​5 Ways to Burn Down the Competition

Obligatory warning: It’s summertime, so we have campfires on the brain. We, however, are not actually suggesting that you start a fire and incinerate your competition like a fluffy delicious marshmallow on a stick. Mmm! Now back to the blog post… 

Looking for some surefire ways to beat the competition in your industry? Look no further! Proper execution of these tried and tested methods are sure to give you an advantage in the marketplace: 

​Invest in Content 
Content-based SEO focuses on providing the types of helpful content that people are actively looking for, which is why it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Providing a benefit to consumers first and promoting your business second is a great way to get your name in front of your target audience in a way that feels trustworthy and safe. You can then parlay this trust into a relationship that evolves into brand loyalty.  

When looking for places where you can integrate rich and meaningful content into your business, don’t limit yourself to just product descriptions and blog posts. Use other types of optimized on-page content like infographics, videos, white papers, tutorials, case studies, buying guides, planning tools, and customer reviews. All of these will work together to give your business the content strategy that it needs to be successful! 

Rock Social 
Speaking of content, social media is a great place to curate and post content that’s meaningful to your current and prospective customers. Remember, you shouldn’t just post your own content. Follow other accounts that your target audience also follows and look for the chance to bridge the gap by sharing their content as well. This will result in more satisfied followers and can help provide partnership opportunities with other businesses as well. Basically, be sure to listen as much (if not more) than you talk on social media. Then use what you hear to drive future content and improve your business. 

Create Targeted Ads 
Being able to put your offerings in front of consumers when they’re searching for exactly what you sell is huge! Online pay-per-click ads essentially let your business jump the line in front of businesses that are just optimizing their sites and not paying for ad placement. You can adjust your bids in real-time to bump up your placement so that you can be prominently featured on the search engine results page above your competitors who may have more resources invested in their businesses’ long-term strategy.  

Imitate Success 
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and there’s no place where this is truer than in business. If you see that your competitors are succeeding by offering certain types of promotions (ex. free shipping or quarterly inventory cleanouts) or communications (ex. weekly email newsletters or monthly industry recaps), you should consider going in that direction as well. This doesn’t mean that you should just copy whatever they’re already doing, because this will make you look like you don’t have any creativity at all. But it does mean that you can use their success to find underlying opportunities for your business to jump on as well.  

Go Local 
With the resurgence of “support local” campaigns, more and more people are looking to spend their money in their local communities, which means that local marketing is more important than ever before. Find out where other local businesses advertise and what they do to get the word out about their offerings. Respond to online reviews in local forums and on rating sites like Angie’s List and Yelp. Be sure that your customer service and marketing teams are as dedicated to local brand building as they are national efforts.  

Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Business Blogging and Web Copywriting. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and son and enjoys cooking, watching sports, and spending time together as a family. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about current marketing trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!