The internet has brought companies closer to their target audience. The connection also increased the reach of differentiation marketing strategies . With this, a series of possibilities was opened up so that small, medium or large brands could compete for the same audience.
However, with more options on the market, competition has also increased. This made differentiation marketing a great power.
The differentiation marketing strategy to make your brand a reference in the market is something that is sought by entrepreneurs or those responsible for the organization. The intention is really to get out of the pattern, showing your values and the reasons why people have to choose your company, not the competitors.
Therefore, we created this content about differentiation marketing strategy. It is a guide to get out of sameness that details the actions that you can apply in your company so you don't fall behind the competition.
In this guide, you will discover:
· The strength of differentiation marketing;
· How to apply the differentiation marketing strategy in practice;
· 5 factors that interfere with competitive strategies;
· Whether it is really worth investing in this type of strategy.
So, are you going to evaluate the content or are you going to let the competition stand in front of you?
Discover the
strength of the differentiation marketing strategy
Every company has some differentials that set it apart from the competition. Therefore, these characteristics may be in the quality of the products or services offered, in the service provided, in the communication actions or in other areas.
However, not all brands exploit these differences as well as they could. Many of them don't even know they have these advantages until their competitors see them and start to exploit them.
A differentiation marketing strategy is precisely the set of actions to win over the public and make your company a reference in your market niche. The focus here is to tell your target audience that your brand is the best option they have. And of course there is no point just talking, you need to prove it!
However, if you are already thinking that the differentiation marketing strategy is reduced to price, you are very wrong. Simply lowering the price of a product will not make the customer loyal to the brand .
Have you ever heard the expression "who comes for price, goes for price"? Yeah! It is very real and does not define differentiation marketing.
The differentiation marketing strategy focuses on attracting and retaining customers, making them recognize in your company the important differentials that will keep them there. Even if prices are higher than those of competitors.
Even if you don't realize it, there are some brands that win your preference for a perception of value that you give it yourself. For example, the brand of a cell phone, car, motorcycle or clothing - just stop and think for a while that you will remember a brand that is always among your favorites.
Cases:
differentiation marketing strategy in practice
This perception of value is associated with differentiation marketing. Apple is a great example of a company that invests in differentiation strategies. Its products, especially cell phones, attract a very large audience, even though they have a market value above their competitors.
Every time Apple announces a model launch, long lines are formed with customers who are fans of the company. You often find customers there who feel even privileged to have access to the product before others.
Learn how to
apply the differentiation marketing strategy
In the previous topic, you saw what differentiation marketing really means and even some examples of actions. Now, let's delve into what you need to do to explore the techniques and get the possible results. Follow!
Target your
audience
Who are your products or services made for? Think about this question, because it is the first and, perhaps, the most crucial step for you to be successful with differentiation marketing.
As we said at the beginning of this guide, the internet has broken the physical barriers of the market. If a company was previously limited to its region to sell, now it can impact audiences thousands of kilometers away with ease.
Digital marketing strategies allow brand communication actions to reach all corners of the world, attracting customers. However, segmentation of the target audience is essential. After all, it makes no sense to seek out those people who have no interest or conditions to be customers of the brand.
Imagine, for example, that your company produces informational magazines for young audiences. The language used is very extroverted, full of slang. The information is diverse, but nothing technical. Now, do you think this magazine would be successful among the public over the age of 60? Probably not!
In this example, if the company targets its audience, it can better target its marketing strategies. Therefore, this not only improves the performance of the shares, but also achieves better results with the target audience, since the information is more targeted.
Define your
brand positioning
Once the audience segmentation has been defined, it is time to think about brand positioning. Here, we are talking about the culture, values and principles that the company follows.
The construction of visual identity - logo, slogan, type of language, communication channels, graphic elements, packaging - can generate these experiences for customers.
Companies that manage to establish a strong position win a very important factor: brand remembering! This happens when a potential customer identifies a need and then thinks about the company to solve the problem.
The Chilli Beans is a great example of a national company that distinguished itself in the market. With its always young and innovative identity, the brand exudes originality. Because the brand creates increasingly personalized products for its audience, which identifies with the company's values and posture.
