Your competitors, by definition, sell the same (or similar) products and services to you…that’s why they are competitors. When you advertise and market these products and services, you are essentially marketing these for everyone…including your competition.
What happens when you spend the time and money to promote these products and services and one of your competitors cuts their prices (or other components such as delivery or terms) below yours? If they customer leaves and goes to your competitor because of the pricing, you essentially marketed for your competitors. Only they got “no-cost marketing” because you did it for them. They didn’t spend a dime…you spent the money building the awareness and providing information to their customers.
Does any of this sound like a good marketing and sales strategy? Unfortunately, this is what essentially happens when you have a commodity product or service…in the eyes of your customer.
My strong recommendation is to STOP MARKETING FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS…do something that isn’t a commodity and isn’t marketing for your competition. What is that?
DEVELOP A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT YOU OWN…IS EXCLUSIVE TO YOUR BUSINESS…IS ONE THAT CREATES SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENTIATION THAT YOUR COMPETITOR CAN’T TAKE ADVATAGE OF BECAUSE IT IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE.
When you focus on the Customer Experience, you can create whatever you want. And so when you market this experience, your competition can’t take advantage of this and lower a price because they don’t offer it…ONLY YOU OFFER IT. You own your own experience…it is only available through you.
So when you market this experience, YOU ARE MARKETING FOR YOURSELF, NOT YOUR COMPETITORS.
You are marketing something that is unique, different, special, and OWNED ONLY BY YOU! This is the only thing you can completely own and deliver to your customers that CAN’T BE COMMODITIZED. You can customize it, individualize it, make it as special and unique as you want…but your competitors won’t be able to jump on to your marketing and take advantage of all your hard work.
IT’S TIME TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT YOUR COMPETITORS… eliminate them from taking advantage of the commodity products/services you might offer. Move this to a completely different level…offer a CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE that is so unique, special, and awesome that your competitors become envious instead of leaches.
When you stop marketing for your competitors and start marketing for your own uniqueness, your brand, and your experience, customers notice. They see something very different…they see something REMARKABLE. And when customers see this, they CAN’T WAIT TO TELL OTHERS about you and why working with/buying from you is so incredible…and remarkable.
Now you have moved from doing the marketing for your competitors to marketing for yourself…and best of all…allowing your customers to market for you through the most powerful form of marketing that has ever existed…WORD-OF-MOUTH. And when you combine this with a strategic and leveraged social media strategy, you can create Word-of-Mouth on Steroids. This is a much better use of your marketing dollars, gets you better results, and helps you build a DIFFERENTIATED BRAND.
