Measuring the effectiveness of your brand against your competitors can be much easier than you think, especially if you are looking to stand out and have a better and more attractive proposition. The competition is always there and can be a great source of nourishment for your business by keeping you in constant motion on what you need to improve.
Today we are going to establish 10 guidelines on how to differentiate your work from the rest. Competing is not about winning, as much as it is an exercise in personal and professional improvement.
The idea of beating the rest is to convince your clients that your proposal is better and that they will choose you and thus, enhance your reach and eventually your income. Let's take a quick tour of the 10 essential steps.
The 10 most practical things to beat your competition
1. Think about rebranding
When you think about the competition, you usually look outward, when it is recommended to start from the inside. Every company changes and evolves, so it is possible that the image you started with no longer serves your purposes today.
Rebranding can range from a modified brand name or design, a change in a characteristic logo in advertising campaigns, to the typography employed. Even the internal working methods or the formulas used to say goodbye to your emails pass as rebranding.
Therefore, it is important to consider rebranding and that this new presentation fits the needs of the current market. It is not difficult to find out how to rebrand, but it’s important to take all the basics into account to consider if it is relevant. It usually is.
To ensure high-quality rebranding, it is essential to create logo mockups in advance. This will enable you to make necessary adjustments promptly and effectively.
2. Don’t low prices, upgrade yourself
Adjusting prices seems to be the first action to take when competitors appear on the horizon. However, it is a very risky and ineffective measure. After that it is very difficult to go back to the old prices (if it starts to affect the profit margin) and it’s not what a customer may really be looking for.
Instead, innovate the procedures and presentation of your product. The improvement can range from adding some additional service, providing offers on another product with the purchase of what you offer, to changing the marketing strategy. The idea is to add value to what you do, not subtract from it.
3. Use emotion and storytelling
How you communicate with your target makes all the difference. We are referring to the human aspects that connect a person with a product, all the emotional baggage behind consumption.
When you came up with the idea for your business there was a story behind that idea. Tell that story and explain the context so that your customers understand why it is worth the effort to spend money with you.
Telling emotionally charged stories will mobilize the right people and put them on the path to your product. The idea of this is to create a narrative around your brand, something that noticeably separates it from the rest, that highlights all the positive aspects that can become a win-win for your customers. Storytelling is the center of all high valued marketing strategies.
4. Connect your employees to your brand values
If your employees truly believe that your product is good and adds value to someone's life, they will be able to effectively convey that to your customers. This involves everything from offering good working conditions for everyone to dedicating yourself to teaching every single one of them about what you provide.
Your customers will always come back if they are well attended and receive a clear explanation of what they are going to consume. The link between employee engagement and customer allegiance is becoming increasingly clear and this applies from marketing departments to customer service.
A happy, well-trained team works wonders.
5. Study your target audience
Sometimes a business loses focus and forgets its ultimate purpose: to understand the customer above all else. You need to do proper market research with all the key indicators, conduct surveys and really get to know who you are targeting.
This way you can speak their language, think like them and know what they want. Currently 80% of consumers say they are encouraged to make a purchase when provided with a true personalized experience. To stand out from the competition you must become an expert on your target profiles.
6. Practice loyalty marketing to keep customers longer
Keeping on the lane of knowing your audience, it’s vital to offer them an experience that not only makes them buy what you offer today, but to constantly come back. The most accurate word to explain this is 'comfort'. If a customer feels comfortable while getting to know and acquiring your offering, they will come back later.
The main goal is to increase the depth of the relationship with your customers and thus create grouped and personalized communication campaigns.
On this it’s necessary to fly over all the key processes that lead to your product: website image, purchasing software, customer service availability schedules, purchase benefits and many more. Don’t be afraid to change everything.
7. Do an analysis of your competition
Once you have reviewed and modified the internal aspects of your project, it is time to look across the sidewalk. It’s imperative that you conduct a study of who your main competitors are and what exactly each one brings to the table. What are the differences and commonalities with them?
After that it is important to determine what motivates customers to go for their products instead of yours. This is very easy if your venture is in the digital world, as almost all of this information is in the public domain.
It’s also valid to rely on common suppliers and associates. Professional networks such as Linkedin are a good source of information exchange. The idea is to be able to adapt to the big movements in the field in which you work.
8. Design a differentiation plan
You already know your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, so you are closer to what customers want and value. The logical conclusion is to create a differentiation strategy and choose a dependable digital marketing plan that fits your needs.
This way, your project will capture the recognition, awareness and, if possible, the loyalty of your clients. This will generate a competitive lead that will distinguish you and support you in the long run.
This involves redesigning the way you offer yourself, just as you approached rebranding. This change must be applied in all marketing processes with the corel idea that you offer something unique in the market. It is not only about showing yourself as the best, but as the only one that can offer the best.
9. Build a solid customer service reviewing process
Your customers' opinions matter a great deal. Not only are they an inexhaustible source of feedback for improvement, but it's a window to show others how good you are. Nothing encourages a person to make a purchase more than seeing that others had a satisfactory experience with what you offer.
You should always be aware of reviews.
In addition, it contributes to what we’ve been talking about customer engagement and loyalty. The customer will feel part of your brand and that their voice matters. The need to be taken into account is possibly the most important in a human being and we’re talking about the customer himself adding value to the product.
10. Be sure to speak highly of your competitors
There is nothing that puts you above your competition as having solid values while making business. You don't need to badmouth them to highlight the positive aspects of what you do. A committed customer can tell the difference between a wolf who just wants to survive over the other and an entrepreneur who knows how to work with others.
When tempted, choose instead to speak well of the competition. Keep in mind some positive aspects, but focus the conversation on what YOU have to offer.The ‘They're great at…’ line works wonderfully right before the ‘but we offer…’ convo.
Why should customers pick your company over all the rest
You’re not afraid of rebranding when needed.
You compete by adding value to your products, not by lowering prices.
Instead of just offering something, you tell stories. True day-to-day stories. You engage with emotion.
You have employees who are satisfied and excited about what they do.
You know your audience much better than anyone else.
You offer them an experience that makes them constantly want to come back.
You know your competitors in depth.
You always keep an updated differentiation plan.
You let your customers review your work.
You speak greatly about the competition.
Many companies are not serious about standing out from the competition in a healthy and sustained way. It's a great opportunity to add value to your product and ensure a future of upward success.