Find Your Lane

Redefining Competition: Carving Out Your Niche

By Chad Munroe, Get Graphic

Whenever I find myself discussing business with colleagues or industry peers—whether at events, trade shows, social media chat rooms, or on the job—the topic of "competition" inevitably comes up. People often talk about how a competitor is "killing the market" with low prices or "owning the market" with superior success. This chatter has always intrigued me, but it's not something I've allowed myself to be consumed by.

As a lifelong entrepreneur, I've experienced both success and failure in various industries, not just in wrap and graphics. What I've learned is that my successes haven't come from "stealing customers" from my competition, and my failures haven't been due to someone else undercutting prices or offering a superior product. In fact, the success and failure I've experienced over 30 years in business have been determined by quite the opposite.

I've always made an effort to be aware of what others in my industry are doing, regardless of their company size. It’s beneficial to observe local, national, and global trends. There's a wealth of knowledge available if you know where to look. However, many business owners get bogged down in trying to gain market share from their competition, which I see as a slow, tedious, expensive, and exhausting process—a "race to the bottom."

Our approach to gaining market share at Get Graphic, as well as in other endeavors I’ve been involved in over the years, has been to identify a niche that our competition wasn’t catering to and to focus our efforts on attracting a new and untapped clientele by filling that void.

When we entered the graphics industry, there were about 15 shops offering graphic services within a couple of miles of us. They were largely successful, but it was in the early days of certifications, and no one in the entire state of Arkansas was a certified installer. As a result, we pursued and were the first in the state to attain certifications from 3M, Avery, Orafol, Arlon, and others. To this day, no one in the state matches our level of certification, setting us apart and attracting different customers. Instead of competing for local sign or vehicle wrap jobs, we carved out a niche in contract installations for nationally recognized brands like Culligan, Applebee's, Buffalo Wild Wings, and CertaPro Painters, while also having the ability to print. Using this as a marketing tool also brought in significant local business and helped establish us as a leader in our field, which we then used to catapult ourselves onto a national stage, further separating ourselves from anyone locally who we could have potentially viewed as competition. Undoubtedly, as a result of our success, we've inadvertently "stolen" customers from other companies over the years, and I'm sure we've lost customers to other companies who consider themselves competitors. But we’re busier than ever, and I sleep well at night without worrying about undercutting or undermining colleagues. We found a void, filled it, and built upon that foundation. Because of this, we’ve always existed in a lane unique enough to the industry that I’ve never felt like we were a threat to or threatened by other companies at any level as competition.

In my observation, the most successful companies in any industry typically follow a similar strategy. Companies like Sears and Montgomery Ward began as catalog stores when travel was inconvenient for their consumers. As the world evolved, they adapted to retail. Companies like Kmart then improved customer catering methods. Walmart revolutionized the retail industry in the 1970s by mastering distribution, keeping costs low and shelves stocked more reliably than competitors. They further isolated potential competition by combining dry goods and groceries. When the aforementioned companies didn’t keep up, they ultimately met their own demise.

In the late 90s, Amazon didn't build stores to compete directly with Walmart. Instead, they changed the customer experience by offering the convenience of online shopping, filling another market void. In turn, Walmart has invested billions to ensure they don’t meet the same fate as the companies they impacted during their rise to retail supremacy. There are countless other examples of exactly this: Blockbuster’s rise and fall, Netflix’s growth, the success of Apple, Nike, Crocs, and even leading companies in the graphics industry like Miller Decals, The Wrap Institute, and WrapFam Unleashed, the very publication you’re currently reading. These entities thrive by innovating and offering something unique that others don’t efficiently offer or scale while maintaining the same quality and value.

If you’re aiming to grow your business, be aware of what others are doing, but don't waste time trying to compete by simply copying their model, undercutting prices, or marginally improving products. Instead of focusing on beating your competition, eliminate them—not by attempting to run them out of business, but by finding a lane that no one else occupies, being the best in that lane, and staying ahead of changes in market trends that might affect the trajectory of that lane. If you do that, no one will ever be able to catch you.

Chad Munroe Owner, Get Graphic