Yesterday I was talking with a successful Atlanta entrepreneur and he was asking about the competition for one of our products. I explained that it was a large market and that there were tons of companies out there doing similar things — it’s very noisy. We got into product positioning, focusing on what mind share we were working on capturing with our respective marketing and messaging.
Shortly into the conversation, he made a simple recommendation: take the most relevant tradeshow in our industry and decide what we should do with each and every exhibitor there. What he meant by that was to decide if an exhibitor was a potential partner or competitor, and for the competitors, work on strategically placing where they fit into the market, as well as how we differentiate ourselves.
Personally, I’m not one for paying too much attention to competitor products because I think it is more important to spend time with customers and prospects. With that said, analyzing a competitor’s position in the market is readily accomplished by looking at their website, social media, and analyst reviews. Superior positioning will frequently make up for inferior products.
So, for all entrepreneurs and product managers, I encourage you to look at all the exhibitors of your most targeted tradeshow, and decide if they are possible friend or foe. Once complete, analyze your competitors positioning in the market, and use that to better your own positioning. Good luck!
David Cummings on Startups 