Invest in
innovation
The title of this guide clarifies very well the meaning of differentiation marketing: escaping sameness. Consumers do not want more of the same, but original brands, with striking and new features.
For that, investing in innovation is not only indicated, but extremely necessary. Innovative brands, in addition to being able to distinguish themselves from others, win more consumers and have more expressive sales.
Many people think that innovation is about creating something extraordinary, totally revolutionary and that has never been seen before. In fact, it is not quite that.
To innovate is not to be stuck with what your competitors are doing, to leave the sameness, the obvious. You may very well have great references from companies outside your market, in other niches, and adapt the ideas to your universe.
Innovation can come every day, through a different post on social networks, an after-sales campaign to assess customer satisfaction and offer something in return, new packaging for your products, among other ideas.
Certainly, if you establish that innovation must be one of the pillars in your company and encourage employees to seek new ideas, even in aspects of daily life, your company will be remembered for its originality and personality.
Bet on the
creation and dissemination of relevant content
You've heard of content marketing, right? This strategy is the heart of inbound marketing, known for attracting customers and building a buying journey. The sales cycle is done in a consultative way and the experience generated to the customer is totally optimized, in a pleasant way.
The use of inbound marketing is associated with your company's digital maturity . Especially when we consider that consumers have become quite demanding and no longer want those brands that use invasive and insistent sellers.
Therefore, investing in content marketing - creating rich and very relevant materials and sharing them with the public - has the potential to generate great results.
If you create a blog within your site and start posting interesting content on a regular basis, your audience will always come back to follow the dissemination of new materials. Thus, Google and other search engines will recognize your domain as important, leveraging the pages in organic (unpaid) search. This will attract more and more people, increase traffic and, consequently, increase the chance of closing sales.
In addition, the public will see in your company the concern to create relevant materials. Because they really help people to answer questions, find opportunities and be more clear before closing a purchase.
To create this content, it is important that you study SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This work represents the optimization of pages for organic search. Basically, you will make your site more attractive to search engines. Among the optimization techniques, we can mention:
· Strategic use of long tail and head tail keywords ;
· Link building ;
· Structuring of content;
· Optimization of images and videos;
· Obtaining quality backlinks ;
· among others.
Discover 5
factors that interfere in competitive strategies
One of the reference professionals when it comes to differentiation marketing is Michael Eugene Porter , a renowned Harvard professor and director of the World Economic Forum's ranking of nations' competitiveness.
On competitive strategies, he describes them as follows:
“Defensive and offensive actions by a company in order to create sustainable opposition in the segment, based on the company's five competitive forces.”
So, now let's look at each of the five competitive strategies.
Competitor
rivalry
The rivalry of competitors is related to the analysis and comparison between companies that are competing for the same target audience, with similar products or services.
This analysis is essential to implement differentiation marketing. To do this, you must study different points, such as the quality of products, the level of advertising and the growth rate of companies.
Customers'
bargaining power
Customers' bargaining power is related to the purchase price and the options they have in the market with similar products or services.
That is, you must analyze what customers can try to negotiate, knowing what they find in the competition, both in terms of price and availability. At these times, investing in innovation and having an exclusive product makes all the difference!
Bargaining
power of suppliers
Its suppliers also enter into the analysis of competitive strategies. Evaluate the cost and quality of your company's raw material and that of your competitors.
With this assessment, you will be able to create parameters and find differentials. For example, if your company uses a high quality raw material, superior to that of your competitor, the price charged by you may be higher, since there is an important differential.
Threat of entry
of new competitors
The threat of entry by new competitors is the fourth factor that interferes with competitive strategies. You must analyze what are the facilities and difficulties for a new competitor to enter the market. This may involve the initial investment, experience, advertising channels, distribution points or even patents.
It is clear that the greater the difficulty for a new company to enter its market, the greater the differential for the brand.
Threat of
substitute products
Finally, the last factor is the threat of substitute products. This point is related to the possibility that the consumer simply substitutes his product for a lower price.
If there are any products on the market that can replace yours, analyze the differences in price, quality and efficiency and work to mitigate them.
Learn how
the differentiation marketing strategy differs from today's marketing
Every company must invest in marketing, that's a fact! The marketing sector is responsible for generating the company's communication strategies, presenting its products or services, attracting new consumers and generating value for the brand.
