Wouldn't it be great if your consulting business didn't have any competitors? You could charge whatever you wanted and not worry about another business taking your clients. However, in the real world, all businesses have competition. If someone does come up with a unique consulting service, chances are it will have competitors popping up by tomorrow afternoon. That means you must accept the fact that your business will face competition. But you don't have to be passive about it.

Positioning is the process of comparing your services favorably with those of your competitors. It is how your target market sees your business. Your market strategy should include specifics on your business' position within the market in comparison to your competitors in reality and through perceptions and differentiation.

Reality

In identifying your primary competitors, you need to determine what market share they currently have. If your position among competitors is strong, you can market your services by comparing it to a known factor, your competitors. For example, if your new personal training service is growing faster than the established personal training service in your marketplace, you can say so: The Fastest Growing Personal Training Service in Anytown!

Positioning also can be geographic. You can locate your new business near a known business, competitive or not, and draw from its position. Shopping malls are built on the premise that small businesses benefit from geographic proximity to big businesses. Your marketing strategy may include a relative comparison with your major competitor or the success of an established business.

Perceptions

Reality is what is true. Perception is what is believed to be true. It is an observation or conviction, often one that is suggested through advertising or other promotion. Politics, especially, relies on perceptions over reality. Each candidate and cause attempts to position himself as the appropriate answer to the current question. Perceptions often depend on emotional messages to sell their position: Everyone loves our new line of services.

Perceptions can be effectively used in positioning your business, especially if reality positions aren't successful. Your business can suggest that it offers the friendliest service in town, for example. This is a comparative perception. Your marketing strategy may develop one or more competitive positions based on favored perceptions.

Differentiation

Your consulting service should not only position itself well against competitors, it should also make sure that the marketplace knows the difference. Brand X is better than Brand Z. Who says so? Brand X, of course! However, if it is frequently repeated it becomes a perception. Your market strategy will benefit from a clear differentiation.

Differentiation can be used to favorably compare products, services, brands, competitors, and other business components. The differences can be in quality, price, design, solutions, features, benefits, distribution, availability, popularity, service levels, or other specifics. In each case, the differences are emphasized to draw attention to a specific advantage that will benefit the client. Differentiation is an especially useful marketing strategy in defining and promoting niche markets, specialties within specialties. How is your consulting service unique? What's the difference between you and your competitors? What can your business offer that others don't?

Repositioning the Competition

Repositioning can be an effective counter-strategy for your business. For example, you can strive to change the perception the marketplace has of your competitors. This strategy can be more expensive to implement, requiring additional advertising and promotion to be effective. In a sense, you are building your business's market position by reducing that of a competitor.

You can actually reposition your competitors by comparison and contrast. In advertising and promotion, you can either identify or anonymously refer to your competitors in relation to your own business. You can favorably compare your business to a well-known competitor: “Lower Prices than XYZ.” Or you can compare your business to a group of unnamed competitors: “Best Service in Anytown!” By doing so, you are developing a perception that differentiates your business yet favorably compares it to established competitors.