When it comes to business strategy, there are few ideas as widely cited as the Red Ocean and Blue Ocean frameworks. The underlying premise is straightforward: Red Oceans are established markets where companies compete for the same customers, driving down prices and stifling innovation; Blue Oceans are those largely untapped or uncontested markets where firms develop new demand, differentiate themselves, and find themselves with little or no direct competition.
But what’s the best way for a business to move from the Red Ocean where everyone is fighting for a piece of the same pie to the Blue Ocean, where it can find new and uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant?
Enter Fried Egg Marketing.
Welcome to this blog where we will explore what are the fundamental differences between Red and Blue Oceans, why building your own Blue Ocean is the key to long term success and how Fried Egg Marketing can help you create your own uncontested space in the market and break away from the Red Ocean.
The competitive, overcrowded side of the market is known as a Red Ocean – the arena where multiple companies compete to sell the same product or service, often using the same tactics and even the same messaging. Competition is fierce, and the most successful businesses in Red Oceans are engaged in a ‘zero-sum game’, jostling with one another over the same pool of customers. As such, the more stretched the competition, the ‘bloodier’ the waters, hence the name.
Within a Red Ocean, competing companies are vying for market share. When companies can’t differentiate on value, they then compete on price, driving down profit margins.
Products or services from competing companies are virtually identical.
Because everyone sells the same thing, differentiation becomes increasingly hard..
A Blue Ocean represents the opposite side of the spectrum: a market space that is either entirely new or significantly underdeveloped. In a Blue Ocean, competition is irrelevant because a company has created a new demand or redefined the playing field. Rather than battling for market share, companies in Blue Oceans offer unique solutions that address unmet needs, carving out new opportunities for growth and innovation.
Blue Oceans provide new opportunities for growth by targeting an audience that either didn’t exist or wasn’t being served properly.
Companies in Blue Oceans differentiate themselves not by tweaking existing products but by offering entirely new value propositions, thus by creating new demand, companies in Blue Oceans don’t face direct competition, allowing them to grow without constantly defending their market position.
So, what is the way to break out of the Red Ocean, and create a Blue Ocean where there is no competition? With Fried Egg Marketing, founded on clearly defining your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) – the group of clients for whom you are the best fit for their needs, goals and budget. It helps you in creating a differentiation strategy through which you can outperform the competition and promote new opportunities to grow.
Here’s how Fried Egg Marketing helps you find and develop your Blue Ocean:
In a Red Ocean, you might cast a wide net, hoping to capture as many customers as possible. By doing so, you might compete on price or on features, but likely without much opportunity for meaningful differentiation. Fried Egg Marketing narrows your focus down to your ICP: the yolk. These are the clients who get the most value from what you’re offering, and the ones who most align to your business goals.
In this way, by targeting your marketing activity at your ICP, you don’t get sucked into the ‘spray and pray’ trap of trying to appeal to customers who aren’t a good fit or who are unduly courted by your competitors. You instead avoid offering generic solutions that aren’t tailored to those clients who really matter to your business.
If you focus on your ICP, you’re not competing for the same customer as everyone else is. You’re targeting an underserved customer who will appreciate your specific solution. As such Your marketing becomes more targeted, and your product development can be geared towards the needs of this niche and create new demand.
One of the core tenets of Blue Ocean strategy is creating new value by solving unmet needs. Many companies in Red Oceans try to compete by adding more features or lowering prices, but they rarely ask what customers truly need. With Fried Egg Marketing, you go deeper by developing a deep understanding of your ICP's pain points, frustrations, and goals.
Instead of mimicking what others are doing, you tailor your product, service, and messaging to solve the unique problems of your ICP. This creates differentiation not based on price or superficial features, but on addressing unmet needs.
By developing products and services that address needs no one else is solving, you create new demand.
This differentiation helps you stand out in a market where competitors are focused on existing solutions, effectively shifting you into your own Blue Ocean.
Strategic convergence—when competitors all begin to offer the same products and use the same strategies—is one of the main reasons companies get stuck in a Red Ocean. They end up copying each other’s offerings, marketing language, and tactics until there’s little left to differentiate them.
Fried Egg Marketing avoids this by keeping the focus on your ICP, ensuring that your strategies, messaging, and solutions are designed specifically for the clients who matter most. This approach allows you to break away from the pack and develop messaging and offers that feel fresh, relevant, and valuable.
You stop competing on the same playing field as everyone else and create your own space by solving problems no one else is focused on. Some call it “creating your own category” or “developing your own label.”
As such your marketing stands out because it’s tailored to your ICP and their specific problems, making it easier for your ideal clients to see the value in what you offer.
There is nearly always an issue of misalignment between marketing and sales – marketing casts a wide net, while sales scrambles to close with whoever bites. This attracts the wrong customer, which means you are often rewarding your sales team for the wrong things, paying commission to close bad fit clients! In Fried Egg Marketing, both teams share the same goal – serving the ICP.
Each team will work towards the same goal of bringing in the right kinds of clients – and keeping them. You have a business that can grow over time.
If you think in terms of relationships – working with an organisation for the long term rather than selling them a one-off product – then you create a group of clients who aren’t looking for the cheapest provider each time they have a need.
This loyalty enables you to generate need in your Blue Ocean where customers value your customised solutions and are less likely to move to a rival.
In Blue Oceans, innovation is key. But instead of disruptive innovation, where companies overhaul entire industries, Fried Egg Marketing encourages focused innovation. By understanding your ICP’s needs at a deep level, you can innovate in ways that create more value for your clients without needing to reinvent the wheel.
Whether it’s improving service delivery, adding new features that solve specific problems, or developing personalised experiences, Fried Egg Marketing ensures that your innovations are tied directly to what your ICP values most.
Focused innovation helps you continuously improve your offering, creating new value that competitors can’t easily replicate.
This creates a cycle of growth, where your ICP remains loyal because you’re constantly evolving to meet their specific needs.
So many B2B businesses are swimming in the bloody waters of Red Ocean, competing on price, features and other cosmetic factors. Fried Egg Marketing allows you to swim out into the open waters of your very own Blue Ocean, where your Ideal Client Profile is unserved, competition doesn’t matter, and your business is in a position to dominate on your own terms.
If you pay attention to your ICP, focus on the needs you can solve, and sidestep the dangers of strategic convergence, you will create a value proposition that isn’t merely unique or ‘different’ – it will be singular. Instead of competing for scraps in the Red Ocean, Fried Egg Marketing helps you create new demand, build enduring relationships and sustain growth.
Are you ready to shake off the Red Ocean and create your very own Blue Ocean? Begin by concentrating on the yolk – your Ideal Client Profile – and see your business grow to unexpected proportions. Get started by signing up to our Fried Egg Marketing webinar.