactics, messaging, and channels.
It allows your brand to communicate compellingly with its target market.
How much is going in and out? (Financing)
Understanding financial performance and investment strategies provides valuable insights for financial planning, resource allocation, and risk management.
How you will do it all? (Operating)
Competitor analysis highlights best practices, efficiency gains, and potential areas for differentiation.
It helps your company to streamline operations and maximize performance.
Who will do it all? (Team)
By assessing competitors’ organizational structures, talents, and capabilities, your brand can optimize its team composition and talent development efforts to maintain a competitive edge.
Competitor Analysis Frameworks
There are several competitor analysis frameworks for brands to understand their market.
Some of the most common ones are:
SWOT Analysis
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
This framework helps businesses identify internal strengths and weaknesses.
It also aims to find external opportunities and threats in the market.
Porter’s Five Forces
This framework assesses five key forces, such as new entrants’ threats, buyers’ bargaining power, suppliers’ bargaining power, substitute products or services threats, and rivalry among existing competitors.
Strategic Group Analysis
This framework categorizes companies within an industry into strategic groups based on similarities in their strategic choices and competitive approaches.
Growth-Share Matrix
BCG Matrix categorizes a company’s products or portfolio based on market growth rate and relative market share into four quadrants (stars, question marks, cash cows, and dogs).
Perceptual Mapping
Perceptual mapping visually represents consumer perceptions of brands or products based on key attributes.
Business Model Canvas
This framework provides a visual representation of a company’s business model.
Key elements of this framework are customer segments, channels, value propositions, revenue streams, and cost structure.
Customer Journey Map
This framework traces customers’ touchpoints and interactions (offline and online), including initial awareness and post-purchase support.
Assessing Your Business with Competitors
When assessing your business in the market, remember the 4P (Product, Place, Promotion, Price.)
These 4P can guide you to study competitors comprehensively and build a marketing strategy that sets you apart from others.
- Product: Products, features, weak spots.
- Place: Offline stores, retailers, marketplace.
- Promotion: Branding, marketing, advertising.
- Price: Pricing, sales, discounts.
Moreover, find how your competitors market their products, including how they use earned media, owned media, and paid media.
Creating Competitive Positioning
Creating competitive positioning requires a combination of self-awareness, customer focus, and strategic analysis.
These three aspects help you build competitive positioning for your business.
Figure out your difference
Competitive positioning starts with understanding what sets your business apart from others.
This step involves identifying your unique selling proposition (USP) or key differentiators that make your products or services stand out.
Such aspects make your offering attractive and distinctive to customers.
Decide which customer to serve
Don’t try to please all people.
Trying to appeal to everyone often results in diluted messaging and an ineffective marketing strategy.
Instead, target specific customer segments that align with your strengths and value proposition, which can be based on gender, age, income, pain points, etc.
A well-defined target audience helps you align your products, messaging, and marketing efforts to drive greater customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Find your place in the competition
Conduct thorough competitor analysis to assess the strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning of rival players.
Moreover, finding gaps in the market or areas where competitors are underserving customers helps you offer unique value and capitalize on opportunities.
Winning with Positioning
Fabrianne shared a crucial recommendation to help you achieve your desired results as a business.
Never copy competitor tactics.
Getting inspiration from others is fine, but make sure you have authentic concepts and actionable tactics for your brand.
Also, build a strong team within your business.
Share the latest business updates, including strategies and achievements, to create bonding with your team.
Breadnbeyond regularly hosts an online webinar featuring experts to share useful insights into business, video production, work life, and more.
If you want to discover other experts’ insights, visit our dedicated segment Digitalks, or get free e-books here.
