How does your business, product and service stand out from the competition? Are you wasting money and time on meaningless marketing efforts? Every entrepreneur or business leader should invest in competitive research, a marketing strategy, and a marketing plan. This will help position your business to profit and ensure you get the most out of your marketing and sales budget.
Stand Out from the Competition
Identify Your Market Niche
It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond. In other words, it’s better to own a large market share in a smaller niche market than in a larger market. This strategy allows you to stand out in the crowd and dominate more of the market. Position your business so that you are promoted, valued, recognized in a niche market.
Conduct a Competitive Analysis and Segment Your Market
It is invaluable to do extensive competitive research. This type of analysis is homework. It allows you to avoid blind marketing tactics that can cost you. Competitive analysis helps you to study your competition, their pricing, their marketing and their demographic reach.
Market segmentation gives you a better understanding of your competition so you can position your services and products to win in a niche market.
How will you be a true competitor and dominate your market?
Striking Business Gold emphasizes the importance of identifying your direct and indirect competitors. You always want to stick to competition with your direct competitors.
A SWOT analysis is especially helpful to outline your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This can be done after your competitive analysis to evaluate your company’s competitive position and to help develop a strategic marketing plan.
Create Your Marketing Plan to Position Your Business to Profit
Once you have the market and competitive analysis- you are ready to create your marketing plan! Your marketing plan will include your marketing strategy. It is usually a part of your business plan and can change over time!
Once executed, the marketing strategy is a plan of action that will help to promote and sell your product and service in the most effective and profitable way. You will be able to create brand awareness in your niche market.
Most importantly, your marketing strategy will highlight details of your market analysis advertising, sales and public relations campaigns. It will also outline your digital marketing and social media strategy.
Position Your Business to Profit
Each stage of your business will call for a different specific marketing strategy and action.
Start-Up Phase:
A business that is in its start-up phase will want to do a deep dive into its competition and marketplace.
Growth Phase:
A business in its growth phase will want to continually re-assess its current market and explore new markets. Entrepreneurs and leadership should scale wisely when in competition and gaining new market share.
Mature Phase:
A business that is established, well-known and profitable in its niche market should re-evaluate current marketing efforts to see where they can improve. CEOs should see where they can acquire more market share and possibly tap into untapped markets.
Re-align marketing strategies with original business goals. Stay updated on current trends in your market and consumer behavior in order to not become outdated.
Decline Phase:
A business that is declining needs to take a serious look at current marketing efforts. They should consider hiring outside experts such as a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO) and fractional chief operations officer (COO) to do a full evaluation. A merger or acquisition may also be a better business option for better marketplace entry.
Market for Success
Remember- you should always be ready for changes in the marketplace. Have a backup plan. Be ready to pivot your business and marketing strategy on demand. This applies to all business phases.
The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic taught every business owner the importance of studying marketing and consumer behavior during worldwide shifts.
For instance, the world experienced a massive shutdown in physical storefronts. Consumer behavior shifted to online shopping and e-commerce boomed overnight. Be ready for market change.
To stand out from the competition requires that you distinguish your brand. You want your company to be known, valued, recognized and respected in the marketplace. And you want customers to buy from you. Invest in developing a marketing plan and strategy. It will be an invaluable step to position your business to profit.
Written by Sasha Lalite
Presented by lastyleleaders.com
