Competitive Positioning

Monday, October 26, 2009

What sets your product, service and company apart from your competitors? What value do you provide and how is it different than the alternatives?

Competitive positioning is about defining how you’ll “differentiate” your offering and create value for your market. It’s about carving out a spot in the competitive landscape and focusing your company to deliver on that strategy. A good strategy includes

  • Market profile: size, competitors, stage of growth
  • Customer segments: groups of prospects with similar wants & needs
  • Competitive analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the landscape
  • Positioning strategy: how you’ll position your offering to focus on opportunities in the market
  • Value proposition: the type of value you’ll deliver to the market

When your market clearly sees how your offering is different than that of your competition, it’s easier to generate new prospects and guide them to buy. Without differentiation, it takes more time and money to show prospects why they should choose you; as a result, you often end up competing on price – a tough position to sustain over the long term.

One of the key elements of your positioning strategy is....

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