It’s one of the most prevalent questions for any startup that finds themselves going against a larger and better-funded competitor. Even if you can offer a better service than them and give your clients or customers the individual attention that leads to a much better experience, it can be hard to get heard or seen. The amount of money your competitors can throw at a marketing campaign to drown you out can be too much. But does that mean it’s impossible to get noticed? Not at all.
Focus on those who come to you
When it comes to advertising and other kinds of interruptive marketing, it’s all about reaching out to grab the customers who are out there. Rather than taking the fight to them, however, it could be a lot more cost-effective to wait for the fight to come to you. There will be customers who want to come to you for your services, and you can make sure that you have a sales funnel in place that gives them both the information and actionable calls-to-action that encourage them to get closer to converting, step by step. As such, you can make sure more of your marketing budget goes to closing the leads you already have, rather than trying to snatch leads you might never win.
Go local
Unless your direct competition is also a local company, the chances are they are a multi-regional or international team that is all about extending their reach as far as they possibly can. However, when they go far, you can go near. As well as local SEO and online advertising, you could reach your local audience in a way they might never consider by opting for traditional marketing methods, instead. You might not be able to beat them when it comes to getting your ads online, but you can reach the attention of those who are closest to you much more easily. Even if your business is entirely online based, do not underestimate the power of local and traditional marketing.
Find new ways to reach them
When you think of the most conventional ways of marketing to your customer, then you also have the most competitive fields, as well. Email, search marketing, advertising, and so on are all about who brings the bigger budget and the better-known name. If you try to compete in those areas, then you will have a harder time. However, if you try to reach your customers in ways that your competitors don’t, then you’re much more likely to succeed. For instance, a ringless voicemail could see you leaving messages to a device that most people own, a phone, but it isn’t as widely used as advertising. You want to work around your opponents rather than trying to work directly against them.
Work your connections
Hopefully, your business is already generating informative and helpful content that’s designed to better convert people into customers as part of your organic marketing strategy. If that’s the case, then you should also be using a social media strategy to grow the shares, traffic, and engagement with that content. Social media allows you to put your content in front of the faces of your audience in a way that’s much less expensive than advertising and offers more of an even-playing field. What’s more, you’re likely to get followed by those who have already chosen you over your competitors and, when they share your content, they’re encouraging the people in their own network to precisely the same.
Hone in on your niche
As mentioned above, you want to outbox your competition by hitting where they’re not, instead of trying to face them head-to-head in a slugfest. Not only does this apply to which marketing methods and platforms you use, but it also accounts for what your branding focuses on. It’s crucial to be able to find your niche in business. What sets you apart from your competitors, really? How much of a difference is it, and how many people will it help you reach that they might not be reaching? If you don’t already have a niche identified, you need to work to find it, because it’s the biggest reason that someone should choose you over your better-funded competitor.
Work those you already got
If you’re aiming to increase revenue, then it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t always be trying to win over new customers. Sometimes, you should be working to keep hold of those that you already have. Focus on customer retention strategies and you can see the lifetime value of each customer rise drastically. It costs more to convert than it does to retain. There are a range of ways to retain your customers, too, from getting them to opt into email marketing campaigns to ensuring they get the best possible customer service that you can offer. Your customers are one resource that you have that your competitor doesn’t, so be sure to capitalize on them as best as you can.
Get disruptive
If you feel like you simply can’t ignore your competitor and have to face them directly, then do it, but don’t play by their rules. Rather than trying to beat them by advertising to the same audience with the same intention, you can use disruptive strategies to beat them just as well. For instance, on any platforms that allow you to target customers based on their interests, such as Facebook ads, you can target users whose interests include your competitors. You can target them with content that directly addresses shortcomings in your competitor’s business, showing your own to be the preferably alternative. Similarly, if your competitor runs Youtube ads, you can target your video ads so that your own are more likely to appear when someone searches specifically for their ads.
If you can’t outspend your competition, then you have to be able to out-think them. Take your messaging to new formats, reach customers that they’re not reaching, and address pain points that they’re not addressing. Find what sets you apart and drive that point home.
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