However, the possibilities for building the shares are diverse. You can use the online medium, with ad campaigns, email marketing, social networks , videos - including live videos - and many other actions. It is also possible to explore traditional, offline media, such as television, radio or print advertisements.
The issue that distinguishes differentiation marketing from current marketing is focus. While the first aims to further explore the brand differentials and produce unique and innovative strategies, current marketing has a whole primer with best practices and step by step.
Differentiation strategies need to be thought of for each company, as a single project. After all, the differentials of one brand are not the same as another. The market is different, employees are different and products and services are different.
We are not saying that you should choose one type of marketing or another. You just have to think about making your brand unique, a reference for the public. Whenever a potential customer identifies the need to buy a product or service that you offer, they must remember your brand.
Applying these strategies not only attracts public interest, but also allows the company's strategic management to be more intelligent . You will recognize opportunities that were previously untapped and limitations that need to be addressed quickly.
Find out if
it really pays to invest in a differentiation marketing strategy
In this comprehensive guide, you’ve seen a lot of information about differentiation marketing. Now, let's look at the benefits for companies of investing in strategies and see if, in fact, differentiation marketing is worth it.
Increase in
revenue
The first benefit that we can consider when applying differentiation marketing is increased revenue. That's because your company will be a reference in the market.
Of course, to achieve this, it is not enough to simply want and wait for the results to start appearing overnight. Because differentiation marketing is a job done continuously and built on small details.
The increase in revenue is a consequence of the strategies, as there is a greater demand from the public and the brand becomes the main option to meet their needs.
Cost
reduction
We saw that differentiation marketing is the collection of strategies used by the organization in order to be recognized in the face of competition for its differentials.
With effective actions designed to meet this objective, adopting the leadership in total cost is essential to remain competitive in the market. So the focus will be, essentially, the global cost reduction without loss of quality.
You see, marketing actions, when properly applied and managed, bring an increase in audience and, consequently, a higher conversion rate .
Keep in mind that in order to define the cost leadership strategy most applicable to your business, it is essential to invest in market share and seek a path that does not interfere with the quality of your final product or service. Therefore, investing in advertising means lowering your company's overall costs.
Risk
reduction
Applying differentiation strategies can greatly reduce the risks related to your business, because you will have to map the points that we showed in the previous topic (competitors, suppliers, customers, new entries and replacement of products).
By analyzing competitors, for example, you can identify a potential risk and act with caution so that this company does not take its position in the market and, consequently, its customers.
Similarly, analyzing your client's negotiating power is essential to know how to proceed in sales negotiations. Your sales team will know how far you can go.
In complex sales processes, for example, it is very common for buyers of large companies to use the famous bluff to try to achieve lower prices, using other offers. So if you know what your competitors' cost limits are, you can have a better sales strategy and reduce the risk of losing the business.
In addition, through the advertising strategies outlined you will know who your target audience is, what their wants and needs are, how they position themselves and how to talk to them.
Your knowledge about the market expands and you understand how your business should position itself to obtain a higher return on capital, visibility and brand value.
Opportunities to expand the company , enter into partnerships or negotiate mergers between companies in the same segment will also be seen more clearly. As well as threats that may arise along the way.
The reduction of risks with the application of competitiveness strategies is very visible and important for the company's future.
Greater longevity
for the company
Finally, we must not forget that differentiation marketing results in a more prosperous future for the company. Not only that, the brand gains more conditions for long-term results.
The effects of differentiation strategies do not appear instantly, but in the medium and long term. A company that conquers not only customers, but fans of the brand, manages to have frequent and recurring sales. These fans also bring in new consumers through referrals, testimonials and media posts.
We have seen throughout this guide that differentiation marketing is a great power for any company. Managers and managers must always look for smart ways to put their brands in evidence, generating value before the public.
Differentiation strategies serve not only to highlight the company, but also to analyze the positive and negative points internally. We show that, to apply these strategies, you need to analyze the five pillars that will help your organization to have a more complete view of the market, competitors, suppliers, the public and your own company.
Posted BY: Abdul Rimaaz
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