AMA: Splunk Sr. Director, Product Marketing - Observability, Michael Olson on Competitive Positioning

Let me share the elements I've found to be most useful for competitive positioning materials like battle cards. While this may be geared toward a sales team, if done well, much of this content can be repurposed for other activations like competitive web pages and competitive replacement campaigns. Competitor overview – A high-level overview of the competitor, their product offering(s), how they position themselves, and their pricing. Quick dismiss – A short (3 sentences or less) articulation of ...Read More

Other than building a good product that solves real problems for customers, positioning is probably the most important thing to get right, because it's so strategic and foundational to how you go to market. At its core, positioning is an internal construct. It’s what you tell yourself internally to align on your strategy, the perceptions you want to create, your differentiated role in the market, and your relevance to your customers.   I think about 5 main inputs when shaping positioning: Market ...Read More

I shared a similar response to a separate question, but positioning is such a nebulous and somewhat vaguely understood topic by product marketers and product managers, that I'd love to help. Here are the 5 main inputs I think about when defining positioning: Market Category – the space in your customer's mind where your company and/or product fits. This is the frame of reference for your buyers. Target Audience – your ideal customer profile + the buyer personas and user personas who are a good f ...Read More

I'm not an expert, but here are 3 practical ways that I make time for competitive research as part of my day-to-day work. Competitor websites, mailing lists and product documentation. I get a lot of value from reading the Products and Solutions sections of competitor websites, subscribing to their blogs, and reading their product docs. Web content gives you a high-level understanding of their messaging and key capabilities. Product documentation provides more depth on how their products work to ...Read More

Great question. I'd encourage you to think about pricing and packaging as powerful tools for competitive differentiation. In any economy, selling on value is a winning strategy. But in this economy, the B2B buying criteria pendulum has swung, from top-line growth as the #1 priority now to bottom-line operating efficiency. Companies that are exploring packaging (including bundling strategies) as a way to remove friction from the buying process and deliver more value without a commensurate increas ...Read More

Generally speaking, I think buyers are skeptical of "first", "only" or "best at" claims from vendors. I prefer to take a softer tact in messaging by acknowledging competitor strengths while then pivoting to a gentle but firm delivery of what makes us different ("they do a good job at X, but our customers typically choose us when they need Y"). Even subtle messaging to introduce your differentiators like "here's what makes us different..." instead of "here's why we're the best solution" tend to p ...Read More

Short answer: a lot. And unless you are either 1) truly bringing new-to-the-world products to market or 2) already the clear, undisputed market leader in an established category, it's essential to pick your head up and pay attention to how competitors message themselves. Putting yourself in the shoes of your buyer, a lot of B2B vendor messaging tends to sound the same. Too many value propositions are watered down to the point of becoming too generic ("grow revenue", "reduce costs", "minimize ris ...Read More

It's a great question. So much of my thinking on competitive positioning focuses on enabling my sales teams to be able to differentiate in competitive sales cycles. But what if your company relies on a product-led / self-serve see/try/buy/adopt GTM? I still think you need the same level of synthesis on what makes you unique or comparatively better than competition, but the activation is different. Instead of competitive battle cards for a sales team, you need to be thinking about standing up pub ...Read More