How to Steal Customers From Your Well-Established Competition (Without Cutting Prices!)
When you’re starting a new business or trying to grow one that you’ve had for a short while, you always have to deal with competition. These are most likely businesses that are better established than you and already have plenty of customers – customers who could become yours if you make the right moves.
Learn their strengths and weakness
Where are your competitors doing well and where are they failing? It’s a good idea to keep your ear to the ground on social media and pick up mentions of those who are in business around you. Find out what they’re doing well, and try to at least match them. When you know their weaknesses, you can ensure that you excel in this area instead. By doing this, you can outmatch them at all points, making you the smart choice for all potential customers.
Poach on social media
When you have established yourself as having a better quality service, you can start to poach customers from your rivals by employing the same social listening that you did before. Make sure that you send replies to people who complain about a rival company, letting them know that you do things better. You can even offer them a small discount if they come to you instead, positioning it as a gift to make up for the poor experience they’ve had so far. This is something that could even earn you some viral coverage, which could boost your sales further.
Be present
How can anyone choose your business if they don’t know that it exists? Make yourself visible with social media accounts featuring high-quality content, and produce written content such as blog posts which will help potential customers to understand why you’re an expert in your field. A fashion company could put out styling posts, a marketing company could explain the latest Instagram algorithm changes and so on. The important thing is to get your name out there, which can get you in front of new customers and help to change their minds.
Show alternatives
Another great way to directly steal customers is to be aware of what your competitors are doing, and then show alternatives. Let’s say that your main rival is swept up in some kind of controversy. However mild this controversy may be, you can still use it to your advantage. You can create a post on social media or an advert explaining how you don’t do that specific business practice. Of course, you have to be careful about libel – but if the scandal is known, then consumers will understand who you’re talking about. You could also use this technique simply to compare your services or products, showing an unnamed competitor vs yourself.
Introduce new ranges
Another way to become the better option is to build on what your competition is offering, and then go one above. For example, if your company specializes in electrical services, you can get better Electrical Contractor Software so that the customer experience is better, and create new products too. Think about your customer’s needs, and what problems they still have that your products aren’t quite solving. Then offer something that does. This might take a lot of work and thought but it’s the best way to stand out from your competition. You’ll soon find that everyone else is scrambling to copy you, and then you’ll need to think up something new – but by that point, you’ll be a market leader, and you’ll be the one who others are trying to steal customers from.
It’s easier than you might think to do marketing right without having to spend a lot of money. You just have to be smarter than your competitors and ahead of the game, rather than throwing money at it.
