- How do you know which specific brands
are your competitors?
Well, you need to consider both your companies
and customers' perspectives.
Research which companies are active in your category,
meaning which other companies offer
the same product or service as your company.
You can learn this through an online search
and by speaking with your colleagues.
Then, understand from your customer's perspective
which other companies they consider
as they decide which brand to buy.
Now different companies have different people
who have this information,
but it could be someone who works in the business unit,
research, insights, data collection, or analytics.
Let's say your company sells scanners to businesses.
If you think that two other companies are competition,
then you'll focus your marketing campaign and messaging
to compete with those two companies.
But what if customers think
that there are three other companies that compete with you?
If your marketing efforts don't take
that third competitor into account,
you'll likely lose business to that competitor.
This may seem obvious, but it happens all the time.
Marketers don't understand all the brands
in a customer's consideration set,
which is why you have to look at both direct
and indirect competitors.
A direct competitor sells the exact same product
or service that you sell.
An indirect competitor sells a similar product or service
or the same product or service delivered differently.
In our example about the company that sells scanners,
a direct competitor would be another company
that sells other brands of scanners.
If a customer only wants a scanner,
they would consider you and this competitor.
An indirect competitor might be a company
that sells a multitasking machine that scans,
but also copies, faxes and emails.
In this case, a customer that's open
to either a scanner only or a multitasking machine
would consider you and your direct and indirect competitors.
Know your competition,
both from the companies and customer's perspective,
to create messaging that positions your brand
as better than the competition.