How to stand out against your competitors without trash talking them

There has never been a better time to start a business. Thanks to the world of social media, brands today have more power than ever before to build relationships directly with their audience, create brand awareness and drive conversions.

But with minimal barriers to entry into the majority of industries, one thing remains to be constant: competition.

Competition isn’t actually a bad thing. In fact, it’s a healthy way to keep our economy ever-evolving, forward-thinking, and innovative in how we can continuously better the products we create and the services we deliver.

Yet in our journey to explore ways to stand out among fellow competitors — in which the number is rising — brands have increasingly adopted a myriad of tactics and strategies to “tornado” their competitors.

One such tactic is the “don’t buy from that brand, buy from us” approach; an approach that one may argue sits under the “cancel culture” movement by promoting a pack mentality towards cancelling, rejecting, calling out, and boycotting a brand — often fueled by social media.

It’s a tactic common in political campaigns, but it also makes an appearance in marketing for small to global brands. While it’s an aggressive form of “comparative” marketing, it gets attention.

The basis of it is rooted in painting their competitors in a negative light (also sometimes known as “cancelling” their competitors) as a way to position their offer to be more superior in the eyes of their consumers.

Exhibit A: a billboard campaign by McDonald’s slamming down and calling the cost of coffee in cafes “dumb”, to position their offering to be better. Source: supplied.

What does “cancelling” or “undermining” a brand look like?

While there’s varying and divided perspectives on the main objective of “cancelling” a brand, the way I see it is that it boils down to one’s intention.

On the one hand, the intent is about accountability. On the other side however (and to the extreme), the intent is about attack and public humiliation.

A polarisation of “I am right, you are wrong” and the goal to lure the competitor’s customers to their own brand and make their competitors feel ostracised. And whilst fundamentally, both are underpinned in shame, the intent in the latter leans on the objective to rise above at the expense of pushing others down.

It begs the question: surely there is a better way for us as brands, leaders, marketers and content creators to rise above and stand out from our competitors without this type of aggressive form of marketing where we speak negatively about them?

You can stand out with grace, not hate

While this form of aggressive marketing catches the eyeballs, there are more empowering ways we can all win in the currency of attention without “undermining”, “cancelling” or “insulting” our competitors.

Stand out from the crowd

1. Share how you do it differently

   Instead of leveraging prime marketing real estate on all the things that your competitors aren’t doing right, shine a spotlight on how your brand does it differently.

   Perhaps you have a certain stringent process in how you design your products to ensure it minimises the footprint on our planet, or you have developed a particular methodology to help your clients go from A to Z.

2. Lean on your brand values

   Your brand values are the the north star of all decisions, actions and marketing.

   With a majority of consumers today saying they buy from a brand based on an alignment in values and what that brand believes or takes a stand on, this is an excellent opportunity gap for brands to showcase their brand values in their content. Ultimately, your value-driven ‘why’ will attract a value-led ‘who’.

   A great example of this is how Burger King UK shared a tweet promoting their competitors during COVID-19. An alignment to one of their values: respect.

3. Focus on your audience, not your competitors

   Another key constant in business is humans: your audience; your existing customers; your potential clients.

   Take the time to pause, observe, and consider what their ever-changing pains, desires, hopes and dreams are. Where possible, swap highlighting the “lack of” from your competitors, with how your brand plans to meet the needs of your audience.

   Businesses and individuals have long challenged each other’s views throughout human history. It’s a powerful yet constructive catalyst for deeper conversations, strategic thinking, and steps towards change and growth — when it’s delivered with grace and respect, instead of shame and humiliation.

Words have energy

This universal tool we have as humans holds power that transcends dimensions; it holds the double-edge sword ability to help, to hurt, to support, to hinder, to heal, to harm, to uplift, to humiliate, to inspire and to shame.

Yes, it’s important for us to use our voice to call-out unacceptable behaviour (whether that be of our competitors or others in the industry) when it’s credible, authentic and not generalised. But when what you’re claiming isn’t supported, and the tonality is “off”, fueling what’s wrong with more wrong won’t make a right.

Words, content, and marketing should be used as a tool for growth, as opposed to a weapon for destruction.