How a Commodity Market Player can reposition to compete better with globalgiants on its terms.

The Bay Area’s tech market is very competitive. It has attracted tech startups and larger legacy companies that have moved their tech teams to the SF Bay Area to tap into the zeitgeist and help them compete. Agility and intelligence are needed to succeed here.

The client is a recruitment and consulting company that serves Fortune 500 companies with access to local talent. Because there are low entry barriers, it can be a commodity market with clients and potential employees. The challenge for the client was to find a way to stand above the crowd and compete confidently with global consulting companies on their terms.

Doloop Digital worked with the client to discover the unique strengths that help them stand out against global giants and local commodity players. This meant the creation of a new corporate identity, a vibrant brand that signified quality and freshness. Then, the tagline was changed to “the future works here,” a nod to the ongoing excitement about the future of work and how this company is already at the leading edge. The main message was changed to reflect that this company “helps large companies compete like a startup” through its unique five-point business model. This business model was defined in a way that positioned the large companies as money-making machines at the cost of engineer quality, and the smaller competitors would not be able to deliver on the promise of better metrics, commitment to women engineers, and better market reach.

With our help, the client started a series of conversations with industry leaders as an ongoing podcast series. This resulted in a website with client logos and names without being hamstrung by corporate marketing diktats.

When you’re in a commodity market or competing against companies with more gunpowder, here are a few things you could do:

• Try to understand what your clients really need and how your company can give them that better than the other companies.
• Run a structured exercise to find the right words. If you can’t explain it on an elevator to the mezzanine floor, your sales team can’t say it even in one hour.
• There is a hunger for self-positioning and developing one’s social media reach. If you are earnest in your efforts, your podcast wall will become your calling card for future business.

Further learning. Sign up for Gaurav Rastogi’s “Conversations as a Sales Machine” workshop. This one-week soul-searching workshop will help you find your core message.