Know Your Enemies: A Checklist for Manufacturers
by MGB2B
In the early stages of developing a Marketing Plan, it is crucial for manufacturers to understand not only who their target audience is and what they desire, but who else is within the realm of consideration. Sometimes you think you know your competitors well. But you can learn a lot from doing a robust competitive analysis and a little core user research.
START WITH A RE-EVALUATION OF YOUR COMPETITIVE SET
The competition can change from year to year, so it’s very important you don’t gloss over this part. Perhaps one of your competitors switched their main focus from defense to aerospace. That affects you in one way or another, so you’ll need to do a bit of homework. Knowing each competitor’s game plan is essential.
There are many questions you can ask when evaluating your competitors, but these four are required in order to position yourself correctly:
- What’s their primary message?
- How do they position themselves?
- What do they do differently than you do?
- What do you do better than they do?
Evaluate your competitors with as much depth as you would your own brand. Make a list of your major competitors. Go over them one by one, and ask yourself the questions above. Then look at their websites, their social media sites, their ads. Leave no stone unturned. And have a very detail-oriented person on your team create a spreadsheet to house all of this information. This way you can evaluate over time. By the end, you’ll have a thorough assessment of where your brand stands and how you can stand out to prospects.
CONDUCT CORE USER RESEARCH TO GET MORE QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS
Beyond the competitive set, core user research can give you more qualitative insights into how you are regarded in comparison to your competitors. The second part of your checklist is aimed at what you want to find out from your core users. Keep in mind, these are people who like you, so they may be reluctant to tell you what they like about your competitors. That’s why it’s always wise to get a third party involved to gather this research.
You’ll want to ask:
- Who did they consider partnering with before they chose your company?
- Why did they choose to work with you over the others?
- What do they like about the other manufacturers that you didn’t offer?
- What are all the aspects they consider, and in what order, before choosing a manufacturing partner?
- Who in their company makes decisions?
These are just a few questions to get the ball rolling. You can make your research as robust as you’d like as long as you don’t take up too much of your customers’ time.
Once you have both your competitive analysis and core user research done, you’ll know your enemies (er, competitors) better than yourself. And you can start building personas and a Marketing Plan that’s more effective than ever. May the force be with you.
Tags: competitive analysis, core user research, marketing advice for manufacturers, marketing strategy, personas