Creativity Beats Competition: How to Be a Big Fish in a Less Crowded Market

Most people believe that being in the marketplace means constant competition. It is a test of wills between giants of industry, with hungry upstarts clawing their way through one another to become the next big thing.

This view, while romantic in a violent kind of way, gives people the wrong idea about how to navigate a market.

The effects shouldn’t be underestimated. Many people start companies thinking they need to directly challenge competitors, and others who don’t have the stomach to put others out of business avoid chasing their dreams. This leads to failure in the first instance and failure to launch in the second.

To succeed in the market, you need to use creativity — not to out-compete others, but to avoid competition in the first place.

Red Queen Effect: Why Competition Is the Wrong Approach

The Red Queen Effect is named after the memorable character in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. The Red Queen keeps running around full speed only to stay in place, telling the protagonist Alice, “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”

Basically, the Red Queen Effect states that just to keep your spot in a competitive field, you can never be complacent, you can never stop moving. Staying at the same point in a crowded market, it seems, actually means falling behind.

Does that sound fun to anybody?

To avoid the Red Queen Effect, we want to avoid competition. We want to move into market niches and approaches that are less crowded. That way, we can focus our attention on delivering solutions to people’s problems, rather than constantly trying to outdo the other guy.

How to Zig When the Whole World Has Gone Zag

The core of becoming a big fish rather than a Red Queen is using your creativity to keep in market niches where there is little competition.

This might mean providing services or products that aren’t as sexy or “in” as you might hope for, but succeeding and making money is always sexy and in — so it all works out.

By fulfilling a need that is underserviced, you guarantee yourself a slice of the pie. And while other businesses are busy fighting over a seat at a more crowded table, you have the time to patiently solve problems, streamline solutions and improve your products and services.

This protects you in the long run, because if the niche ever becomes hot, you’ll already be established. You’ll benefit from the increased interest and your seasoned experience while companies that are new to the party are still figuring out which way is up.

That makes you the big fish. Rather than competing with other businesses (and facing all the lowered profitability and market share that entails), you solve problems for you and your customers. It’s less stressful, more sustainable, and it pays off.