Standing Out From Your Competition
It’s been a common marketing principle for years that the best way to get noticed is to stand out from your competition. If you’re always doing something new and different, people are sure to take notice, and the resulting attention is great for your brand. But now that marketing has gone digital (and keeps getting more digital every day) people seem to be forgetting this concept.
If you and your competitors are all running similar TV ads claiming similar product benefits, it’s easy to say that going in a different direction and changing the game will win you the most attention. But what about your messaging on your blog or your social media accounts? What about your search strategy or your pay-per-click ads?
Marketers have gotten all too comfortable looking up at one of their biggest competitors’ websites, seeing what they assume is a successful strategy, and forming their own marketing plan with a copy-and-paste mentality. Our competitors are blogging about their culture? We need to do the same. They’re on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram? We need to be there. But what happens when everyone catches up to the leader and has successfully copied their strategy? You’re all running the same commercial and pushing the same benefits.
So instead of seeing which way everyone else is swimming and following them down the river, we at TMG always advocate for the opposite approach. If your competitors are all employing the same boring digital strategy, shake things up. Find new ways to connect with your audience on your blog. Plan a social media strategy that stands out and creates buzz instead of blending in and losing attention.
The basic tenets of marketing haven’t changed, but the technology around it has. If you can find ways to take creative risks and separate yourself from the pack, you’ll be the one setting the pace and enjoying the spoils.
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