Competitive positioning is the foundation for your client’s entire business. It defines how they’ll differentiate their offerings and create value for the marketplace.
Competitive positioning strategy is often the first exercise entrepreneurs take before deciding to create a new business. It defines the market need the company will fulfill, and outlines how the company will protect and grow its position. It’s the base for a company’s entire go-to-market strategy, and helps define the brand, marketing communications, and marketing and sales strategies.
Competitive Positioning Value
While many companies achieve success without a formal strategy, they’ll only achieve sustained long-term growth from a well-defined competitive strategy, or a lot of luck. Without clear differentiation, it takes more time and money to acquire customers. And, it becomes more difficult to keep them and keep margins from declining.
Many business owners and founders have a loose strategy in their head, but it’s difficult to execute without a well-defined foundation for marketing, sales, pricing and distribution decisions. A good strategy helps:
Channel business investments into the areas with the highest returns
Carve out and protect “turf” in the marketplace
Increase margins over the long-term
Build a loyal customer base
“Strategy” sessions are often confined to a few members of the executive team. The Consulting M.O. enables you to facilitate these sessions and deliver the key strategic framework that can make or break a company.
The value of good strategic consulting is often immeasurable. You can help a CEO decide to carve out a new space within in the marketplace that’s worth millions or tens of millions of dollars - almost an infinite return on the consulting investment in you.
Competitive Positioning Services with the Consulting M.O.
Market Profiling. Document the size of your client’s markets or potential markets, list major competitors, their stage of growth and positions, and breakdown your client’s market segments. Evaluate the true problems, wants and needs of the market.
Competitive Analysis. Define the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the competitive marketplace. Rate your client’s company and their direct competitors. Determine the true competitive nature of the marketplace.
Create a Positioning Strategy. Define your client’s value proposition and identify areas where your client is strong and your competition is vulnerable. Stake your client’s position, and create a plan to protect and expand that position.
Find a New Market. Research and evaluate to determine what other markets could benefit from your client’s products and services.
Your client may need competitive positioning if:
Market share isn’t growing at 20% per year
Sales are flat or decreasing
All company leaders don’t have a clear understanding of the company’s competitive strategy
Margins are shrinking
Ownership is considering a company sale in the next 3-5 years
