Addressing Increasing Levels of Market Competition

In the third post of our series - ‘Solving Your Key Business Challenges in 2023’ - we’re looking at the increasing levels of local competition from new market entrants, and the increasing number of overseas businesses moving into your local markets.

The on-going digital transformation of businesses, perpetuated by constant advancements in technology, has given even the smallest companies a global reach. It’s becoming an increasingly competitive war for market share and unless your business takes action, it’s easy to lose your seat at the table.

So what are the issues and how can you address them to win the war for market share?

1. A Failure to Standout
Businesses, even with great products and services, can fail to stand out and in order to break through the noise of your competitors, you need to develop a strong brand. Having a clear, consistent, and differentiated brand can make your offer more memorable to customers and set your business apart from the rest.

It takes just 50 milliseconds for people to form opinion about your website Source: 8ways 2019

However, a carefully crafted and visually strong brand will only take you so far - cultivating authenticity and building trust once clients and prospects are engaged, are equally important. Remember, your brand isn’t just the look and feel of your business, it’s the sum of every touch point that a customer has with you and how they feel as a result.

88% of consumer say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like. Source: Stackla 2021

2. Trying to Compete Everywhere
Finding new markets and diversifying your offer to address them is a proven strategy for growth and survival during economic downturns. However, if you over diversify and try to compete on too many fronts you can easily overstretch your resources and fail to gain the market traction needed for your product or services.

Instead of trying to appeal to too many different audiences with too many products, you should focus on a few niche markets where you think you can be a dominant player. This will allow you to better target your marketing efforts and create a more loyal customer base.

3. Market Commoditisation
With little differentiation in offer or price between companies, there’s no incentive for customers to be loyal, or see value in a higher priced offer.

To compete in a commoditised market, you firstly need to carry out a thorough analysis of the market, ascertaining exactly who your target audience is, their needs and how to reach them, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. You can then begin to build added value around your products and services by:

• Upgrading an existing product to better meet the needs of the market, giving you a head start on your competitors, creating the opportunity to increase market share before they can react.
• Selling your commoditised product or services bundled with an additional element that adds extra value, such as including an after-sales care package. This provides a market differentiation and depending on the product upgrade can even allow you to sell your product at a premium.
• Sub-segmenting your markets. Commoditised markets can be divided into much smaller audiences, that respond to different triggers - price, value, environment and community. You can then focus your marketing and messaging specifically on the aspects of your product that better serve those audiences and their needs.

4. Lack of Innovation
In a market where there are an increasing number of entrants, existing players need to continue innovating their products and services. Newer competitors often enter the market with better products or services and invest heavily in their promotion.

You need to be willing to continuously innovate around your products, services, and marketing strategies to stay ahead of the curve and ahead of new competitors. By continuously improving and updating your products, services and overall business model, you can help keep your business relevant in a constantly changing market. To put it bluntly - It’s a matter of adapt or disappear.

84% of businesses consider their future success to be very dependent on innovation Source: Accenture 2015

5. Poor Customer Care
When a market has an increasing choice of similar providers, customer relationships become an increasingly important point of differentiation and the cornerstone of customer retention.

By fostering a customer-centric company culture that prioritises customer satisfaction, it can help you build a loyal customer base and a positive reputation in the market - which can provide enough differentiation to drive increased sales interest from your prospects.

Conclusion
In order to compete in a market awash with new competitors, you can’t afford to be complacent. You need to be constantly focused on improvement - your products, services and customer relationships.

"The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage." Arie de Geus, Shell Oil

Effective marketing is essential in being more visible to your audiences, over and above your competitors, ensuring you maintain market share, win new business and accelerate your business growth.

To find out how MC+Co can help you stand out from the rest of the market place and overcome your 2023 Business Challenges, call us on +44 (0) 1277 366898. Alternatively please fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you asap.