There were once three young men who were trying to impress the same young lady. All three men were very similar in appearance. Same color hair, eyes, and complexion. Same height and weight. In fact, they were all slightly overweight (not much but just enough keep them from being noticed by the young lady). The young men were overweight because in their attempts to stay as equal competitors, they all began to eat at a fast food restaurant one meal per day. Suddenly, one of the competing young men had an idea. “If I was to bring my lunch to work each day, and took the time and money I would normally spend in the restaurant and spent it using a gym membership, I think I’ll have a competitive advantage on my competition and be noticed by the young lady”.
Soon after this idea came it passed. The young man decided that the change was not worth the risk. Sure he might stand out from the crowd and appear more attractive than his competition, but he didn’t want to loose his place in the crowd of 3, just in case she would choose one of the 3 chubby guys rather than the opportunity for being the only choice if she decided on a much healthier mate. The young man lost his competitive advantage and was wasting his time and money one the fast food restaurant all because of this decision to remain in the status-quo and fear of being a newer, better, different version of himself. He wouldn’t do something else than his competition was already doing.
This story sounds silly but it happens every day. Earlier this week, I spoke to leaders at a large moving and storage company who’d asked to meet with me regarding help determining their marketing direction. It seems that they’d realized that their former marketing director had fallen in the rutt of simply buying huge ineffective ads in phone books and newspapers with no followup or tracking so that he may remain blind to the waste he was contributing to while he collected his salary. So, since he was unable to effectively market their company in today’s market, he was released from his duties.
As I spoke with leaders from this company, the conversation turned to ideas and different ways to take the money they were spending on “double-truck” and full page ads in local phone books all over the country, and use it to market over the web. At one point, one of the gentlemen in the meeting asked if we really wanted to pull out of the phone books if that’s where their competitors are placing ads.
Here’s how it works. Quit trying to outshine your competition everywhere they are. If they buy a billboard… you buy a billboard. If they buy a TV ad… you buy a TV ad. All that does is cause you to continually ride their leftovers. If the phone book is a waste of money, let your competition waste their money there while you just be glad that their not being more effective than that. But by all means, don’t help them continue their effortless positioning by following the crowd and maintaining the status-quo.
If 100 customers will turn to ad advertising medium in which you have 49 other competitors, odds are you’ll pull 2 clients from your marketing (all things being equal). But if only 10 customers turn to a less traditional and less expensive advertising medium in which you only have 1 or 2 competitors, odds are you’ll pull 3-5 clients from your efforts (all things being equal).
Push the envelope with your marketing. Figure out where your competition is doing wasting time and money and do something else than your competition is already doing.
