Conflict with a competitor can be a challenging situation for any marketer. It can affect your brand reputation, customer loyalty, and market share. However, conflict is not always negative. It can also be an opportunity to learn, improve, and collaborate. In this article, you will discover how to successfully resolve a conflict with a competitor using marketing analytics.
The first step to resolve a conflict with a competitor is to identify the source of conflict. What is the issue that triggered the dispute? Is it a pricing strategy, a product feature, a promotional campaign, or something else? You need to understand the root cause of the conflict and how it affects your customers, your competitors, and your business goals. To do this, you can use marketing analytics tools such as SWOT analysis, competitive analysis, customer feedback, and market research.
Gaining insight into the basic motivating factors of your rival can help you come up with more inventive solutions and avoid conflicts down the road. In my experience, superficial problems frequently conceal more serious issues with market share, brand perception, or internal business dynamics. Finding these covert motivations early on can help lead to solutions that benefit both parties.
Most conflicts in life, whether in personal relationships or in a business setting, either originate from or escalate from a lack of communication and a core failure to truly understand the perspective of the other party(ies). Even the framing of "my side vs your side" sets an antagonistic stage that works to define differences and conflict points rather than originating from a place of understanding. In my career, I've oftentimes found that the stakeholders weren't that far off, or even wanted the *same* thing, but once it feels like a debate, humans tend to dig their heels in and their ego starts running the show. People frequently project their own feelings/opinions on others and make assumptions. First step: truly hear one another out.
Are you a leader or are you a follower? Don't follow your competitor i.e. don't try to counteract what they do. If you do that means you feel weaker and you have to show the world you're better. Focus on what you're good at and don't waste your energy (and marketing budgets) on comparisons. Focus on inventing new things your customers will want.
The next step is to analyze the impact of conflict on your marketing performance. How does the conflict affect your key metrics, such as sales, revenue, profit, customer satisfaction, and retention? How does it affect your brand image, awareness, and loyalty? How does it affect your competitive advantage, differentiation, and positioning? You can use marketing analytics tools such as dashboards, reports, charts, and graphs to measure and visualize the impact of conflict on your marketing outcomes.
Generally, conflicts with competitors arise out of a race for increasing market share in a perfectly competitive market. Find your unique value proposition, ignore the dig on the competitor's website, and work on leveraging the uniqueness of your brand or product on your own website or communications with customers. If the conflict needs you to dig deeper into the functionality of the product, then that is a task best left for a conversation with a Product Manager.
The third step is to evaluate the alternatives to resolve the conflict. What are the possible solutions that you can implement to address the issue and achieve your marketing objectives? What are the pros and cons of each alternative? How feasible, effective, and sustainable are they? You can use marketing analytics tools such as decision trees, scenarios, simulations, and optimization models to compare and contrast the alternatives and their outcomes.
The fourth step is to choose the best option to resolve the conflict. Based on your analysis, you can select the option that offers the most benefits and the least risks for your marketing performance. You can also consider the ethical, legal, and social implications of your choice. You can use marketing analytics tools such as criteria weighting, scoring, and ranking to justify and communicate your decision.
The fifth step is to implement the solution that you have chosen. You need to plan and execute the actions that are required to resolve the conflict and achieve your marketing goals. You need to align your resources, processes, and stakeholders with your solution. You need to monitor and control the progress and quality of your implementation. You can use marketing analytics tools such as project management, budgeting, scheduling, and risk management to manage and evaluate your implementation.
The final step is to review the results of your solution. You need to assess the outcomes and impacts of your solution on your marketing performance. You need to measure and report the changes and improvements that you have achieved. You need to identify and celebrate the successes and learn from the failures. You need to update and refine your marketing strategy and tactics based on your results. You can use marketing analytics tools such as feedback loops, surveys, tests, and audits to review and improve your solution.