How to Differentiate Your Company to Grow in a Crowded Market

Steve Offsey

CEO, MarketBuildr

When you started your company you may have had a unique product or solution!

You found your product / market fit and began to grow

But, now there’s an influx of new entrants vying for leadership in your rapidly expanding market

>70! >35

In the early days…

Your challenge was to get skeptical prospects, hires and investors to understand your target market and solution.

Now you hear…

“Aren’t X, Y and Z doing that?“

“What's different about you?"

You

So, how can you differentiate your company to grow in a crowded market?

1. Sharpen your target market 2. Improve your positioning

Everyone knows what a target market is…

“A specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services. Your target customers are those who are most likely to buy from you.”

Source: Entrepreneur.com

…So why is a lack of focus a common startup disease?

How Could Everyone Not Be On The Same Page?

I need to generate more leads and our email subscriber list is growing too slowly. I can add a free sample list from this great trade publication.

I can easily add these contacts from my last company to my next campaign.

This opportunity is a bit off target, but the buyer’s really interested and has budget!

I’ll call my old contact at

BleedingEdge.com. He’s

always looking to try something

new.

External Pressure To ‘Think Big’ Can Make Things Worse

Raising funds often creates pressure on company founders to expand the definition of their target market in order to increase its potential size

Why is an Overly Broad Target Market Bad?

• Too many target customers to easily target with existing resources

• Too many buyer personas or, more typically, personas that are too vague

• Reduced effectiveness of market programs due to dilution or generalization of messages

Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market

It’s way more risky and expensive to fire 10 arrows in a variety of directions instead of aiming at the dead center of the target

What are the odds?

OK, I’m convinced. Now how do I do it?

3 Steps to Ensure Everyone Is Aiming at the Same, Well-Defined Target Market

1. Assess your target customer’s needs versus your solution’s benefits

2. Carefully evaluate and segment your target market

3. Communicate, measure and repeat

How can I find more target customers to talk to?

• Create an offer for content relevant to your general market and follow up with respondents by email or phone

• Attend a conference or meet-up focused on your general market. Network and follow up with suitable contacts afterwards

• Work with key influencers in your general market. Tap their expertise and pitch creating an online chat session to explore your area of interest

• You can always cold call into companies in your general market and ask to speak to people in specific positions of interest

2. Evaluate and segment your target market

• Company Size• Industry• Product Usage• Pain Level• Motives• Behaviors (online and off-

line)

3. Communicate, measure and repeat

• Document and internally communicate your refined target market definition to your sales and marketing team

• Measure the impact on all stages of the sales funnel

• Repeat periodically to ward against target creep

• As your business expands to encompass multiple target markets, repeat the process for each individual segment to ensure it is sharply defined

The dangers of over-sharpening!

So, how can you differentiate your company to grow in a crowded market?

1. Sharpen your target market 2. Improve your positioning

What Is Positioning?

“Positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect.”

– Al Ries and Jack Trout in Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind

“Product Positioning is consumers' perceptions of a product's attributes, uses, quality, and advantages and disadvantages relative to competing brands.”

– Louis E. Boone and David L. Kurtz, Contemporary Marketing

Positioning is really about understanding things from the buyers' perspective1. How existing products or

brands inhabit buyers' minds (i.e. the occupied spaces)

2. Determining the holes or unoccupied spaces, and

3. Devising a strategy and tactics to attain the desired position in the minds of your prospects (and customers)

Define the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)

AttributeAttribute ImportanceImportance

Price

Speed

Range of Features

Ease of Integration

Flexibility and Configurability

Cool Factor

Reliability

24x7 Support

Usability

Security

Identify the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product or brand 'space'

AttributeAttribute ImportanceImportance

Price 7

Speed 8

Range of Features 5

Ease of Integration 9

Flexibility and Configurability 3

Cool Factor 4

Reliability 9

24x7 Support 4

Usability 9

Security 5

Ask your target customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes

Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)

Position Around Your Customer and Their Pain / Problem

If you do a good job of defining the customer problem, you don’t need to describe your product. The customer will want to learn more in the next conversation.

Focus on how you can be the best

Rather than simply the most unique

Example: Risk Management Software

Craft a succinct positioning statement

For (target customers)

Who are dissatisfied with (the current market alternative, or a lack of an alternative)

Our product/solution is a (new product category)

That provides (key problem-solving capability)

Unlike (the alternatives)

We have assembled (key whole product features for your specific application)

Source: Jeffrey Moore, Crossing the Chasm

What makes a good positioning statement?

• It's simple, memorable, and tailored to the target market• It provides an unmistakable and easily understood picture

of your brand that differentiates it from your competitors• It's credible, and your brand can deliver on its promise• Your brand can be the sole occupier of this particular

position in the market, i.e. you can “own” it• It helps you evaluate whether or not marketing decisions

are consistent with and supportive of your brand• It leaves room for growth

Source: Doug Stayman, How to Write Market Positioning Statements

Example: Zipcar

To urban-dwelling, educated, techno-savvy consumers who worry about the environment that future generations will inherit [target and insight], Zipcar is the car-sharing service [competitive frame] that lets you save money and reduce your carbon footprint [points of difference], making you feel you've made a smart, responsible choice that demonstrates your commitment to protecting the environment [target's goal].

Source: Alice M. Tybout and Bobby J. Calder in Kellogg on Marketing

Test your positioning statement

• Is it clear who should buy, what they should buy and why they should buy?

• If you substitute a competitor, is it still compelling?

• Does the point of differentiation link to the buyer’s goals?

• How does it resonate with your target customers?

Two ways to differentiate your company to grow in a crowded market

1. Sharpen your target market 2. Improve your positioning

It’s a process: deploy, test, refine and repeat…

SteveOffseyCMO / VP Marketing

617.834.2834

steve.offsey@gmail.com

marketbuildr.com

www.linkedin.com/in/steveoffsey

@MarketBuildr

plus.google.com/u/0/112180942182740068934

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