Competitive Thinking for Strategic Advantage

How to figure out (and counter) what your competition is up to. [MarketingProfs StrategicB2B Today] March 2023 [Your monthly issue of Strategic B2B!] Strategic Advantage Through Competitive Intelligence and Analysis In the [previous issue of this newsletter](, I discussed analyzing your own company as an essential part of crafting a marketing strategy. Equally if not more important is the analysis of your competition. Competitors can come from anywhere, even though we tend to focus on the most immediate competition. But as the classic strategist Michael Porter has pointed out, competitors can come from companies you sell to, companies you buy from, substitutes, and new entrants. Of course, if you focus on customer benefits, as opposed to specific product or service categories or verticals, you'll have a wider range of potential competitors vying for your customers. For example, recall how the taxi industry was blindsided by the entrance of industry outsiders Uber and Lyft. They entered the market by offering benefits that customers wanted, including more control over the process (an app would let you see where the driver was at all times), and more manageable payment (no more having to come up with cash or hassle with the driver about using a credit card)—and, in general, an easier experience. Gathering and Acting on Competitive Intelligence When you focus on competition, the first issue you face is the need to collect information about potential and actual competitors. There are many ways to do that, but fortunately companies now exist that scour the Web and provide competitive intelligence, thus making the job of getting competitive information a lot easier. The issue then becomes what you do with that competitive information. Now, imagine if you worked for a football team, and you're watching the films of your competitor for next week's game. I doubt you would say let's just do a SWOT analysis and be done with it. The same goes if you were a world-class chess player; in fact, in most games that are played at the highest levels, the players and coaches don't take just a passive, "one and done," look at the competition; it's ongoing analysis before and during every match. But in business, it seems that static, passive analysis is exactly what is done: People have been taught to do a fixed description of the competition rather than a dynamic, proactive perspective on the competition. However, competitors don't act passively (unless you've made an agreement with all your competitors to act passively). Competitors have an incentive to make continual, ongoing efforts to take market share away from you. One way they do that is to position themselves for strategic advantage. For example, a competitor could drop its price significantly so that any price advantage you have diminishes. Competitors could launch another product aimed right at the same positioning you aim to take with your brand. In addition, your company might be inviting new competitors if you're in a segment with few or no competitors, especially if the competitor believes there is a lot of money to be made there. I've seen organizations that say they do competitive intelligence effectively stop after gathering competitive information, putting together competitive profiles, and crafting battlecards (which are essentially a one-page visual aid comparing an organization's pricing, product, features, etc. vs. a competitor). A Better Way: Play a Competitive Game All that is fine, but a far better approach is to take competitive intelligence as input for a dynamic game you're playing. [Read More ►]( [Allen Weiss] [Allen Weiss] CEO and Positioning Practice Lead, MarketingProfs Professor of Marketing [Marketing Strategy: Benefits, Relationships, Competitors](jVLS97aV8hg/Q3Azd3hVR25zbjRuMlFaNXkrRG16Y1hVNWlLdVo4YnRCbDhGZlNGWkUxTlplRzdvb0Q5aEZGbDd2bjU1dlBFYXViam8wYVpERGljMVFYNVh4dkF0SkNiMFVoNWZ3YS8vZ1NQYkpsV2NWTU1VSjM1R3dPQ083Zz09S0/) Marketing Strategy: Benefits, Relationships, Competitors MarketingProfs CEO Allen Weiss will lead a full-day workshop at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum on Oct. 4 to lay out the elements of marketing strategy that are the very foundations of your marketing and positioning success. You'll discover what market you're really in and how to use your brand's benefits to shape your marketing strategy; uncover business-essential relationships to pursue and learn how to nurture them; and get practical tools to analyze competitors (and yourself) when changes occur in the market. [Find out more about the workshop here ►]( [Shakeup B2B]( Shakeup B2B [Online Event] Calling this an online "event" doesn't do it justice. This online-palooza this April 11–13 is designed to spark ideas, inspire action, and toss those long-held "best practices" out the window. Details: Over a dozen sessions. One-on-one opportunities with subject-matter experts. Small-group roundtable discussions. And two optional interactive workshops with certification. [Free for MarketingProfs PRO members ($279 annually for [PRO membership]().] [Register today ►](w_vh9/Q3Azd3hVR25zbjRuMlFaNXkrRG16Y1hVNWlLdVo4YnRCbDhGZlNGWkUxTlplRzdvb0Q5aEZGbDd2bjU1dlBFYXViam8wYVpERGljMVFYNVh4dkF0SkNiMFVoNWZ3YS8vZ1NQYkpsV2NWTU1VSjM1R3dPQ083Zz09S0/) Resources [article] [The State of Competitive Intelligence: Four Trends [Article]](ZKJPEwaDcD/Q3Azd3hVR25zbjRuMlFaNXkrRG16Y1hVNWlLdVo4YnRCbDhGZlNGWkUxTlplRzdvb0Q5aEZGbDd2bjU1dlBFYXViam8wYVpERGljMVFYNVh4dkF0SkNiMFVoNWZ3YS8vZ1NQYkpsV2NWTU1VSjM1R3dPQ083Zz09S0/) [article] [Knowing How Your Competitors Are Positioned: The Key to Competitive Intelligence [Article]]( [tutorial] [How to Close More Deals With Competitive Intel [Webinar]]( [tutorial] [How to Beat the Competition With Market Intelligence on Content, Positioning, and Leads [Article]]( [article] [How to Test Your Competitive Market Strategy [Article]]( [MarketingProfs] Your Strategic B2B Team Your team for this issue (in alphabetical order): Megan Cordero, production director; Vahe Habeshian, publications director; Allen Weiss, MarketingProfs CEO and B2B Positioning & Messaging Consulting lead. 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