MARKET MAPPING: How To Utilize It For Competitive Advantage

There are certain pieces of information in many firms that appear to be impossible to figure out. You may not have the time or resources in your firm to do full-scale research into your market to locate that one precious nugget of insight that can revolutionise the way you operate. Market mapping is a data-driven market research method that eliminates guessing and allows you to position yourself effectively in the market. Continue reading to see how you can utilise the market map to get a competitive advantage in the same way that we do.

What is Market Mapping?

Market mapping is a technique for visualising your company’s or product’s position inside a certain market. You build various market segments against which to measure and benchmark. It’s a positioning map that considers market variables like supply, demand, and saturation, as well as where you fit into the puzzle.

Market mapping provides an in-depth view of your competitive landscape, including customer groups, product comparisons, and market predictions. Market segmentation works in the same way as a standard SWOT analysis does in that it identifies your strengths, weaknesses or gaps, opportunities, and threats. You may readily measure competitive advantages and disadvantages by projecting your competitive environment into a value graph.

But first, let’s go back to the beginning. In order Toan analysis, you must first establish your goal. In this situation, the precise aim you specify affects the type of market mapping you must perform as well as the data you will use in your competitive positioning graph.

How do we make use of the Map?

One option is to detect “gaps” in the market. This entails determining where on the map the customer’s demands and desires are not met.

In the map above, for example, Devine Chocolate found clients who are prepared to pay a greater price for chocolate manufactured from Fairtrade cocoa. Premium Chocolate has capitalised on the fact that there is a market for high-priced ecological chocolate. Both of these brands fall into the high-quality / high-price category.

When using market mapping, make sure that market research proves that there is a genuine need for products in the “hole” you’ve identified. There could be a variety of valid reasons why your clients are hesitant to purchase a product that could cover a known gap.

What are the Benefits of Market Mapping?

Market mapping may assist with many various company operations, as well as discovering specific information that appears to be impossible to locate. It can also benefit businesses in the following ways:

• Distinguish the size and layout of the market or sector precisely.
• Map the industry’s recruitment movements.
• Create rival profiles that include information such as incentives, firm size, and recruitment activity.
• Map the market movements and patterns that can be capitalised on.
• Look for particular facts to help you make operational decisions.
• Customized and industry-specific information is necessary for your market.

Understanding the Importance and Advantages of Market Mapping

Companies that want to make research-backed business decisions and build company culture can benefit from market mapping. Market mapping also provides an unbiased and accurate picture of pay, welfare, and benefits information, allowing you to make informed and effective remuneration decisions while accounting for differences that must be considered. Aside from that, this solution can help establish the framework for larger and more strategic business decisions such as corporate expansion, entry into new markets, and risk reduction.

The Most Effective Strategies to Map your Market

Market mapping can help businesses of all sizes and stages reap the rewards. When you wish to join a new market, launch a new product, grow market share, enhance your position, or review products, this concept comes in handy. Let’s look at a few market map examples that serve various objectives.

#1. Competitors mapping

Assume you are a new company that needs to develop a go-to-market strategy. Alternatively, you may be an existing corporation defending your market position against competitors. You’d want to know who the market’s most powerful players are. In this example, you’ll plot organisations on a graph based on key metrics such as annual revenue and reach, or product range and pricing level. When you examine the various organisations on the competitive map, you can identify market gaps or weak points that present an opportunity for you.

Let’s go a little more specific. If your goal is to determine how successful a company’s marketing efforts are, you might look at traffic share and conversion rate, for example. Find out where your competitors are on the graph and compare yourself to them. You’ll immediately discover who is more successful, and you’ll be able to identify organisations that you want to keep an eye on their approach.

#2. Products Mapping

Another market mapping for determining your competitive position is to map your products. Assume you are ready to release a new product and need to determine the best manner to present it to the market. Or, better still, you believe it is time to innovate and you must present something new to your audience. Which advantages should you emphasise? Which audience should you aim for?

