The ideal state for a brand is a blue ocean – a category of one. How wonderful to market with no one as a competitor.
Unfortunately, most of us live with competitors. Coke needed Pepsi. McDonald’s needed Burger King. Nike needed Adidas. BMW needs Audi.
Don’t forget to thank your competitors. They can keep your brand focused on your unique selling proposition.
Without a strong competitor, brands can get lazy and lose their edge. Competitors keep your brand honest and well-tuned. It also allows your organization to rally against a real and visible threat. Some companies ignore their competition completely just looking straight ahead. Others spend way too much time worrying about their arch threat.
A healthy approach to competition is that it gives you a chance to define your brand by what you stand for in contrast to a competitor.
Brands Need an Enemy
A simple 2X2 box allows you to define your brand versus the competition. The X and Y axis can be a way to demonstrate where two competitors fit in a comparison. For example, on the X axis can be low price to high price and on the Y axis can be simple to a complicated product offering. Mapping your brand versus the competition helps you see opportunities and gaps.
- One brand may be very expensive without any lower price version. Your competitor may sell at all price levels – good, better and best.
- One brand may be free of a particular ingredient that is common to all products in that category while the other, is filled with the ingredient. (Think of brands free of high fructose corn syrup, gluten, GMO’s, etc.)
- One brand may try and own “the original, genuine or authentic one” in a category. (Like Coke) Versus the challenger (Pepsi).
- One brand may have a pricing model that is unlike the category (Netflix, SurfAir, Ziferblat) versus (Blockbuster, American Airlines and Starbucks).
- One brand may sell online only (Amazon) versus in physical stores. (Local Independent Book Stores).
- One brand may appeal to a health/lifestyle frame (Whole Foods) versus value/price (Food Lion). The same shopper may use both stores for different needs.
Brand Enemy
When everyone in your business knows who the enemy is, it focuses the mind and your daily work to win. It puts guide rails for everyone to follow. It provides brand alignment. When your operations, sales, finance and marketing team all know when your brand wins over the enemy, it’s a clear path to celebrate together and invigorates an organization.
In every company I have worked at, we identified the enemy and clearly understood their strengths and weaknesses. As we built new products or business offering, knowing our enemy helped us see our work in a fresh light. It wasn’t out of fear, but admiration for keeping us focused on the prize.
Don’t fear your competition, but thank them for keeping you focused on the prize and the important differences you deliver to your customers.
You owe your competition a high five. They keep you honest. They focus your resources. They keep you on your toes.
Pepsi helped Coke succeed.
What role does your chief competitor play in your marketing?
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Photo Credit: Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/spyndle/
Need a marketing coach to help you map out the competition? Let’s connect. Coke or Pepsi?
