Competition and Digital Marketing
The competition is fierce! Many marketers say that one of the biggest problems they face when it comes to their digital strategies is the competition. But why is competition such a massive roadblock? And what can be done about it? Read on to learn more about the competition problem.
In business, competition is a well-known and well-studied threat; if a competing business offers a similar product for a lower price and does a better job of reaching your target audience, they could easily wick away much of your customer base.
Ultimately, there are three main issues that interfere with your marketing strategy.
Higher costs. Dealing with competitors usually means higher costs, both in terms of time and money. If you’re competitively bidding on advertising and many of your competitors are aggressively bidding on the same keywords as you, the cost of an ad for those keywords is going to increase.
Lower visibility. Competition also lowers your visibility in some context. For example, if you and a competitor have ads side by side, users may only take the time to fully read one of them or they may feel overwhelmed by the advertisements and choose to skip over them altogether.
User confusion. We’re exposed to over 4K ads per day, so if a user sees ads that are similar, they may walk away feeling confused. Or worse, they may not remember either brand or get the two mixed up!
Dealing with the Competitor Problem
The first step is to get to know your competitors. Understanding their strengths and weaknesses will give you a clear path to optimizing your offers and your presentation. Noting their most powerful marketing strategies can help you decide whether you want to avoid those specific areas or lean into them and double down.
We like to use tools like, Meta Ads Library and TikTok Top Ads to see what the competition is up to.
Now that you’ve seen what the competition is doing, you don’t want to go and copy them (that could lead to User Confusion). Figure out what makes your brand different or pursue different strategies that will distinguish you from your closest competition. In some cases, this will also allow you to find inexpensive alternative paths to reaching your target customers. For example, your target audience is primarily Gen Z and you know they spend a lot of time on TikTok — now is your time to launch TikTok ads and reach your customers where they are (before the competition does!).
Focus on Retention
It’s a fact, customer retention is less expensive and more effective than customer acquisition. If you’re already spending a hefty sum on your digital marketing strategies, you should maximize the value of each new customer by offering customer loyalty incentives and building stronger client relationships to attract more customers to your brand.
Wrapping Up
There are many ways that you can address the competition problem in your digital marketing efforts. Some are going to be more favorable for your brand than others, so it’s up to you to study your competition carefully, set the right budget and analyze your effectiveness to choose the best path forward.