How to Defend Your Market Position: 6 Surefire Ways

(Market Position) A company’s marketing strategy doesn’t just involve creating a marketing plan to launch a product. Successful brands may face many challenges that can affect their profitability.

A company may be selling a certain product for a few years with zero competition. All of a sudden, a competitor arises selling a new product in the market at half the price of the existing product.

This attracts consumers who rush to buy the new product, causing a loss of profit for the first company. Now, the first company needs to come up with a new strategy to protect or defend its product in the market.

The new strategy has to shift back customers’ focus on the original product. There are two kinds of strategies in this case.

The offensive approach entails attacking competitor’s products by calling out any defaults in them. This strategy reminds us of political election campaigns.

The other strategy is defensive marketing, which is considered a better approach by many companies.

 Large companies implement a plan to maintain their position in the market to withstand new competitors. In this article, we’ll be discussing 6 ways companies use to defend their market position. 

Introduce New Features or Products

When a competing company launches a new product, your marketing strategy should work to shift the focus from that product to your new feature or product.

For example, a company that sells shampoos can create a hair care line of products like conditioners, hair masks, and serums.

Your ad campaign should emphasize that the consumer will only get the best results if they buy the entire line.

This strategy will grab the audience’s attention and let them know that your company’s products are everything they’ll ever need.

On the other hand, if the competitor presents a line of products, you can go the other way. For instance, you’ll sell a single 3-in-1 product that contains shampoo, conditioner, and hair mask at a lower price, thus saving the customer money and the hassle of using too many products.

Some companies use a self-attacking strategy, which entails producing a line of products that competes with their existing products. If you have only one competitor, you’d be acquiring two-thirds of the market instead of half of it, consequently achieving more profit or at least maintaining your current margin.

Support a Unique Cause

Many people are attracted to companies that fight for a good cause. It doesn’t matter if it’s an environmental or social issue; it just has to be different.

Pick a cause that no company has supported before. With the right campaign, you’ll make the audience aware of your cause and encourage them to invest in your product to support that cause.

This is an indirect form of marketing, so even if you don’t profit directly from the sales, you’ll benefit a great deal from exposure.

The mere presence of your brand in marketing campaigns on TV and social media keeps it in customers’ minds.

Partnerships

Large companies often partner with non-competing companies to expand brand awareness. Examples include collaborations between beverage companies and sports teams.

This allows a beverage company to present its products outside of the normal outlets. Its drinks won’t be just available at supermarkets but at sporting matches or charity events.

Consumers will get used to associating the brand with a lot more than its original purpose.  

Implement a Digital Marketing Strategy

Your company’s online presence is crucial when it comes to defending your brand. You’ll need a digital marketing strategy that’s tailored to your company’s needs.

 According to the SEO consultants in Brisbane, search engine optimization is a key factor in your company’s success.

Applying this strategy ensures that your product is the first one to pop up on the consumer’s search results. Most people nowadays search for products or services online and look for customers’ reviews.

You want your brand to appear on the first page of the potential customers’ search results.

Create a Need for Your Product

This is an intelligent approach and one of the trickiest strategies to implement. Your product has to be indispensable to the consumer.

Your ad campaign should reflect how important it is to own your product or subscribe to your service.

 If you produce a line of facial products, your ad should emphasize the relationship between regular use of moisturizers and the significant decrease of wrinkles and sunspots.

Then you could factor in the sunscreen aspect of your face cream. After a while, you mention the importance of a daily cleansing routine before applying the moisturizer, which was the original product.

Companies that produce electrical appliances, for instance, apply this strategy as well. For example, they can start by selling a blender; then, they introduce some gadgets like the vegetable cutter and spice grinder.

After a while, they’ll be selling an all-inclusive food processor with a blender and grinder attachment. The more items they sell, the more the consumer feels the need to purchase them.

Enhance Your Services

Another common strategy is matching the competitor’s products or services and adding your company’s personal touch.

Let’s say your company produces coffee machines and your competitor is selling another coffee maker and provides a free milk frother.

You can upgrade your product to include an attached milk frother and include a free coffee grinder. Observe what new features your competitors bring to the market and try to deliver a better product.

Finally, the most important thing is to stay up to date with all the current competitors. You need to anticipate new competition and work on your product to deliver it in the best way possible.

Competition pushes companies to be creative and upgrade their products or services, and this ultimately benefits the consumers.

The defensive strategy is more precautionary than the offensive one. It keeps your company prepared for any surprises in the market.

You should always aim to enhance your products to fill any gaps that a new competitor might fill. If they surpass you, think of ways to make your product appeal to customers more.

Take online surveys and perform thorough market research. You need to keep your audience in mind when defending your market position.