16 Apr Why healthcare marketers use competitive analysis to help differentiate their brands: Part 1 of 2

Most likely, you’re in a cluttered market. Even if your medical product or service is truly one of a kind, you’re still competing.

We’ve heard companies say, “We have zero competition. There’s never been a product like ours. We just need to make people aware of it, the benefits will be obvious, and sales will follow.” This “If we build it, they will come” optimism is understandable but ultimately has sunk many brands.

Every brand has competition. If it’s not another brand, it may be simply customer inertia: “I’ve gotten along just fine without your product all this time. How can it be so necessary now?”

But beyond inertia, you probably have at least one strong direct competitor. Maybe more. Maybe many. So differentiating your brand from your competitors is essential, no matter what sector of the healthcare industry you’re in.

Differentiate with positioning and messaging, brand image and identity

To compete, you must differentiate yourself and express that differentiation clearly and compellingly in your positioning, messages, and brand image and identity.

Your point of difference is your reason for being in the market. If you’re not fulfilling an unmet need – with the most capabilities, best service, lowest price, highest value… whatever meaningful distinction you can claim – why should any prospective customer care? Me-too = ho-hum = good-bye.

But you can’t differentiate your own branding if you’re not sure of your competitors’ differentiation. That’s where competitive analysis comes in.

Fill in the blanks and search for open space

Often, when we conduct a competitive analysis with a client, one tool we create is a table. One axis lists all key competitors; the other lists all the key themes competitors feature in their positioning and messaging.

Common themes may include “innovation,” “comprehensiveness,” “experience,” “expertise,” “accessibility,” and so on. A table may contain 10 or more competitors plus 10 or more themes/attributes.

Then we fill in each blank occupied by a competitor. For instance, competitors may claim they offer:

•  The most innovative product (or some variation: a “breakthrough” or “first of its kind”)

•  The widest (or “most comprehensive”) range of product options or support services

•  The most extensive experience or expertise

•  The most convenient or accessible product

Often, this exercise leads to the conclusion that the market is a sea of sameness, with everyone saying much the same thing, diluting attempts at differentiation.

But a thorough competitive analysis also can reveal space – attributes that remain open on the table, unclaimed by most competitors. One or more of these themes may hold the potential to be, if not your key point of difference, a valuable addition to your brand story that can strengthen your differentiation.

Take nothing off the table

Just because a space is filled in – and a specific attribute is featured by most, if not all, competitors in their communications – doesn’t mean you can’t feature it too. You can. And, in many cases, should.

Often, highlighting an important, but not unique, attribute may be necessary just to level the playing field – its omission could be glaring to prospective customers. The challenge is to state the attribute more creatively than competitors do.

Just know this about innovation or comprehensiveness or accessibility or any other major attribute – no matter how uniquely you articulate it, it’s probably not going to be a true brand differentiator unless you’re the only one who can claim (and substantiate) it.

The best way to determine who’s claiming what in your market is to perform a competitive analysis. So what’s the best way to proceed?

We’ll detail the 5 steps in our next blog.

Put competitive analysis to work for your brand

To know others is to know thyself, the saying goes. Knowing yourself – and your differentiation in your market – is the fundamental value of competitive analysis. Comparing your brand to competitors highlights your own strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities – which makes it easier to incorporate (and ideally elevate) their successes and avoid their mistakes.

Bryant Brown Healthcare excels in performing competitive analyses to help our clients’ brands stand apart. We also can help you articulate your positioning, map your messaging to all constituents, creatively brand your product or service, then write, design, develop, and deploy uniquely effective communication tactics.

Have questions? Need help? Let’s talk!