# Who you really compete with > Define the market by what customers would do instead: free videos with an AI chatbot, a school teacher's lessons, or doing nothing at all. - Course: [Marketing Strategy: Who to Win and How](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy.md) - Module: What does marketing decide, and against what? - Lesson 2/32, ~24 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/who-you-really-compete-with ## The competitor slide **Alex Tutor:** Back with Klasna's marketing team. Before the plan's first row gets written, Uliana has a competitor slide ready for Leo. **Uliana:** Our rival is the large online school. Their ads are everywhere, and they're at the top of every search for "exam tutor". I spent a week on their offer. **Sofia:** Makes sense. They're the biggest, so they're the ones to beat. **Alex Tutor:** The biggest school isn't necessarily the one families weigh Klasna against. And we don't have to guess: since last September the sign-up form has asked "what else did you consider?" **Uliana:** I'd forgotten we added that. Here are the answers from our sample export: 160 accounts that started between September and June. > **"What else did you consider?" 160 accounts, first lesson Sep 2025 – Jun 2026** > > | Answer | Accounts | > |---|---| > | Free videos with an AI chatbot | 43 | > | Waiting until spring, or doing nothing | 28 | > | A school teacher's paid after-class lessons | 26 | > | A private tutor | 18 | > | A local tutoring center | 15 | > | A large online school | 15 | > | Nothing named | 15 | > | **Total** | **160** | > **Exercise:** What share of the 160 accounts named one of the top three alternatives together (free videos with an AI chatbot, waiting or doing nothing, a school teacher's lessons)? In %, to two decimals. ## The alternatives nobody advertises **Sofia:** So our biggest competitor is… free videos? **Alex Tutor:** The biggest single **competitive alternative**: whatever the customer would do if Klasna didn't exist, including nothing at all. That's the market as the customer sees it. **Alex Tutor:** Look at the top three: free videos with an AI chatbot, waiting, a school teacher. None of them bids in an ad auction, so a team that only watches ads never sees them. **Uliana:** Waiting counts as competition? **Alex Tutor:** Often the strongest one. Deciding to **do nothing** for now, the status quo, costs nothing and feels safe. Your marketing has to beat that feeling, not another school's banner. **Alex Tutor:** Now put Uliana's slide into that picture. Where does the large online school sit in the table? > **Exercise:** What share of the 160 accounts named **the large online school** as what they considered instead? In %, to two decimals. **Alex Tutor:** One alternative in that table never shows up in any rival's ads. Why is it so strong? > **Exercise:** 28 of 160 families said they nearly chose to wait until spring or do nothing. Why is doing nothing often the strongest alternative? ## Where each alternative falls short **Sofia:** But how do we compete with free? **Alex Tutor:** Not on price. Ask what each alternative does well, then where it lets the family down. Free videos with an AI chatbot: free, any hour, endless explanations. What's missing: a plan, and someone who notices when the teen stops. **Alex Tutor:** A school teacher's after-class lessons: trusted, nearby, knows the program. The catch: a group pace and a fixed slot. Waiting: easy, until spring comes and there's less time for bigger gaps. **Uliana:** These are guesses, though. We haven't asked families why they nearly chose a teacher. **Alex Tutor:** Right: write them down as hypotheses and check them in interviews. The Customer Development course shows how to ask without leading. > **Exercise:** Match each alternative with the weak spot Klasna could offer an answer to (as a hypothesis to check with families). ## A chatbot is a competitor and a tool **Leo:** If a free chatbot already explains math, why would anyone pay for a tutor in five years? **Alex Tutor:** A fair question, and the plan should answer it honestly. Some families will choose the chatbot, and that's fine. Klasna wins where the job is more than an explanation: a deadline, a teen who needs someone to answer to, a parent who wants to see progress. **Sofia:** But Klasna Club has an AI practice partner too. So AI is our competitor and our tool at once? **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Which is why "we have AI" can't be the reason to choose Klasna: soon everyone will. **Alex Tutor:** Leo's question leads to a second one: what does AI mean for Klasna's own pitch? > **Exercise:** Klasna Club includes an AI practice partner. Why shouldn't "we have AI" be the reason Klasna gives families to choose it? > **Exercise:** If an alternative is free, a paid service can't compete with it. ## The market in one sentence **Alex Tutor:** Now write the market the way the customer sees it. For example: families of exam-year teens who would otherwise use free videos with a chatbot, wait until spring or pay the school teacher. **Uliana:** And the large online school? I don't want to throw away a week of work. **Alex Tutor:** Keep a line on it: 15 families out of 160 is real. Just don't let one rival set the plan. **Sofia:** And the 15 who named nothing? Does that mean no competition for them? **Alex Tutor:** It means we don't know. Maybe they didn't look, maybe they skipped the question. That's a question for interviews, not a gap to fill with a guess. **Alex Tutor:** One row is still unexplained: the families who named nothing. > **Exercise:** On Klasna's sign-up form, 15 of 160 accounts answered nothing to "what else did you consider?". These 15 accounts faced no competition, so the plan can treat them as already won. > **Exercise:** Which sentence defines Klasna's market the way this lesson recommends? ## Your turn: compete with waiting **Uliana:** Twenty-eight families told us they nearly just waited. About half of them are probably parents of exam-year teens deciding in the autumn. **Alex Tutor:** Then write how Klasna's marketing competes with waiting: what the family gets from waiting, where waiting lets them down, and one honest message that speaks to it. **Sofia:** Honest means no "only three places left" if it isn't true. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. No invented scarcity and no scare stories. Just what really happens between October and May. > **Exercise:** Write 3–4 sentences on how Klasna's marketing can compete with **waiting until spring**: what the family gets from waiting, where waiting lets them down, and one honest message aimed at the parent. > **Key ideas** > > - A **competitive alternative** is whatever the customer would do without you, including **doing nothing**, free content and AI chatbots. > - Ask customers "what else did you consider?" and read the whole distribution. At Klasna 97 of 160 accounts (60.63%) named free videos with a chatbot, waiting or a school teacher; the large online school was one alternative among seven (15, 9.38%). > - Define the market by those alternatives: they tell you what to watch and what to beat. > - For each alternative, write what it does well and where it falls short, as hypotheses to check with customers. > - "We have AI" is not a reason to choose you when everyone has it. **Alex Tutor:** Next: how to read the rivals you do name from public sources, and the line a marketer never crosses. - Previous lesson: [Four choices, not a stream of ads](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/four-choices-not-a-stream-of-ads.md) - Next lesson: [Reading competitors from public sources](https://productovi.com/courses/marketing-strategy/reading-competitors-from-public-sources.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.