How SME Business Owners Can Use Blue Ocean Strategy to Create Uncontested Markets
Hi, I’m Aby
Welcome to The Strategic Billion Dollar PEN, your weekly business strategy newsletter designed to equip SME business owners and founders with the clarity, confidence, and competitive edge to grow and scale with purpose—successfully.
Want a smarter, stronger business?
Then it’s time to turn strategy into your superpower—the fuel behind every bold move, every sharp pivot, and every win that leaves your competition scrambling.
How to Build a Moat and a Market: Blue Ocean Strategy for Entrepreneurs
Historically, SME businesses and entrepreneurs face persistent challenges—including cash flow issues and limited access to finance and capital. These constraints often hinder business growth and, in extreme cases, lead to business failure. [1 ]and [2]
This newsletter explores how SMEs can position their businesses to be competitive in their current markets—or seek out new, more favourable markets. The goal: attract customers, generate healthy revenue and profits, maintain continuous cash flow, and build assets such as retained earnings. These assets can be reinvested to grow the business, improve credibility for accessing capital, increase enterprise value, and potentially build a brand that enhances long-term economic worth.
Strategic Focus: Blue Ocean Strategy for SMEs
Blue Ocean Strategy helps SME business owners and entrepreneurs create value by shaping industry structure in their favor. It’s about leveraging your knowledge to create an uncontested competitive advantage.
- A new business owner entering an industry,
- An existing business owner struggling to gain traction,
- Someone seeking to unlock new opportunities without competing head-to-head,
- Or operating in a saturated market—
Examples of success:
- Salesforce
- Cirque du Soleil
- Ralph Lauren
- Patrick Bet-David: scaled from 6 to 60,000 licensed agents using Blue Ocean Strategy [3]
Customer insight matters: Amazon Kindle succeeded by interviewing non-users, while Sony relied on existing customers and lost market share. [4]
SME Playbook: How to Create a Blue Ocean Strategy
This playbook outlines how SME business owners and entrepreneurs can identify industries where new markets can be created by tapping into underserved or dissatisfied customers. By uncovering unmet needs and delivering targeted value, these non-customers can be converted into loyal buyers—fuelling growth, differentiation, and long-term strategic momentum.
- Find the Right Customer
The goal is to target the right customers for insight and break away from industry norms. You must find their pain points by speaking to non-customers, as Amazon did with Kindle. Instead of asking existing users what they wanted, Amazon asked non-users why they didn’t use e-readers and what would make them start. These insights led to Kindle’s success, while Sony, who only consulted current customers, failed to capture the broader market and eventually exited the space.
SME Takeaway: Success lies in identifying and engaging the right customers—not just segmenting existing ones and tweaking offerings. Talk to those who don’t currently engage with your industry or product. Discover what would make them engage, and build your business around that. This approach lays the foundation for a customer-centric company and opens up new markets. It doesn’t have to be a one-time win—it can become part of your business DNA. - Shift the Mindset
Creating a Blue Ocean Strategy requires a mindset and cultural shift—especially for entrepreneurs used to competing in red ocean markets. This is a nouveau approach to business thinking and execution. For some, it may involve a radical pivot
SME Takeaway: Leadership and team alignment are critical. You may need to invest in training, restructure your team, or recruit new talent to embed Blue Ocean Strategy into your business DNA. Resistance from within—whether passive or active—can sabotage progress. - Innovation Focus
Innovation is essential for creating differentiation at the right cost structure, across any price point. This includes product/service innovation and value chain innovation—like IKEA’s model or Ralph Lauren’s approach. Ralph Lauren replaced seamstresses with high-end fabrics and production methods, achieving differentiation and profitability while maintaining cost efficiency.
SME Takeaway: Innovation must be strategic—not just creative flair. Attract talent who understand innovation across functions, including operations and finance. The goal is to meet capital and financial objectives without burdening the business with unnecessary debt or over-engineered branding. Build momentum and fortify your first-mover advantage. - Industry-Shaping Focus
SME owners must shape industry structure in their favor through strategic implementation. This requires talent comfortable with industry-shaping roles and past experience in doing so.
