So, you know you’re better at what you do than your competition — or you shouldn’t be in business. But, how far will you go to display your expertise over their incompetence?
You must know your competitors like you know your own business, that’s for sure. You must have a working knowledge of who they serve, how they advertise, what they charge and how they’ve progressed over time.
But, if you’re not running for political office, what’s the use of publicly dissing your rival?
Well, chances are that as soon as they discover the new start-up on the block, they’ll have some methods of their own for bringing YOU down.
Don’t outwardly discount their service, instead rev yours up with proof of why it works better. The battle can be won with happy customers and real life examples.
Business brochures and commercials that ridicule their competition, insult customer intelligence. I don’t want to buy a car from a guy who tells me why everyone else in his field is unworthy of my patronage. I do want to support companies who state examples of why their “unique” strategies work better. We’re not stupid consumers. We don’t expect companies to endorse their competition. So, as entrepreneurs, we need to advertise as consumers.
If there’s something you don’t like about what your competition does — set yourself apart by showing how your system exceeds their quality. Nothing portrays this better than testimonials from satisfied clientele. Your customers are more apt to believe in your product if they see results from their peers.
Post testimonials on your site and brochures. Beat your competition without spitting a negative word their way. New businesses successfully beat the veterans all the time. Just remember that how you choose to run your company now, sets the tone for your permanent professional image.
Make it a positive one.
Read some related articles:
- Beating the Competition Competition. It exists—no doubt about it. As a freelance writer, I have the daunting task of “cruising” Craigslist ads every day—sometimes three or four times...
- Pole Vaulting the Competition So I realize this week seems to be very sex-industry orientated, no matter, someone’s gotta do it. In Australia pole dancing for fitness has become...
- The Individual These days consumers don’t like to be seen following a herd, they want to be seen as an individual, an intelligent consumer. The days of...
- Examples of Great Companies: Role Models What are examples of other companies that are good examples with strong customer service, organizational culture and business models?...
what exactly is ‘professional image’…?
that’s an old term.
businesses now are more casual in marketing, approach and image.
alot of companies “diss” the others in their advertising…i see it all the time in tv commercials: trucks ads, phone book ads – just to name a few.
that’s not to imply though that testimonials don’t work – they do.
just don’t be a square – even squares don’t like square marketing.
This is all well and good and I agree with it to a point. But what if that competition is outright lying or misleading the public? I have actually gone up against a prominant online “Doctor” and felt the need to “out” him because I could not stand by and let him continue with his lies and deceit. To this day, the posts I wrote on the topic get more traffic than any other one on my blog. When I see consumers being lied to or dupped into believing a lie by a prominant figure I have got to stand up and speak out whether it hurts his credibility or not.