Cindy Nguy
First, it’s always great to monitor what the competition is doing. There are a couple tools to analyze the competition that we love (note, there are a ton more tools but we’ll leave that for another post.)
Periodically check their website for any new product announcements or set up news alerts for your top 3 competitors brand names. Visit technology targeted websites to see if there are any brands actively promoting their products to your target audience and pay close attention to the messaging. What are they selling, and how can you differentiate your brand?
Once you have an idea of what’s going on within the competitive landscape – think of ways to “own” this space. Competitive conquesting campaigns demand a high-frequency approach to change a users consideration set. It’s necessary to surround a user to drive the thought leadership required to change your target users mind.
Create a keyword targeted display campaign targeting competitors product names and brand names. Display ads will serve within relevant editorial content about your competitors across the web.
This requires a little bit more work but it’s extremely effective to target users who are already using your competitors’ product. To do this, build an audience of users that have identified that they are currently using a competitors’ product. This can be done through a lead form or integrated into the sales process. Another way to identify those users is to use a tool like Clearbit to automatically identify the tech stack of incoming leads.
Once the audience is created, target the audience using CRM targeting across search & display. Take this strategy a step further by expanding your highly qualified audience into a lookalike or similar audience.
Target your audience during key events whether your competitor is sponsoring or has a presence at this event.
Use a variety of channels to ensure full coverage including:
Finally, target users based on competitors brand names, product names, misspellings and of course any query that contains “competitors” or “alternatives.”
Competitive conquesting campaigns are a great way to ensure your brand becomes part of the buyers’ considerations set. Using these four tactics you can get your message in front of an audience that might be considering your competition instead. So get out there and redirect attention away from your competition and back to your brand.
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