6-Step Framework
Step 1: Define
These insights will help you identify where your brand overlaps, blends in, or stands out, and what strategic moves to make next.
Identifying your main competitors is the first step in understanding the space you’re operating in, and how crowded it really is.
2: How do your competitors typically position themselves?
This helps reveal what messaging themes or promises dominate your category, and where there may be overlap or opportunity.
3: What is your current brand position compared to these competitors?
Clarifying how your brand is perceived in relation to others helps you spot where you’re blending in or standing out.
4: What do you believe makes your business stand out in the market?
Defining your unique value clearly allows you to double down on strengths and communicate them effectively.
5: How familiar are you with the customer experience of your closest competitors?
Understanding how competitors serve clients helps you find ways to outperform or improve on their approach.
6: Have you identified any gaps or weaknesses in your competitors’ offers or messaging?
This is how you locate ongoing pain points, unmet needs, or unclaimed positions that your brand can own.
7: Where do you think your competitors are outperforming you?
Knowing where they win helps you sharpen your strategy and find areas where you must improve to stay competitive.
8: What emotional or strategic position do you want to own in the mind of your ideal customer?
This defines how you want people to think and feel when they think about your brand, before you ever pitch them.
9: Do you currently track or monitor competitor brand moves or messaging?
Regular observation helps you stay adaptive and prevents you from falling behind in brand clarity, voice, or presence.
10: If your brand was clearly differentiated in a saturated space, how would that impact your business?
Strong positioning attracts better clients, shortens sales cycles, and makes your brand easier to trust, and harder to ignore.
Step 2: Clarify
This step helps you gather the raw intelligence you need to see where your brand fits in the category, and where it can break free. You can’t differentiate if you don’t know what everyone else is saying, showing, or promising.
- Identify 3–5 direct competitors and a few adjacent or indirect ones.
- Study their messaging, visual identity, tone, and offers.
- Compare where their focus overlaps with yours, and where opportunities exist.
“We are a [business type] that serves [target audience]. Based on the following competitor inputs, help us analyze category trends, positioning overlaps, and whitespace opportunities.” [Paste your 10 answers here]
Step 3: Structure
Now that you’ve clarified the landscape, organize it into a strategic tool. Your brand map should show where competitors cluster, where there’s duplication, and where your unique position exists.
- Create a visual or written grid mapping competitors by audience, message, offer, or tone.
- Highlight where your brand naturally separates or where opportunities appear.
- Identify opportunity zones where unmet needs or emotional gaps exist in the category.
“We are a [business type] that serves [target audience]. Based on our category analysis, help us build a simple competitor differentiation map that shows overlap, whitespace, and positioning gaps.”
Step 4: Embed
A brand map only works if it drives action. This step embeds your unique difference into how you speak, sell, and build, making it a strategic foundation, not just a nice graphic.
- Use your differentiation as a filter for new messaging, offers, and campaigns.
- Make it part of your internal brand documentation and leadership discussions.
- Ensure your unique value is clearly understood across sales, marketing, and product teams.
“We are a [business type] that serves [target audience]. Help us embed our unique brand position into marketing, messaging, sales enablement, and internal strategy alignment.”
Step 5: Show
Differentiation is only valuable when it’s obvious to your audience. This step focuses on making your unique position show up across your external brand toushpoints, in a way that feels confident and true to who you are.
- Refresh your homepage messaging and headline strategy.
- Refine your pitch decks, social content, and paid ads to emphasize your difference.
- Use comparison charts or challenger language (when appropriate) to reframe the category.
“We are a [business type] that serves [target audience]. Help us rewrite key brand messaging to highlight our unique position and stand out from competitors.”
Step 6: Review
As markets shift and competitors evolve, your position must remain clear and protected. This step helps you ensure your brand doesn’t drift back into the crowded market.
- Reassess your competitor set every 6–12 months.
- Gather feedback from sales, clients, and leads about what stands out.
- Adjust your positioning if new players crowd your space or copy your angle.
“We are a [business type] that serves [target audience]. Create a review checklist to evaluate our market position every 6–12 months and stay differentiated.”
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