We talk a lot about how Brand Strategy is the North Star for your food business that helps you align your team and guide them in the right direction towards your Purpose & Vision. And while we already have some great episodes devoted to the topic (see below for links), we wanted to put everything together in one place to really walk you through each step and give you the solid foundation you need to succeed.
Today on the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, host and Food & Beverage Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva kicks off a special three-part series on the actual nuts and bolts of developing your Brand Strategy. For this episode, we’ll look at why you need to know what your competitors are doing, and how to create a competitive snapshot to help you get the lay of the land.
Why You Need to Know What Your Competitors Are Doing
At a high level, brand strategy is about how you position yourself in relation to the three C’s: Competitors, Consumers, and Company. Our goal is to determine how your food brand can meet the needs of your consumers in a way your competitors can’t, or won’t. For this episode, we’ll be focusing on the first of those, your competitors.
![[Brand Strategy Series] Setting Your Food Business Apart Step 1: The Competitive Snapshot](https://eadn-wc02-12575336.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/Cover-art-image-1-of-3-845x684.jpg)
Some food business owners may think something like, “I don’t want to worry about what others are doing, I’m unique and I just want to do my thing.” And while you definitely don’t want to be obsessing over the competition or trying to copy anyone, there are a few important reasons you need to know what’s out there.
For one thing, you need to define some key things about your brand if you’re going to align your team. Your Brand Purpose, Pillars, Personality, Point of Difference, and, ultimately, your Positioning all depend on knowing, concretely, what sets you apart in your category. If you don’t know what your category is doing, how can you be confident you’re positioned to stand out?
The other key reason you should understand the competitive landscape is to prove to buyers, investors, and other stakeholders that you are serious about the food business and know your category. Even if what you are offering is a creating a completely new food or beverage category, doing this work can help you create the story for why what you’re doing is innovative or groundbreaking and not the same thing they’ve seen come through before.
How to Create a Competitive Snapshot
To help you create a competitive snapshot, Katie created a simple exercise anyone can do to get a better understanding of their category.
- Pick a tool to document findings—a simple a spreadsheet or Word document work well.
- Create three columns: Brand/URL, Positioning/Key Messaging, and Packaging Imagery.
- ID your top ten competitors, using what you already know plus looking for new competitors in Google, Amazon, and even searches on Facebook and Instagram to help.
- For each competitor, start with their website and copy and paste key messages into your document. What would a consumer see first if they landed on the site? Repeat for their social, packaging, Amazon listing, etc.
- Put a picture of their packaging in your notes so you can see, visually, what all your competitors are doing in one place.
- Look over your notes to understand key trends: what are people doing in your category and, more importantly, what are they NOT talking about?
- You can add more columns to the document as you work with it over time: pack size, flavors, pricing, special ingredients, certifications, SEO rankings, Instagram collaborations, etc.
If you want to work on this in a more structured format, with a workbook to guide you, Katie is offering an on-demand Brand Strategy Workshop, which will be launching shortly after this podcast goes live. You get the benefit of the proven workflows and frameworks from her 1:1 work, but you can work on it at any time, from anywhere, and go at your own pace.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out at katie@realfoodbrands.com. Grab your Brand Checkup and you’ll be added to the email list to hear when the Brand Strategy Workshop is live!
Let’s go shake up shopping carts!
In This Episode:
- What’s coming up in this three part Brand Strategy Series to help set your brand apart.
- 2 reasons every emerging food and beverage brand should know what their competitors are doing.
- The exact steps to create a competitive snapshot document to help you understand the landscape as you develop your Brand Strategy.
- An important mindset tip to keep in mind when looking at the competition.
- How to walk through this process step by step with Katie’s new Brand Strategy Workshop.
Quotes:
“I’ve taken the best of what I learned in the corporate world and over the past 8 years of being an independent consultant I’ve refined it for emerging natural food & bev brands” – Katie Mleziva
“We’re NOT looking to start comparing yourself to brands who are, or appear to be, further ahead, doing it better, etc. – you NEVER know what is going on in someone else’s business…we have to each run our own race, but you’re using publicly available info to help inform your strategy because you are a savvy business owner or marketer! ” – Katie Mleziva
“Our focus is on the key messages and positioning. We want to get the lay of the land: what is everyone saying, what is nobody saying? If everyone is saying it, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, it just can’t be the thing you think sets you apart. And if nobody is saying it, is that because you’re uniquely positioned to fill this gap, or because it’s just a bad idea? ” – Katie Mleziva
Resources:
- Ep #27: How Brand Strategy Brings Consistency, Efficiency and Value to Your Company
- Ep #45: The 5-Minute Food Business Brand Strategy Formula
- Ep #56: Meeting Consumer Needs – What Are You REALLY Selling?
- Real Food Brands Brand Checkup Scorecard
- Real Food Brands Marketing Roundtable Facebook Group
- Real Food Brands website
