Marketers joining the industry as new entrants find it hard climbing on top. It takes courage, a big heart, drive, and energy to stand against all the odds standing in their growth path.
It takes a great deal of work to understand the existing competitors, customer base, distribution channels, market segments, and competitors to stay afloat in the competitive environment. New entrants risk succumbing to the existing companies without a competitive marketing strategy.
However, new entrants are deterred by what economists refer to as ” an entry barrier.” Entry barriers for new markets and new companies pose a high threat to new entrants’ ability to pierce through the existing competitive rivalry.
Factors Preventing Startup Entry Into a Market
Several factors determine the threat of new entrants in an industry. Barriers to entry are factors or conditions in the competitive environment of an industry that make it difficult for new companies to begin operating in the industry.
For instance, car manufacturers require high capital costs and face intense competition from existing companies with high brand loyalty. Imagine trying to start a new brand or company to enter the market- it would be challenging. As a result of entry barriers, new competitors do not enter the market.
There are high barriers to entry and low barriers to entry. An increased threat of new entrants is when: profitability does not require economies of scale, product differentiation is low, consumer switching costs are low, proprietary technology and government regulations are not an issue, or weak government regulations are.
Unlike high barriers to entry, low barriers to entry are hurdles common to almost every company. The threat of new entry is low if Initial capital investment is low, existing high brand loyalty, proprietary technology is required to succeed, and strong government regulations and brand loyalty.
Example Analysis
Let us consider whether JetBlue, a company in the airline industry, faces a high or low threat of new entrants. New entrants to the airline industry pose an external threat to JetBlue. First, the barriers to entry are remarkably high as several airplanes are required to compete in the airline industry.
There are higher costs of operation and higher government regulations for companies in the industry. Therefore it’s safe to say that the threat of new entrants in the airline industry is as low as barriers to entry are high.
However, the threat of new entrants alone does not determine the overall attractiveness of an industry. Other forces such as buyers’ bargaining power, the competitive rivalry among current companies, buyer power, switching costs, the threat of substitutes, and distribution channels must be considered.
The problem with new entrants is to copy-paste the same old ideas. This approach has contributed to the highest percentage of new entrants failing immediately to existing companies in the market share, caused by:
- Intimidation from high competition
- Lack of strong strategy
- Lack of creativity
- Lack of passion
For new entrants to pierce through and own position in the industry, they need to have a robust marketing strategy framework. The good thing is that it most certainly can be done, and the bad news is that it relies on new entrants thinking differently and being aggressive to create brand loyalty.
Tactics to Help New Entrant Marketers Succeed
Innovate The Market
Innovation is the key to future market share disruptions. It provides a competitive advantage to the brand over the early entrants. Innovation is not just about creating ‘the next big thing’ but also focusing on making the current industry better and refreshing the products to tailor to clients’ needs.
A good example is Apple Inc. The success of the iPhone is undeniable. Its success is primarily due to its existence as a series itself. Instead of developing independent products, it regularly improves the existing module in a stylized manner, generating excitement and increasing sales.
By focusing on the need of its customers and recognizing the lack of momentum in the market, Apple was able to pull ahead of legacy existing competitors and even more ahead of its customer’s expectations.
Innovating the product to make it highly differentiated and tailored to customers’ experience is another critical component to take the edge off against entry barriers, which leads me to the following rule.
Innovate The Product
A company with well-differentiated products from the existing firms has a clear advantage of increasing the segment share and reducing existing firms’ brand loyalty; innovating the product through price points, features or qualities is vital for new companies.
Take Netflix, for example. Netflix saw an opportunity to provide consumers with what everybody wanted. Netflix’s decision to invest in streaming content and de-emphasize DVD rentals changed the entire entertainment landscape and today has mainly contributed to its success.
Because they focused on creating a product differentiation in the industry against its rival companies, refreshed Netflix’s customer expectations and customer-tailored making it leading among profitable industries, which leads to the third rule.
