Blog #1 - Competitive Analysis (Shetara Edden sie)

Reading the articles expanded my perspective of who competitors are and how large the competitive landscape can be. Before reading the Competitor Analysis chapter, I considered competitors as organizations that have the same or similar products within the same industry. For example, I would consider Uber, Taxis, and airport shuttles as competitors, but I wouldn’t consider these products to compete with car rentals, bike sharing and ZipCar.  My distinguishing factor was that the former are transportation services performed by others, whereas the latter are transportation services performed by the consumer. I failed to account for the ease at which customers could switch or the companies that don’t directly compete are positioned to kill the business. 

This would have been relevant when I was working as the head of marketing at a startup. We provided a marketplace where we connected entrepreneurs with american manufacturers. We plateaued and struggled to identify new growth opportunities. I could have gained more insights if i had not been thinking so narrowly. I would have first started with expanding my landscape of potential competitors. Instead of looking at the 1 or 2 direct competitors offering the same service, I would have started by identifying and understanding my ecosystem as described in The Global Forces Inspiring a New Narrative of Progress article.  Then within my ecosystem I would use the Competitor Analysis framework to create a long list of competitors. My last step would have been analyzing their strategies, objectives, and aggressor in order to identify which ones were the great threat to us. If I had done this, I believe I would have discovered that full-service manufacturing agencies that advertise on our platform were some of our top competitors. Not only did they provide manufacturing, but they also provided education - which was a major draw in getting customers into our marketing funnel. 

In the future I can use this framework in many ways.  This knowledge will be applicable when I work in marketing after graduation, where I might be planning a go-to-market strategy or considering a promotion. I can use this framework to predict how appealing the offer will be against competitors and how some competitors might react to its launch. There are also personal benefits that can come with this knowledge. One of my long-term goals is to create a consulting agency for minority owned businesses. I am confident this methodology will equip me to analyze the competitive landscape for my clients in any industry or ecosystem no matter if I have direct experience in it or not. But more immediately, I can apply the framework in Mini 3 as I work on my capstone project where I’ll be tasked with helping an established business pursue an entrepreneurial venture.