A marketer’s and researcher’s focus is frequently split between multiple growth prospects and communication channels. Due to the cluttered and noisy consumer landscape. But preserving their brand and position in the market is something that marketers and marketing experts frequently don’t give enough thought. So, the answer arises how to defend your product.
Following are a few tips you can use to defend your product:
Keep in mind that your customer is your boss even
Internal politics, agendas, and brand priorities trip us up all the time. However, some of the finest advice we can provide you is to constantly keep in mind that your customer is always your biggest boss. Even more so than the CEO of your business. Maintain open lines of communication with your primary “boss”. Make a concerted effort to comprehend their needs and consistently meet or surpass them.
Develop a Routine for Consumer Trend Spotting
It’s crucial to keep an eye out for developments in your target market. Consistently look for potential consumer disruptions. Why do you do this? You can create need-state segmentations. Read pertinent blogs, examine customer reviews, browse the shelves, and engage in social listening.
IIM advises routinely engaging in observational research with your products/brands
Assume the Role of an Observer When Possible. Consumer immersions can lead to ground-breaking findings for a relatively low cost. Consumers may not even be aware of their own pain points. So seeing people struggle with mops and dusters helped create the new, well-liked brand of cleaning products known as Swiffer.
Research should be done to support the innovation pipeline. Change is the only constant, thus your brand needs to be prepared for it as well as any market “news.” You are leaving yourself vulnerable to threats from competitors. And innovations, as well as possible share loss. If your innovation pipeline is not supported by substantial, pertinent advantages from consumer research.
Regularly Evaluate Your Category & Competitors
We are all aware of how vital it is to track brand equity and concentrate on brand innovation. But we also need to make sure we are keeping an eye on our category, competitors, their customers, and their market activities. Researchers and marketers should speak not only to their own customers, but also to those of their rivals. Additionally, habit and use (A&U) studies that include more than just your own brand should be carried out frequently (every 3-5 years).
Organize internal wargame sessions to defend your business
Although it’s always a good idea to put yourself in your rival’s position and consider their response. Few business people actually devote the necessary time to truly strategize and think like a rival. Internal war gaming sessions lasting many hours are excellent for getting you fully immersed in the game. And spotting anticipated rival methods that you can effectively counter.
The two types of competitive intelligence
let’s call them “competitive infatuation”—are healthy and pathological, respectively. Startups should fight the urge to pay too much attention to their rivals, just as neighbors would be advised to avoid attempting to keep up with the Joneses. Why? Because you run the danger of coming out as a rule-follower rather than a rule-maker.
Selecting a Battlefront to defend
The first step in defensive marketing is to evaluate the tools you have at your disposal to defend your market position. The combination of goods and services that support your brand identity, including their prices, as well as the channels through which you communicate your identity, such as advertising, are some examples.
These weapons’ potency will vary depending on a number of variables, including your position as an incumbent. For instance, you can determine that altering your brand identity is necessary if you want to keep clients or stop their churn. However, this can be challenging: Consumers’ opinions of a newcomer are likely to be flexible, whereas those of an incumbent are probably already set.
Selecting a Side to Fight to defend your business
You need to focus more on your clients after considering the marketing tactics you may use and the tools you can use to protect your market share. Individual customers will vary in both their likely to switch to a competition and the factors that would motivate them to do so. Additionally, it’s obvious which consumers you’d prefer to keep over others.
As a result, you must divide your clientele into groups according to two criteria. How valuable they are to you and how susceptible they are to being stolen by a competitor. (Visit the exhibit titled “Value and Vulnerability”). Using the customer response model, you may pinpoint the clients you are most susceptible to losing, or the vulnerable.
The War’s Loot
By offering precise projections of Telstra’s possible market share loss, Telstra’s defensive studies and strategies assisted the corporation in better preparing for Optus’s onslaught. The consumer response model predicted that, despite Telstra’s employment of many defensive methods, share loss after six months would be over 9% instead of the anticipated 4%, which was more than double what Telstra’s management had first projected. The projection assisted the business in more effectively allocating its financial and people resources. For instance, Telstra cut its engineering spending to match the lower physical plant requirements brought on by the decreased market share.
Place your pricey item next to your less priced choice
Do you offer any affordable goods or services? You can utilize a budget product to support and defend the worth and cost of your premium product, provided you’ve detailed the features and advantages of your premium offering.
People are constantly comparing goods and pricing. Why not allow them to contrast your premium product with your cheaper choice? Naturally, you’ll need to promote both your premium and budget product or service in order for the prospect to understand the differences and why picking the premium product would be the better choice. You can use price to your advantage if you are sure in the worth of your offer.
Value Justification Using Price Comparison is important
Congratulate customers who like price comparison. Compare the costs of your commodity or service with those of similar ones and demonstrate how they are receiving more value for their money.
This provides potential customers with a rational justification for their emotive decision to purchase your good or service.
References:
Insights in Marketing
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Blunders to Avoid During a Meeting
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