SME Takeaway: Prioritize becoming a thought leader in your industry. This builds credibility with customers and suppliers, strengthens loyalty, and makes it harder for competitors to lure your audience away once they enter the market. - Investment-Heavy Strategy
Creating new markets and delivering value requires bold investment—both in customer discovery and in building the value chain to support your offering
SME Takeaway: Prepare to leverage capital strategically. Hire finance talent who can manage this new financial structure. Early-stage tactical execution may require close monitoring of KPIs and financial reporting to stay agile and informed. - Competition as a Zero-Sum Game
While the goal is to create an uncontested market, you must also make it difficult for competitors to enter. Think long-term: how will you keep them out? Scenario planning can help you anticipate and manage these dynamics
SME Takeaway: Build competitive advantages—first-mover momentum, capabilities, and moats—that make market entry unattractive to others. Structure your industry position to create high barriers to entry.
Strategic Takeaway
Fortify your position with capabilities and first-mover momentum. Make market entry unattractive to competitors.
The goal is to identify the right customers, uncover their pain points, and pinpoint the crux of the unmet need—then align all resources and talent behind solving it. All hands must be on deck to make the first-mover advantage count, building momentum so strong that competitors hesitate to enter the space.
There must be a clear commitment to the Blue Ocean Strategy methodology—and to implementing it correctly in order to achieve meaningful results.
It’s also important to remember that while Blue Ocean Strategy creates a new market, strategy itself is a journey. Even with this approach, there may be a need to pivot. Rigorous scenario planning will help ensure the success of the initiative, ultimately leading to increased revenue, stronger profit margins, and a more valuable business
Flight 78910™ SME Spotlight: Allison Ellsworth
VIDEO FEATURE: From Her Home Kitchen to Pepsi Acquisition
Poppi ‘s $2B Brand Journey – Allison Ellsworth built a compelling brand by telling a personal story that resonated with health-conscious consumers. She created a differentiated product, a low-cost structure, and a sticky customer community—ultimately attracting acquisition interest from Pepsi.
Highlights for SME Business Owners
1. Brand Focus
She used her personal story to build a loyal customer base.
SME Takeaway: Find underserved customers and build a brand that speaks directly to their unmet needs.
2. Moat Building via Marketing
She used creative execution of the 4Ps to build a defensible brand.
SME Takeaway: Be bold with your marketing. Strategic creativity builds moats competitors can’t easily cross.
3. Talent Alignment
She recruited and trained talent aligned with her brand’s mission.
SME Takeaway: Hire for vision and pace. Not everyone thrives in high-growth environments—choose wisely.
4. Viral Momentum
Poppi leveraged TikTok, visual branding, and influencer partnerships to build a lifestyle movement.
SME Takeaway: Design your brand to be shareable and magnetic. Community activation can be your growth engine.
Apply the Playbook
Strategy isn’t static—it’s momentum. Use this guide to identify where your business can gain traction fast
• Is your roadmap reactive instead of proactive?
👉 [Click here to activate strategic leverage]—then email me if you want help building a roadmap that moves.
Conclusion
SME business owners and entrepreneurs must—like Poppi—find the right customers and build a brand around solving their pain points. The goal is to create stickiness and loyalty.
Creating an uncontested market is only the beginning. You must also build competitive capabilities and moats that define your brand’s position in the eyes of competitors and suppliers. Align your strategy with PESTEL factors to anticipate trends and protect your position.
Embed innovation and creativity into your business model—across strategy, operations, and finance. Think Cirque du Soleil: their creative DNA drives recurring revenue, strong margins, and long-term growth. Blue Ocean Strategy works. Just ask Patrick Bet-David: From $2 Million to $250 Million with Blue Ocean Strategy
References
- United States Small Business Statistics (2025 Data) | SellersCommerce
- Growing pains: How to help small businesses scale | News | Warwick Business School
- Patrick Bet-David: From $2 million to $250 million with Blue Ocean Strategy
- What Is Blue Ocean Strategy — and Where Does It Go Wrong?
- Scaling SMEs with Purpose, Product Innovation, and Operational Moats – The2015B Group
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Until next week—
Set bold strategy. Set big targets. Take massive action. Measure what matters.
About the Author
Aby Rufus
Business Investor Strategy Expert Entrepreneur with an MBA in Strategic Planning—offering billion-dollar strategic solutions for SMEs.
