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9 Comments

How do you compete against a more established competitor?

Hey, we all face competition in one or another way. What's your approach when you talk to leads that prefer your competitor's cool features? How do you differentiate your offering?

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    Hey @jdles, definitely a good question and we ran into it ourselves when marketing Blook - https://blook.io. We help register U.S. LLCs / Corporations There were several existing competitors and to set us apart we came to the following differentiators:

    -Lower pricing: With more automation, and a leaner team we have less overhead than the traditional incumbents and could provide lower pricing for our customers.
    -Better service: We'd all wear different hats and all did customer service. Talking to our customers everyday and just being as nice and helpful as we could, definitely won us over a few customers.
    -Move quickly: Since we're lean we're able to adapt and respond to customers new requests and add in new services much quicker than our competitors.

    At the end of the day, its a good thing there's competitors because it shows theres already a market available :)

    Hope this helps!

    Cheers,
    Pedro

    1. 1

      Thanks, @Pedro_M! Loved this one "Talking to our customers everyday and just being as nice and helpful as we could, definitely won us over a few customers."

      And moving fast!!!! Appreciate your feedback.

  2. 2

    I just finished a book called "The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" and the first few chapters were very insightful. They're likely to provide an answer to your question

    I'll add that one would need to address this question first: Do you offer the exact same feature(s) of your competitor or are the two of you in the same industry with different products?

    The mantra of the book was that brands often succeed with the perception of having a better product, and rarely on having better products.
    Another thing, sometimes it is best to position your band with "alternative" products, rather than with seemingly "better" products, especially when you haven't established yourself as the first.

    One of the examples mentioned in the book was about McDonald's and Burger King. While McDonald's was/is the leader in the fast food industry, "words" linked to McDonald's are undoubtedly "fast", or "kids".
    When Burger King tried to compete with McDonald's, they did not try to compete on these words. Instead, they focused on different ones. Sometimes opposite.

    To quote: "Burger King’s most successful years came when it
    was on the attack. It opened with “Have it your way,”
    which twitted McDonald’s mass-manufacturing
    approach to hamburgers. Then it hit McDonald’s with
    “Broiling, not frying” and “The Whopper beats the big
    Mac.” All these programs reinforced the No. 2, alternative
    position.
    "...

    "If McDonald’s owns kids, then
    Burger King has the opportunity to position itself for
    the older crowd, which includes any kid who doesn’t
    want to be perceived as a kid
    "..."To drive the concept into prospects’ minds, Burger
    King would need a term. It could be grow up. Grow up
    to the flame-broiled taste of Burger King.
    "

    This just illustrates two "laws" among the 22 mentioned. I highly recommend reading the entire book :-)

    1. 1

      Really helpful. Thanks, @ViceCaz!! Do you mind talking a bit more about the "perception"?

  3. 2

    Keep interviewing leads. Listen and get insights. Quantify data. Follow these folks for ideas. https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/

    1. 1

      Thanks!! Just signed up!

  4. 2

    In my case, I am trying to offer one thing. But I try to offer this one thing really well. I already have bunch of competitors in the market and the best way to differentiate myself is finding some value that non of them are offering. I have already came up with couple of them. And talking to my target group helped a lot.

    1. 1

      Great approach!!

  5. 2

    This comment was deleted 5 months ago.

    1. 2

      Loved this comment "The best is when you’re scratching your own itch. Then you’d be your own customer by being in the market for such a service, and unhappy with the alternatives." :-)

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