You woke up at 2 in the morning after having dreamt of an epic business idea.
“It’s one of those mind-blowing ‘Aha!’ moments again!” you say to yourself.
At this point, your brain is running at 274 miles per hour taking in more ideas, figuring out the possibilities, and calculating the risks (among other things).
Simply put, you’re dead excited about the new business idea that you’re practically obsessed by it. You then reach out to your phone to contact your business partner to tell him what’s up.
Just minutes after your conversation with him, however, all hope and enthusiasm you had in you have been extinguished. #CompetitionProblems
Your business partner was very quick to point out how GINORMOUS and well-known your competitors are, that it’s borderline impossible for you to succeed.
*sigh*
“How on earth do I succeed at marketing this new business if I’m going against established brands?” You asked yourself.
Friends, if you’re asking that very question right now, then I’m glad that you’re here. I will share with you five effective marketing strategies that will help you dominate even the most established of brands.
If that’s what you’re trying to do right now, then you absolutely need to read on.
1. Focus on what makes your brand special.
There is no point in playing the marketing game in the big brands’ homecourt. I mean, there’s just no point in fighting them in something that they are already well known for.
Instead of going on a suicidal mission such as that, you can focus on highlighting the things that make you special. That way, your competitors will somewhat become irrelevant to your audience as they read your marketing materials, since you’re talking about the things that are unique about your brand.
A solid example would be how VIDGO is slowly but surely gaining some traction despite them competing against a ginormous brand like NETFLIX.
If you check out VIDGO’s content on the internet, you’ll notice how they won’t fail to mention the fact that they’re taking Live TV Streaming to a whole new level — something that NETFLIX doesn’t quite have yet.
NETFLIX only allows its users to watch TV shows or series once it’s available in their library of movies/shows. VIDGO, on the other hand, gives their users the ability to watch TV shows, news, and channels live.
VIDGO’s marketing strategy has proven to be so effective, to the point where reputable websites with millions of monthly traffic like HuffingtonPost, Mashable and Tech.co have written about them.
2. Show genuine concern for your customers.
You’ve heard it, right? Customers feel that their concerns are ignored.
Customer A bought a product from a ginormous company. The product ended up being defective, so customer A experienced truckloads of inconvenience.
When customer A complained to the company, he/she didn’t get a single reply.
An even worse scenario is when the company does reply, yet the kind of message that they send to their customers are generic or borderline cookie-cutter/useless messages.
Scenarios like these often make the customers feel unappreciated.
This kind of scenario is quite typical for huge brands for a lot of reasons.
Check out the majority of Upwork’s reviews/feedback. You’ll notice how the freelancing site isn’t taking the time to address their community’s complaints.
Here’s another comprehensive review of Upwork. You will know what it does, how it operates, what are some of the pitfalls and how to avoid them so you can hire the best talent for your business (at the best price!).
Here’s a question: How do you think their customers feel when no one from the company is answering their complaints or problems?
If you’ll take the time to show genuine concern for your customers by providing amazing support, there’s a good chance that they’ll choose you over the huge brands.
3. Don’t be everywhere.
You don’t have to be on FB, LI, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter (among other social media sites) if you don’t have enough resources to stand out on the platform.
Instead of spreading yourself too thin, you should try focusing on 2 – 3 platforms (maybe even one if that’s the only thing your budget allows), that way, you’ll manage to stand out and create a profile that has a decent number of followers.
Don’t be obsessed with being all over the internet. Just like in most things, focusing on quality and not so much on quantity can pay you dividends.
Important note: I am not telling you to ignore the other social media sites. What I am telling you is you need to consolidate your resources and focus on 1 – 3 platforms for now. Once your resources allow you to pursue other platforms, then you hands down need to grow on other sites as well.
Remember that the internet is continuously expanding, if you aren’t trying to expand your visibility as well, you’ll end up getting left behind.
4. Embrace being the underdog.
You can bet your family jewels that humans have the inclination to like the underdogs. A study conducted way back in 2007, and 2009 is a good proof of this claim.
Both studies tell us that there is value in embracing your role as being the underdog. When you emphasize this point to your audience (while not sounding like a beggar or a company that lacks self-esteem), this can inadvertently cause your audience to support you instead of the existing company that they are transacting with.
5. Give incentives.
Huge brands won’t bother with giving incentives that much since they’re expecting their audience to chase after them — mainly because of how established they are. Because they have an existing pool of customers and they have a sense of “stability” in their company, they don’t bother to pursue new customers as much as new companies would. In short, some established brands often do not give as much “love” to their prospective customers.
That’s what you’ll exploit.
You can set yourself apart by giving away meaningful incentives to your prospective customers to win them over.
Notice how I highlighted the word “meaningful?” I wanted to highlight the word because a meaningful incentive can work wonders for you. It has the ability to bring in more sales, leads and even influence your customers to share your products their network of connections proactively.
On the flip side of the coin, however, giving away craptastic incentives will either get you ignored, or worse, your prospective customers might end up getting really annoyed at you.
That being said, should you decide to follow this tip, be sure to make your incentives worthwhile for your prospective customers. Otherwise, the whole thing can backfire on you.
What’s next?
Are there marketing strategies that you can share with our readers that can help them dominate their niche, despite them competing with reputable brands?
If you answered with a “yes,” please share your marketing strategies in the comments section below. Cheers!
