Brand competition has escalated across industries. According to a study by market intelligence platform Crayon, 90 percent of companies report that their industries have become more competitive over the past three years—with 48 percent saying they’ve become much more competitive.
If you face brand competition in your industry, building customer loyalty is essential to your organization’s long-term survival—especially because data shows that 40 percent of consumers buy from a brand five or more times before considering themselves loyal.
But how do you get consumers to buy products so you can compete effectively with emerging brands?
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhat Are Emerging Brands?
Emerging brands are new companies or products trying to break into established markets. They differentiate themselves by:
- Uniquely addressing customer needs
- Offering innovative products or services
- Using modern marketing tactics
Outside of established brands that have stood the test of time—like Nike, Walmart, and McDonald’s—most companies experience substantial influxes of industry competition, with an average of 30,000 new products launched annually.
Many brands take a direct-to-consumer (DTC) approach to make quick pricing, positioning, and brand communication changes.
“Successful DTC brands have emerged by exploiting the shifts in how consumers engage with brands through digital channels and online communities and how they shop through e-commerce,” says Harvard Business School Professor Sunil Gupta, who teaches the online course Digital Marketing Strategy.
While many don’t succeed long term, they pressure the market.
“As DTC companies engage through digital means, established companies are also considering how they should market in these digital channels to compete,” Gupta says in the course.
If you want to handle your industry’s brand competition more effectively, here are four ways to differentiate your company.
4 Ways to Differentiate Your Brand in Your Industry
1. Reassess Your Value Proposition
Value is critical to your brand's appeal.
“If you want to convince consumers to buy your product, you need to give them a compelling reason to purchase your brand instead of a competing brand,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy.
You can communicate that reason in your value proposition—the unique value or benefits your product or service provides.
To compete with emerging brands, evaluate your value proposition using the three C's of brand positioning:
- Consumer analysis: Consumer behaviors, needs, preferences, and motivations
- Competitor analysis: Competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and market position
- Company analysis: Value proposition, capabilities, resources, and performance
By considering each, you can understand how factors like consumer behaviors and preferences impact your digital marketing plan.
“A brand co-creates its position with its consumers as they interact with each other and react to emerging cultural trends,” Gupta says in the course.
For example, despite Starbucks' dominance in the coffee industry, emerging brands like Flash Coffee—a Singapore-based, tech-savvy chain launched in 2020—competed with it by offering an innovative app and distribution structure aligned with consumers’ technology preferences.
Despite closing in 2023, Flash Coffee influenced Starbucks to harness technology through initiatives like its Odyssey loyalty program, which incorporates blockchain, NFTs, and the Metaverse.
Related: 3 Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Your digital marketing strategy is only effective if you know who you’re trying to connect with.
“While you can try and market a product to everyone, consumers have different needs and preferences,” Gupta says in Digital Marketing Strategy. “What appeals to one group of consumers may not appeal to another .”
As a result, understanding your target audience—the group of consumers most likely interested in your products or services—is another way to compete against emerging brands.
To determine your target audience, collect data related to customers’:
- Demographics: General information like age, gender, and occupation that helps you make implicit assumptions
- Behavior: Behavior patterns related to your products or services, such as purchasing history and website interactions
- Motivations: Primary motivations when making purchases, such as convenience, value, or status
For example, the music streaming service Spotify constantly analyzes data to understand users’ preferences and behaviors. That enables it to offer personalized features, such as Spotify Wrapped, to enhance consumers’ connection with the brand. It also aids in audience segmentation, or grouping users with similar tastes to offer tailored music recommendations.
A targeted approach is essential to maintaining a competitive edge in your industry and keeping consumers engaged.
3. Build a Strong Social Media Presence
Your brand needs a strong social media presence to remain relevant in a digital world. According to a Sprout Social survey, 89 percent of consumers will buy from a brand they follow on social media, and 84 percent will choose that brand over a competitor.
Social media enables direct interaction between your brand and target audience. That two-way communication fosters a deep connection and encourages consumer engagement through:
- Contests and giveaways
- User-generated content
- Live Q&A sessions
In Digital Marketing Strategy, Julie Bornstein, founder and CEO at fashion company THE YES, discusses how brands should think about social media and customer engagement.
“If you think about the places that consumers are spending the most time engaging, it's where they can respond,” Bornstein says in the course. “They can find things that are more relevant to them. And the more they do, the better the results get, and then they want to see it more.”
This is particularly true in industries like Bornstein’s, where social media and personal endorsements can significantly influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. Research by Nielsen shows that 77 percent of consumers are likelier to buy products recommended by a friend. In addition, 49 percent of TikTok users say they’ve purchased a product or service after seeing it advertised, reviewed, or promoted on the platform.
Creating a strong social media presence is crucial for enhancing your market position and defending against emerging brands that can quickly build trust and credibility.
4. Engage in Story-Making
Your brand’s story communicates its mission, builds trust with consumers, and motivates them to make purchases. According to research by content marketing agency Headstream, 55 percent of consumers are more likely to buy your product if they love your brand's story.
Your brand's success depends on how well it resonates with consumers, but keeping them engaged can be challenging.
For example, Digital Marketing Strategy highlights how global payment technology company Mastercard differentiated itself by moving away from traditional storytelling advertising.
“Advertising has been the main mode of communicating to the consumers and with the consumers,” says Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s chief marketing officer, in the course. “Unfortunately, when every brand thinks up the same methodology to reach consumers, there’s an information overload.”
To better connect with audiences and communicate its message, the company implemented story-making with its Priceless Surprises campaign, inviting customers to become part of its story by sharing their experiences on social media in exchange for prizes.
“We said, ‘People remember things that they experience, as opposed to things that they listen to or watch,’” Rajamannar says. “If you experience something, it lasts with you for a long, long, long time. And that's very self-evident. So we said, therefore, ‘From storytelling, can we go to story-making? Meaning it's simply celebrating people, observing and celebrating priceless moments in people's lives. Can we curate priceless moments for people?’”
Mastercard created an emotional spark through the campaign that drove customer engagement and improved business performance.
By taking a similar approach and shifting from storytelling to story-making, you can turn passive audiences into active brand participants, adapt to digital marketing trends, and solidify your position in a crowded marketplace.
How a Digital Marketing Strategy Can Help You Compete in Your Industry
A well-crafted strategy can help you outshine and compete with emerging brands by employing digital marketing skills like search engine optimization, social media, and content marketing.
One of the most effective ways to learn how to navigate brand competition is by enrolling in an online marketing course, such as Digital Marketing Strategy. Through real-world case studies and interactive exercises, you can better understand how you can excel in your industry.
Do you struggle to compete in your industry? Explore Digital Marketing Strategy to discover how to use the latest tactics and tools to position your brand for success. If you’re interested in online education but aren’t sure where to start, download our free guide to online learning success.
