One of the most important lessons in marketing is that, chances are, if you can do something, so can somebody else.
We might think we have a perfect advertising opportunity. But do we consider: What if our competitor has the same opportunity? Will our ad have the same impact if it’s alongside theirs?
Or take AI: We might imagine that it’ll speed up or improve our processes, but what’s the point if our competitors eke out the same “advantages”?
You might think, well, that means we have to use AI, or we have to seize every opportunity, because if we don’t, we’ll get left behind.
But sometimes the path chosen by everyone else leads directly off a cliff, and our best strategy is to simply not follow the crowd because it may be lost.
That’s why we’re so obsessively focused on what sets our clients apart. What makes them uniquely capable in some important and uncopyable way.
Otherwise they’d get stuck in the loop of copying and being copied. Of chasing, and being chased.
Of camouflaging themselves, instead of standing out.
It’s like that old Warren Buffett idea, that chasing trends is like standing on your tiptoes at a parade. One person does it, and pretty soon everyone’s doing it. No one can see any better, but everyone’s worse off than before.
So we’ve got to consider, before every marketing action, “What would happen if everyone else did the same thing?” Would it still be worth doing?
Or would it be better avoided, so we can do something only we can do?
Kelford Inc. are content marketers for expert advisors. If you’re struggling with what to say and where to say it to attract your ideal clients, we’ll show you the way.