Opportunity Knocks – a new look at competitive depositioning
By Deborah Dingle, Technology Director, Burson-Marsteller Singapore

There’s no doubt that companies are under increasing pressure to show they are treading a successful business path. New communication technologies have brought with them intense scrutiny from customers, partners, media and stakeholders, who demand corporate accountability at a level never before seen.

They are asking critical questions. Does a company’s corporate strategy make good business sense? Is the company investing its resources wisely? Is it operating cost-effectively? And is it successfully differentiating its products and services to that of its competitors?

In the face of skeptical and, sometimes hostile, audiences, how can corporate executives not only address these questions but, also use these opportunities to demonstrate they have a competitive advantage, which is both convincing and persuasive?

Taking up competitive arms

Real-life battles that involve taking on a perceived market leader who is able, perhaps, to significantly outspend its competitors in communications are now being won by new and sophisticated applications of ‘Competitive Depositioning’.

At its core, competitive depositioning is all about changing the market’s beliefs about the attributes of a competitor's product or service. Competitive depositioning can be especially powerful when the market has, perhaps, an inflated perception of the quality of a competitor's offering.

Companies are now arming their executives with new communication formulae and techniques that help them use communications to influence customers and deposition the competition by instilling Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) about the competitors, not just among customers and media, but within the ranks of the competition itself.

The FUD Factor – 21st Century style

But companies are not creating FUD through underhanded tactics. They are not exaggerating the competition’s weaknesses, or ‘spinning’ the competition’s strengths to present the appearance of weaknesses, or associating the competition with undesirable elements. Most would argue this was never possible in the past – consumers are simply too smart to be taken in by such tactics. And if this was true in the past, it must be doubly true today with digital communication tools and research resources so readily available.

Instead companies are adopting sophisticated and ethical communications programs that are focused on creating a culture that embraces opportunistic public relations; a culture based on communicating the advantages and innovations that make their own products and services superior to competitive offerings.

The need for speed

The success of competitive communications is contingent on speed; the ability to quickly assemble an arsenal of content that promotes the company and depositions the competition through, for example, promoting benchmark studies; showing market share data; feeding the media customer proof points; and demonstrating viable product roadmaps. And this content needs to be used both proactively and reactively.

In being proactive, companies can use their own product and service announcements and sustained public relations initiatives to incorporate competitive depositioning messages that can be taken to external audiences such as the media and industry watchers.

A proactive approach involves a strategic strike carried out through organised campaigns and planned announcements. This approach requires a thorough understanding of the competition’s strengths and weaknesses, so a company can strike with competitive advantages and messages where their competition is most vulnerable.

They also need to reactively counterbalance their competition’s strategy, ensuring company executives are prepared to comment on a competitor’s strategy or announcement just hours before or after the announcement is made.

Reactive competitive activities do not imply a knee-jerk effect. On the contrary, they require preparedness on a major scale. Early recognition of competitive issues and the steady gathering of intelligence are vital, and open up more options to deposition the competition.

In a media relations situation, the time taken to react and deploy a competitive strike will affect how well the media can be targeted. For example, if a company sees the news of a competitor’s announcement at the same time as the media themselves, then they have little time to prepare and craft a viable message about the strengths and direct advantages of own products.
They need to respond to the same media that their competitors are targeting; in the main, just responding to media questions. Their only major opportunity rests with news agencies and online media which post regular updates throughout the day.

Yet even 24 hours notice makes a world of difference. This allows careful and strategic message development; potential bringing forward of own product or service announcements; and the opportunity to go out and target the same media and other influencers that the competition is going after; and beating them to the punch.

At the end of the day, a successful competitive depositioning campaign means effective targeting of the best market segments; tracking the competition; and, perhaps most importantly, empowering the company’s spokespeople with the most effective content to use - and permission to use it.

The best defence

As companies in Asia enter the world stage, and face increased competition from international firms on their home ground, they find it essential to master defence techniques. With the commercial truism ringing in their heads that the best defence is good offence, we can expect to see more company executives turn communication engagements into opportunities to help deposition their competition.