How to Compete in Your Field

Have you thought about scaling your local reach to a global level? Or you might have already started but you don't see the results you were hoping for, so you are seeking to adjust your strategy?

Branding is global. It is an image that you choose to present to the outside, and through technology, it can reach anyone in the world. Yet, competition is wide-spread and often occupies a set target audience you seek to connect to. What strategy is left for you in this situation?

Don't battle the competition, make them irrelevant.

As a business, you can choose to compete in a red or in a blue ocean.

The Blue-Ocean strategy, introduced by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim challenges our beliefs on what it means to compete in a market.

If businesses can choose which "ocean to compete" in, why then are we targeting the very same audiences with the very same tools as our competitors?

We are fighting over markets, which are full of sharks equipped with their sales pitches - both established and "upcoming".

The Blue-Ocean strategy aims to create and engage uncontested market space. The approach introduces the concurrent pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open a new market space and create new demand.

Invert, always invert.

Charlie Munger gives us a head-start into our next approach.


Invert: If you realise you are unable to compete in an existing market, do you belong in this market in the first place?

Being an economic part of an industry does not mean you are a strategic part of this industry.


Why not tackle a new market? Don't battle the competition, make them irrelevant.

Limiting beliefs

"There is no money in the market"


Why are other big players investing in new markets? If there would not be people, there would not be a market. But there always are people, so there always is a market, consequently, there always is money.

"We don ́t know the market"


What holds you back from getting to know them? There are enough talents to employ, who do know the market. There are enough opportunities to tap into a pool of people that know, have marketed to or are part of the country or customer group you are looking to expand to.

If you do not seek to hire, at the least you could seek to get insight through research. There is enough data (big and small) available and from the root-work, the start to getting to know a market is to start caring for and speaking to it. Start communicating with those who you aim to reach. They will tell you how to succeed by telling you what they need.

The best source of information about how to build your brand to reach a new market is always that new market.

“We don ́t have the infrastructure”

The internet, that is the infrastructure. It enables brands to completely get rid of all traditional marketing infrastructure by using online platforms, digital networks, and channels.

Use them. And use them wisely.

Understand their purpose, for what outcome you utilize them, and build your reach through digital. Be it text, video or audio, you can reach the farthest corners, but be aware (to not mass-target): You need the right message for the right market.

Conscientiousness starts with caring.

Caring to explore markets that are not flooded with competitors. Caring to serve customers who are not being served. Who could truly benefit from your purpose, your product, or service?

The center of the Blue-Ocean strategy is value innovation. To create an increase in value while lowering the cost with the aim to be different. How could you better establish your brand than with a clear aim to create value?

Innovating the value proposition for your audience is more than accessible in the field of digital branding. Intellectual capital can be freely shared in written, visual or audio format. Brands who choose to dominate choose to overdeliver value, not by informing to pursue their market to buy but by educating their market to live a more meaningful life. This can be seen in the values and principles the brand represents in every part of the customer journey and even within the company (team culture).

“Be the difference by being of value.” - Sina Port

Learn how to build a strong brand with my go PUBLIC framework.