Your client’s competitive positioning strategy is the entire foundation for their business. 

• How is their product differentiated from their competitors?
• What is their unique value proposition?
• What is their market niche?
• What mind share do they capture? 

If you’re working on your client’s brand strategy, begin with their competitive positioning and craft their market profile. Profiling is similar to an artist’s rendering: It is a visual picture of the market and a typical buyer’s distinctive characteristics.  An accurate market profile allows you to separate your client’s potential prospects from those less likely to buy. Position their brand solely for the people or businesses that match their profile. 

A Review of Classical Market Profiling 

Let’s review the traditional methods for generating your client’s market profile. Examine each aspect and quantify your results. 

Industry Study (for B2B)

• What industries does your client serve? Identify the appropriate SIC codes.
• Is their product marketable to more than one industry category?
• What is the sales potential in other secondary industries?
• Is the overall business category expanding or contracting?

 Geographical Demographics

• Define the geographical location of your client’s customers.
• Is your client’s product positioned locally, nationally, or globally?
• Is their product multi-cultural or narrowly defined?

 Demographic Traits

B2B Analysis

• Quantify the size of their typical target business.
• Are these businesses start-ups, mature firms or companies in a declining phase?
• Define how these companies are owned: privately-held, public, not-for-profit or municipal.

End-User Market Analysis

• What are the general demographic descriptors of your client’s target customer: age, gender, income, marital status, or family status?
• Do they have similar occupations, clubs or related interests that will affect their buying habits?

 Size & Trends

For Both B2B and Consumer Markets

• Identify the number of potential consumer or commercial prospects.
• What are their spending habits?
• Determine their target’s average income or annual business revenue.
• Chart the individual demographics trends or business trends.

 A Touch of Modern Marketing 

You’ve now identified the quantifiable characteristics of your market profile. But the picture isn’t complete without the human element. Your client will have a better understanding of their buyers if they understand their buyers’ psychological motivations.

 Examine:

• What issues do their customers face, whether business or personal?
• What are their pains and their desires?
• Who is the decision-maker for the purchase? Look deep!
• Are there multiple decision-makers or influencers?
• Review the standard purchasing process and the key players.
• What is the buyer personality? What unique psychological process is a common factor?

Can you now paint a complete picture for your client? Disseminate this precise market profile to everyone that makes strategic decisions. Recommend that they judge positioning and strategic choices through this framework.

Most importantly, ensure that their brand strategy decisions align with each “typical” prospect in the acknowledged market. An accurate, focused and verifiable market profile will lay a strong foundation for your client’s optimal brand strategy.

Tags: competitive positioning, marketing profile

This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Marketing Strategies and Tactics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.