Competitor Market Mapping: A How-to Guide for your SME

Market mapping is a strategic approach that utilises a visual graph to represent the position of a company or product within a specific market by comparing it to competitors. This method involves identifying various factors such as pricing, quality, customer perception, and demand to determine where a business stands in the market and how it can leverage this position to its advantage.

The primary goal of market mapping is to provide a company with a clear visualisation of its strengths and weaknesses relative to its competitors. This allows the business to identify gaps for unique marketing opportunities and anticipate potential threats.

Benefits of Market Mapping

Market mapping is a powerful tool for business growth, offering numerous benefits that make it an essential step in crafting your marketing strategy.

Gain a Comprehensive View of the Competitive Landscape

• Market mapping analysis not only helps you identify your closest competitors and their market positions, but also allows you to spot the weakest players and those who pose the greatest threat to your brand.

Identify Your Unique Selling Point

• By mapping the competition, you can pinpoint your unique selling point. This visual representation of the competitive landscape will help you understand what sets your brand and product apart from the competition.

Uncover Potential Market Gaps

• One of the most significant advantages of market mapping is its ability to visually highlight potential profit opportunities. When data is displayed on a graph, you can easily identify gaps in the market that your product or service could fill.

Anticipate Market Changes and Adapt Your Strategies

• Market mapping enables brands to detect emerging trends and patterns more easily. This foresight allows you to make better predictions about competitors' actions and adjust your strategies to align with expected market changes.

Discover Potential Partners

• Strategic partnerships can enhance value and revenue, and businesses often view them as crucial. Market mapping is an effective tool for identifying potential partner brands that can help expand your product reach, improve customer experience, and drive overall business growth.

Challenges of Market Mapping

Despite the effectiveness of market mapping, integrating it into your marketing strategy can be challenging. Some potential hurdles include:

• Conducting thorough research of the competitive landscape can be time-consuming.

• Identifying a gap in the market doesn’t guarantee there’s demand for it, so further investigation is required.

• Market mapping doesn’t provide an in-depth understanding of customer decision-making processes.

• The map lacks real figures or statistics, which could lead to biased opinions rather than accurate marketing and sales forecasts.

• The map is limited to only two variables.

Examples of Market Mapping

To better understand market mapping, let's explore some examples focused on competitors, products, and target audiences.

Competitors’ Market Map Example

A competitor market map allows you to quickly identify the strongest players in your industry and your position relative to them. Key attributes to consider include annual revenue, market reach, growth rate, traffic share, service range, and pricing.

For instance, by examining a market map of gyms, you might notice a lack of exclusive services focused on a specific discipline, with only one gym catering to this niche. This insight could inspire you to explore opportunities in exclusive yoga classes or luxurious fitness experiences.

Product Market Map Example

Another example of market mapping involves analysing competitive products. Here, you would consider factors such as pricing, product quality, features, and customer expectations.

For example, a comparison map of mass-market clothing brands could reveal the relationship between product price and quality. This information can help you predict customer expectations regarding pricing and quality in this sector.

Audience Market Map Example

The final example focuses on understanding your target audience. Knowing your potential customers is crucial, and a market map can help you determine who your ideal clientele are. Important attributes to consider include age, gender, location, purchase frequency, income level, and engagement metrics like bounce rate, click-through rate, and visit duration.

Having a comprehensive understanding of your target audience, including demographics, psychographics, interests, and behaviour patterns, enables you to identify the most effective marketing strategies. This knowledge helps you develop the right messaging and choose the best channels to reach your audience, such as social media, cold emailing, search engine advertising, influencer collaborations, or affiliate marketing.

Each of these market map examples can be tailored to your specific needs in examining the market. Depending on your industry, the maturity of your company, and your marketing objectives, you can create a graph that will assist with brand positioning and strategic planning.

How to Create a Market Map

Market mapping in marketing is a comprehensive strategy that can be approached in various ways. However, some essential steps can guide you in creating an insightful market map.

Define Your Objectives

First, consider what you aim to achieve by creating a market map. Decide whether you want to explore a particular market segment, develop a better pricing strategy, discover a promising gap, or something else. A clear objective will steer you through the process.

Identify Your Market and Competitors

Narrow down your market to a specific area that is most relevant to your current research. Choose the most important competitors to analyse or the most relevant audience to target.

Clarify Your Unique Selling Point

Investigate your competitors' unique selling points and determine what makes your brand stand out. Analysing these differences will help your market map differentiate your brand or product from the competition.

Select Two Attributes and Create a Graph

Next, choose the metrics you'll examine. Select two measurable attributes that will guide your mapping process.

Position Competitors and Your Brand on the Map

With the axes drawn, evaluate competitors based on the chosen attributes and place them on the market map. Ensure you position your brand according to its current market status.

Identify Positioning Gaps

Once your brand and competitors are plotted on the graph, you can clearly see any market gaps your business could exploit.

Repeat with Other Attributes

After completing one map, consider exploring additional attributes. The more maps you create, the easier it will be to identify potential growth opportunities.

Make It a Regular Practice

Incorporate market mapping into your regular business activities, allowing you to adjust your marketing strategies in response to market changes and trends.

Conclusion

Market mapping is a proven tool for understanding your position and that of your competitors in the marketplace. It is highly effective for identifying new opportunities and guiding strategic planning. By clearly seeing the differences between your product and those of your competitors, you can craft unique offers that resonate with your customers.

For more insights and to leverage market mapping for your business, explore how Floresco.ai can support your strategic marketing efforts. Get started today and elevate your brand’s market positioning.