One of the main challenges of running a business is dealing with the inevitable competition. If you’ve identified a gap in the market, it’s almost inevitable that others will have as well. You need to make sure you’re ready to defend your share of customer’s revenue, and today we’re looking at the ways you can do just that, to ensure success and prosperity for your brand.
Getting the Edge
If you’re going to make decisions that lead to success for your brand, you need an edge over the competition. If you don’t have some insight into the decisions they’re likely to be taking, so you can plan around them, you might find it difficult to differentiate yourself.
If you find you’re launching a new product on the same day as your rivals, or begin an advertising push for a big sale that overlaps with their own discounts, you’re asking your customers to choose between you, and you’re undermining the distinctiveness between your two brands.
To be successful, you need to be communicating all the different ways you are distinct from your rivals (especially the ways that are most relevant to your customers), and ringfencing your time in the year to showcase your offering. This helps customers form loyalty to your brand and prevents it from being lost in the background noise of the marketplace.
Fortunately, market research agencies can do more than survey customers for you. They can also analyse the other businesses in your market and get you that vital competitive intelligence you need to make your plans around your competitors and confidently commit to new product development.
Building a Unique Business
The best way to withstand competition is to ensure your customers have plenty to recognise and latch on to with your business. Working with the same market research agency to find out what customers value about your brand, and leaning into it over time can give you a real advantage that less distinct competitors will lack.
This is the hard work of creating a brand – a personality for your business built out of dozens, if not hundreds, of tiny decisions, that lets customers have a personal relationship with your business – and the effort you put in, if you succeed, will repay you many times over.
You need to base your brand decisions on data: picking a voice for your marketing communications isn’t something that should be done lightly, and rebranding is a costly exercise that doesn’t always have the desired effect. Market research companies can use tools like Brand Trackers to make sure you’re building a brand that will stand up to the competition and appeal to customers for long term success!
