Words: Renee
Competition in business is fierce. It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
When you’ve created a great business, but somehow, your competitors are still
attracting more customers.
The good news? You don’t need to accept it.
Many businesses lose customers not because their competitors
are superior, but just because they might be better at communicating their
offering. It might be weak messaging, poor differentiation or lackluster
marketing that is holding you back.
In this quick guide, we’ll show you:
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The common mistakes that are benefiting your competition
–
Ethical ways to spy on competitors
–
Proven strategies to claw back market share
Common mistakes that give competitors an edge
- Ignoring your customer feedback (or not even collecting it)
- Slow digital adoption: still waiting to adopt social media and AI? Well, guess what – your competitors aren’t waiting.
- Inconsistent marketing efforts: marketing doesn’t work ‘from time to time’. It needs to be consistent and persistent.
- Weak brand positioning: if your value proposition isn’t clear, customers will move to a competitor who articulates their offer better than you.
How to spy on competitors ethically
- Check what ads they are running: use Meta’s Ad library, Google Ads Transparency and LinkedIn Ads to see what messaging they’re using
- Analyse their SEO: agency-level tools like SEMRush and UberSuggest can help reveal what keywords they’re using and how strong their web traffic is
- Read customer reviews: what are their customers praising or complaining about, and what can you learn from it?
- Sign up for their emails and offers: see how they nurture leads and convert prospects (wait, you don’t have an alias like Ken Adams or Regina Phalange? Any friends fans in the house?).
Strategies to differentiate and win back market share
- Double down on your unique value
- Identify what you do best
- Talk to your customers
- Analyse competitor weaknesses
- Refine your messaging accordingly
- Personalise your marketing efforts
- Segment your audience for messaging
- Personalise every touchpoint
- Craft more compelling and attention-grabbing content
- Improve customer experience
- Improve customer response times
- Simplify the purchase process
- Offer superior products/services and support
- Implement customer feedback
- Leverage storytelling to humanise your marketing
- Show behind-the-scenes content
- Share customer success stories and case studies
- Implement user-generated content (UGC)
Get the right people to help you
Your competitors might be winning today, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change it. If your competitors are thriving, then there is a market for your product/service. By identifying their strengths and fixing your weaknesses, then you can take back your fair share of the market. Need help pulling this all together? Get in touch. Let’s get to work.