To discover how different items are positioned in terms of features, quality, and pricing, you must conduct a competitive study. In this scenario, you will plot products on a graph together with product-specific parameters. Is it true that low pricing implies inferior quality? How do high-tech items fare in comparison to low-tech products? What are your customers’ expectations if you raise the price of your product?

For SaaS programmes, this could be a sophisticated vs. simple interface, a wide range of features vs. limited functionality, or a number of several subscription levels. This could include the quality or cost of a specific product in the case of eCommerce.

#3. Mapping the audience

Another sort of market mapping is customer-centric. An eCommerce marketer, for example, may concentrate on the frequency of purchases or website demographics such as age, gender, or geography. You’ll make a map to figure out what kind of folks are your top customers. This allows you to target prospects who are most likely to buy from you.

You get the picture. Define what you want to measure and look for measures that deliver accurate, representative data. You can utilise any form of data piece to determine your audience’s competitive stance. If you need to position yourself in terms of popularity, you’ll use engagement data like active users, bounce rate, click-through rate, and more to plot each company’s position on a graph.

The Steps to Competitive Market Mapping

A price-benefit graph, in which one axis measures price and the other analyses the main benefit supplied, is the finest way to pinpoint your competitive position in the market. The goal is to identify the elements that influence prices to profit.

However, determining the worth of a benefit provided by a specific organisation is a difficult task. Another option is to compare market share to other variables such as sales volume, product range, and pricing level.

#1. Determine the coordinates of your market’s customers and competitors.

The first step in creating a market map is defining the market. Set boundaries for your location, possible clients, and competition. This entails describing the geographical region(s) to which you sell (or wish to market) as well as identifying the relevant rivals and audiences in the area(s). All organisations that solve the same problem as your product or meet the same client demands should be considered competitors. It’s a good idea to conduct a target audience analysis, utilising the audiences of your competitors as a guideline.

#2. Identify your unique selling points.

Determine the distinct advantage that each competitor provides. Determine which characteristics or benefits represent their unique selling point (USP). A feature-price analysis allows you to estimate the perceived worth of various advantages or items.

Choose the KPIs that are important to your evaluation if you want a more clear approach. You could, for example, map competitors based on market share and product line. You will discover the appropriate product range for your market and having a broad variety becomes a disadvantage.

#3. Determine your market share

Draw a graph for each company and its product offering. A price-benefit diagram will contain clusters in some places and will allow you to quickly identify less competitive sectors.

When you measure market share and price level, you can determine the appropriate price range and gaps in the market’s product offers. You may also see market share concerning age to choose the optimum age group to target or to locate missing age groups.

#4. Map your market on a regular basis.

Let’s take it a step further. Continue to monitor the data and create market maps on a regular basis. Comparing them over time allows you to see market shifts, discover new patterns, and anticipate competitor moves. Use these to determine whose strategies and data you should look at further. While positioning maps are useful conceptual models, they must be used with caution in marketing decision-making

Benefits of Market Mapping

• Assist in identifying market gaps
• This is useful for analysing competitors’ items – where are their products positioned?
• Promotes the use of market research

Drawbacks of Market Mapping

• Simply because there is a “gap” does not imply that there is a need for the goods.
• It is not a guarantee of success.
• How trustworthy is the market research that maps the position of existing products depending on the dimensions chosen

Conclusion

Market mapping is an immensely important concept for establishing yourself in a competitive market. As you can see, you’ll learn who outperforms you in various areas and where you rank for specific KPIs.

As a result, market mapping is an essential component of your market research. It directs you to the locations and data you need to investigate.

The market mapping method is an excellent method for identifying gaps in certain regions. On the other hand, not every gap indicates a market opportunity. You may need to experiment with various settings before you develop a market map that provides actionable insights.

Another issue you may have is the ease of market mapping when you are confined to specific data points. The map allows you to observe the market from a different perspective, but it doesn’t tell you how or why. That is why you must delve deeper into your analytics to obtain insights that can help you make strategic decisions.

Market Mapping FAQs