Check Substitutes Before Rivals
Use Porter's Five Forces to identify substitutes and buyer power before writing competitive positioning.
The reframe: competitor analysis is broader than competitor names. Five Forces for marketers Porter's Five Forces explains market pressure through rivalry, new entrants, substitutes, supplier power, and buyer power. Marketers do not need to turn every campaign into an economics paper, but they do need the discipline behind the model. The buyer is not choosing in a neat vendor grid. They are deciding whether this problem deserves budget, whether an existing process is good enough, whether a cheaper substitute can absorb the work, and whether waiting has less risk than changing. Why substitutes matter in positioning Substitutes are often the…
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