Choosing Your Business's 'Enemy': How to Position Against a Problem, Not Just a Competitor

14 October 2026·5 min read

Quick answer: The strongest positioning doesn't punch at a rival business, it punches at a problem — the outdated habit, the frustrating status quo, or the lazy industry default your customer is sick of. Name that enemy clearly, and your business automatically becomes the obvious alternative, no competitor-bashing required. Fill in "We exist because [old way] is broken, and we do [new way] instead" and you've got the bones of a real positioning line. 🌴

Ask most business owners who their competitor is and they'll name another business down the road. Ask them what they're actually fighting, and a lot of them go quiet. 💖 That's the gap. The businesses with positioning that actually sticks aren't competing against another logo — they're competing against a problem their customer already resents.

What most businesses get wrong

"We're better than [Competitor]" is tempting because it feels concrete. You can point at a real business, list what you do that they don't, and build a comparison page around it. The trouble is that this kind of positioning puts your competitor's name in the sentence right next to yours, which does them a favour and does you no favours at all — you're borrowing their relevance instead of building your own. It also ages badly. Competitors change their offer, drop their prices, or go out of business, and suddenly your whole positioning statement makes no sense.

The other failure mode is having no enemy at all — just a list of services and a friendly tone. That's safe, but safe doesn't stick in anyone's memory. Positioning without tension is just a description. People remember brands that stood for something *against* something.

The fill-in-the-blank positioning template

Complete this sentence about your own business, out loud, until it stops sounding like marketing-speak and starts sounding like something you'd actually say to a mate:

"Most [your industry] still [the outdated habit / annoying default / lazy status quo]. We think that's [broken / backwards / a waste of your time]. So instead, we [what you actually do differently]."

Worked example: "Most agencies still disappear for six weeks after you sign the contract. We think that's a terrible way to build trust. So instead, we send a weekly two-minute update, every Friday, whether there's big news or not."

A category where "we're better than X" has gone stale: Every bookkeeping service in town says "more personal than the big firms, cheaper than hiring in-house." It's been said so many times it's become wallpaper. One local bookkeeper switched the enemy from "big firms" to a problem: "the shoebox of receipts you hand over in March and hope for the best." Her new line — "We exist so you stop finding out your numbers in a panic every tax time" — gave people something to recognise in themselves, not just a comparison to ignore.

A challenger brand with no obvious single rival: A new meal-prep delivery business in a fragmented market couldn't point at one dominant competitor — there were a dozen similar-sized players. Instead of inventing a rivalry, they named the enemy as "decision fatigue" — the exhausting nightly question of what to cook. Their positioning became "We exist so you never have to open the fridge and sigh again," which had nothing to do with any other delivery service and everything to do with a feeling their customers already had a name for.

A trades business competing on price alone: A local electrician was stuck quoting against "cheaper" competitors every single job. Reframing the enemy from "other electricians" to "callback jobs from dodgy quick fixes" let them position as the business that does it properly the first time — "We exist because we're sick of being called back to fix someone else's shortcut" — which sidesteps the price fight entirely.

How to find your actual enemy

Start by listing every complaint you've heard a customer make about your industry in general — not about you, about the whole category. The phrase they reach for when they're venting is usually your enemy, almost word for word. Then check it against three things: is it something your customer already feels (not something you had to explain to them), is it something your business genuinely does differently about, and can you say it without naming a specific competitor. If it passes all three, you've got your enemy. Write the positioning line, then test it on your "About" page, your intro pitch and one piece of content, and see which version gets nods instead of blank stares.

💡 Your enemy should be punchable, not personal. Aim the positioning at a habit, a default, or a frustrating industry norm — never at a named business or a type of person. It reads as confident instead of petty, and it still works perfectly well years from now when the market's competitors have changed entirely.

Mistakes to avoid

Naming a competitor directly, even subtly — it dates fast and makes you look defensive.
Picking an enemy so broad ("bad service") that it could apply to literally any business.
Choosing a problem you don't actually solve any better than anyone else — the positioning has to be backed by a real difference.
Only using the line in one place. Positioning only works when it's repeated consistently across your site, pitch and content.

Frequently asked questions

Isn't naming a competitor sometimes effective, even if risky?

It can work short-term, especially in paid ad comparisons, but it's genuinely higher risk — it can come off defensive, it ties your brand's relevance to theirs, and it needs rewriting the moment either business changes. Positioning against a problem tends to age better and cost less to maintain.

What if my business doesn't feel like it's "fighting" anything?

Every business is solving some frustration, even a boring one — slow replies, confusing pricing, inconsistent quality. The enemy doesn't need to be dramatic to be effective; it just needs to be true and specific.

How often should I revisit my positioning?

Revisit it when your customer base shifts meaningfully, or roughly once a year as a check-in — not because the old enemy stopped being true, but because your own understanding of the problem usually gets sharper the longer you're in business.

Keep reading 🤍

Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

Work with me ✦