What do I mean when I say Market Leader?
A market leader often dominates its competitors in customer loyalty, distribution coverage, image, perceived value, price, profit, and promotional spending. This makes the Brand, product, or market hold the largest percentage of total sales revenue (the market share) of a market.
Becoming a leader in a market with well-established players is very hard so you have to come up with something different, something exciting, something memorable, something that hasn’t been done before.
What makes you different in a sea of competition?
Be a Purple Cow:
Be a Purple Cow – as Seth Godin explains in his book, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, a stand-out product, or a stand out service/experience is the key to success.
Both Apple and Google fit the purple cow model. Although there were many computer manufacturers when Apple launched the Macintosh in 1984, the company focused on design and user experience. When Google launched in 1998, it quickly surpassed other search engines that had existed for years by thinking about a new approach to ranking search results and by designing a clean and user-friendly interface.
Invest in Marketing:
Create a Holistic Brand that people will remember – Holistic as a system which is connected to the products / services you supply. Interconnect your branding into your system as one.
Creative marketing and ad strategies are needed to reach consumers and build brand awareness. In this instance my intention is that everything you have should have your logo or branding on it. Your newsletter should be recognisable in the email from the logo – as per Nikes logo is recognised worldwide. A tick – whoever thought it could be so simple – coming up with the idea is harder even though the idea might be very simple as is a “Tick”
Be ambitious with marketing. Look for new and creative ways to market your product and connect with customers.
Do you have a Sales Culture?
Are you by the book or does your company have a signature style when it comes to sales? How do you treat your customers differently from the way your competitors treat them? Establishing your own culture ensures your company will stand out.
Growing your business without understanding your competitors is risky. Market research can prepare you for changing markets and prevent your business being left behind by the competition.
What are your competitors offering?
Researching your competitors can be easier than it may seem – for example, you can simply collect any flyers and price lists they produce for customers, read their online material, or even buy and try their products and services to compare them with your own.
Analyse what they do better than you:
Ask yourself these questions to see where and how you can improve.
- Are their prices lower?
- Are their products of a higher quality?
- Is their customer service highly regarded?
- Is their marketing material more engaging?
- How do they stand out?
Being critical of your own business and taking inspiration from your competitors can help you be more competitive.
Satisfy your customers:
Customers hold the power in today’s social media and technology-driven world. What they say can make or break companies.
Walt Disney said it best, “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” Creating love between your company and your customers can help scale positive word of mouth that’s priceless.
Creating a customer-focused culture of this nature is a business opportunity that should not be overlooked. When your competitors are failing the customer experience, this is your opportunity to swoop in and enchant those same customers into falling for your company.
At any moment, an unhappy customer can share their opinion with the masses through social media and the web and negatively affect your business. That’s why it’s even more important than ever to create an excellent experience for your customers to help develop your company’s relationship with them into love.
Move Quickly:
Don’t wait for perfection to launch a product. Instead, constantly execute and iterate. Keep in mind that a product will never be perfect, and it won’t launch if you keep procrastinating. Once the product has been in the market, listen to customer feedback and consider their wants, needs and concerns. Strive to innovate, adapt to changes in the market and stay two steps ahead of the competition.
Leadership:
Finally, once health and growth are solid, leadership should take up most of your time.
Strong leadership involves clear communication skills. Leaders speak with and listen to staff members, respond to questions and concerns, and are empathetic. Leaders use effective communication skills for moving the company forward and achieving new levels of success.
True leadership sees where the company is headed and plans the steps needed to get there. Visualizing what is possible, following trends in the industry, and taking risks to grow the business are all required of leaders.