Innovate The Experience
Innovating the experience can be done by focusing on experiences that make every interaction natural, practical, easy, and seamless. That is based on listening to the customers and meeting their unmet needs in ways they can’t yet conceive.
Product innovation wouldn’t always sustain them as market leaders by just recreating innovative products that ultimately be imitated by others. Long-term competitive advantage lies, instead, in customer experience innovation.
Take Amazon, for instance. Amazon has gone above and beyond to meet customers’ needs. Not only did the e-commerce giant introduce two-day, one-day, same-day delivery options to customers, but it also partnered with companies like Khols to accept product returns right from the customer’s doorstep.
Amazon understood that product innovation would only get so far, and when it comes to building and sustaining loyalty, experience innovation will always trump product innovation.
Refuse The New Entrants’ Underdog Strategy
Altogether refuse the invitation to take this approach. It minimizes your marketing focus and undermines your capability to fight underlying challenges. When you as a marketer are entering into this path, let vision and direction lead you. You have to choose the kind of marketer you want to be, either:
- Good new entrant marketer
- Bad new entrant marketer
Both of them are working towards an inevitable end, but one path leads to destruction “spot.” You have to adopt a solid plan determined to grow to be a good one.
Applying an underdog strategy is to see yourself as a minute amid gw. Can your persuasion power attract even the weakest of customers? I bet not one of them would like to follow a visionary marketer taking the suicidal path at will.
To beat this, you have to be a marketer who can stand at a distance and tell the challenges standing in the way. Second, devise a plan on how to tackle those challenges. Third, compare your method and joint disease that previously hindered existing companies’ success. Once you are satisfied with your plan, start and never look back.
Research Your Market Early
Loading yourself at the launch stage with necessary information regarding your line of the market is like entering the war zone with a loaded gun. As a soldier, you make sure the bullets are more than enough to keep you in control all through.
So, performing your research early enough will help you not repeat new entrants’ blunders. Since you have observed your path, the only thing remaining is to execute the plans you have one by one.
By now, you have your product ready and identified your audience; start now to build your brand while making impressions.
Ignore The Noise
When you have identified your mission, never look right or left until you grab the price at the finishing line. Launching your new product/marketing idea is challenging, and It is challenging criticism will hit you from all directions. At this stage, you require adding weight to your stamina.
No one can define your journey but you alone, and it is high time to trust your guts. Do not entertain carrying unnecessary baggage along the way, which fas not part of the plan. From the start So, ignore all the voices shutting you up and let your marketing results answer them instead.
Sometimes standing your ground feels like walking a troubled road. Your crucial plan from the beginning is to identify new ways of doing things differently from the past marketers that failed. Also, you focus on the finishing line because that is where you will see the full details of your marketing idea.
You have your product, execution plan, and learning to identify your actual audience. Once you focus on that, your genuine customers will stick with you, and the next phase will be to maintain that idea while wooing new clientele.
Make Your Significant Insight An Authority
There is a tendency to look down on new entrants from the big boys. Let not that worry you. Your unique approach will pave the way ahead even amid all resistance you encounter.
Your marketing method will help you move faster, contrary to others since it has been uncovered before. How will it set you apart? No one can question something they are unfamiliar with; therefore, stay aside and watch as you pass by.
The idea here is to play the unmatched game to those competitors by demonstrating something out of their league. If you want to outsmart the shark, take it out of the comfort zone (water), and it will become biteless.
Big companies thrive most because they have a significant influence on resources. When you introduce a new marketing approach accepted by customers and many of them, even those big players will consult you. Why? You just demonstrated something they never had. It is a marketing opportunity for you since you opted to take the unfamiliar path.
Never Launch Your Marketing Plan On A Mission To Compete
Obtaining ground already captured by other industries is not an easy task. Imagine a gazelle coming from nowhere, horns ready to charge a relaxed lion? The gazelle is inviting a war. It’s not even sure about the win.
The marketing field is grounded with players that have been around for years, understand the ins & outs very well, and have invested heavily. So, if you bring the same methodology to grab a share from their audience, consider your game failed.
