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CRM Demolition Derby

January 27, 2005

Sometimes the interplay of competitors and their strategies around marketing and positioning are more interesting than the actual products they're marketing.

This occurred to me a few minutes ago as I was preparing the latest issue of our Customer Inter@ction Solutions email newsletter (go here for subscription info to all of TMC's eNews publications). As I was researching the news in the CRM space, I found myself highlighting news releases from two apparently close competitors, one right above the other in the body of the newsletter.

Both are providers of CRM services to the automobile dealer market. Here are the titles of their releases, which arrived via the BusinessWire news feed within about two hours of each other:

ARKONA Announces Automotive CRM Solution; Dealership Selling and Customer Information Processes Streamlined

The Cobalt Group Continues to Expand and Integrate Its CRM Offerings in 2005 with New Cobalt Prospector Solutions

I actually blogged the Arkona story earlier today, as I was intrigued by the development of a Web-based CRM solution for this particular niche market. I wonder now whether the Arkona release came out as a "me-too" response to the Cobalt release -- seems like an unlikely coincidence.

Notice the following positioning statements in the respective news releases:

Arkona: "the emerging leader in dealer management solutions for automobile and powersports dealerships"

Cobalt: "the leading provider of retailing solutions for the automotive market"

Are both claiming to be the leader in the same market, or is it more of an apples-and-oranges situation?

I'm interested in making these kinds of comparisons, as it focuses attention on key marketing and branding questions:

+ How do you differentiate yourself against your competitors?

+ What is your market position? What do you provide and who do you provide it for?

AB -- 1/27/05




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