Even if you were to make a small bargain, it is a matter of time before you lose the ground. Marketing is a game of the mind, and you need first to learn the people on the ground because that is your target.
- What do they want
- How do they want it
- What makes them buy from the present marketers
- How is the packaging of the product
You have to learn all the aspects you can to learn market technicalities.
You are studying other marketers’ ways of doing business, and as soon as you are through with your findings, “poke the holes.”
Poking the holes is to identify areas marketers are missing out. Not all areas are a gap and plan to utilize that as your entry point to hook the audience. A wise marketer creates an idea that others are weak and fail to identify.
Utilize Technology
Nowadays, there is an impact of new entrants using innovation, creativity, and technology to push their marketing plans with ease effectively. Today, it is easier to fight with big players in the industry than it was a few years ago.
A large number of customers can access the internet and are responding to already positioned marketers ready to provide what they require. So, a young marketer who has the right technology can work smarter, faster, and overcome challenges to deliver to customers’ expectations.
Years back, you had to have a huge capital to put up a costly mechanism and only favored big companies. Thanks to technology which has completely changed the marketing game.
The audience nowadays has multiple ways of receiving information. The secret marketers are employing to reach out to their customers is learning their preferences and now utilizing that method to reach back.
A responsive website is now more possible to learn various ways to reach your customers. This is through
- Predictive content
- Web personalization
- Targeting mobile users
- Using ads that target their audience for a conversion experience
This idea works to the advantage of marketers, giving them the freedom to tailor different approaches depending on what is working.
Working Directly With The Consumers
The new entrants’ strategy is marketing using direct consumer channels, which is the most responsive approach ever.
The method is somehow helping marketers shortcut the chase because they can receive the feedback they need directly and with speed. Through information flowing between the two, marketers can understand consumers’ needs and respond quickly, helping them make the conversion at a high rate.
Another thing is creating a relationship. With that early integration, marketers can build their brand speedily, and consumers grow with them because they were included in the building process.
Since this opening allows marketers to sell directly to customers, they can collect their data. One of the valuable channels helping marketers meet their goals when reaching out is the use of Social Media. It is the most responsive platform for getting instant feedback from consumers.
When consumers commend your products, you know it is time to maintain your product delivery. And if they are not impressed with your packaging, the responses will allow you to go back and rectify areas to improve.
When you have such a powerful channel to connect with your consumers, it is high time to make it solid. Direct consumer experience helps you personalize your products to your consumers and effectively keeps you on top of others.
Frequently asked questions(FAQ)
What Are New Marketing Entrants?
New entrants are competitors who want to establish themselves and have a portion of the market share they did not previously belong. They do not substitute products or services from other companies wishing to provide similar products or services to brands already established in the market.
What is The Threat of New Entrants?
The threat of new entrants refers to the threat new competitors pose to current players within the industry. This happens when a new company provides similar products or services to customers just like established players.
What is The Threat of New Entrants Example?
For instance, if a company started selling vegan dog food, it would create intense competition for the existing dog food companies selling vegan dog food. This can change the competitive environment and significantly impact existing companies’ profit potential.
Conclusion
Adapt your approach as a market leader. Entering a new market is a proven growth strategy, especially if operating in an industry niche with more competitors. Meeting the clients’ needs in the industry and addressing potential challenges and risks is vital.
Suppose you are a new entrant marketer and looking for a space to build your brand. Learn the consumers’ demands they are seeking and then tailor your marketing strategies not made in boardrooms or closed doors but outside where consumers are.
They want to give love to a brand they can trust, a brand that involves them and understands their needs. Of course, it’s not a walk in the park establishing a new company, but never get intimidated by your competitors. You’ll find your place and thrive even when existing players pose a threat to you.
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Well great! informative post you wrote, happy with your article. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Jina for your comment. Glad you love it.
Hey Duncan, thank you for this nice and interesting post keep going .
Glad you love it Poonam!
Of course, it was so clear and informative…
very helpful for the new entrants
Thank you Poonam, great you loved it.