Revealed: The most expensive mistake in marketing

Image: Charles Deluvio.

The road ahead is closed. Soon, a line of traffic builds up…

One driver does a U-turn, and confidently heads off at speed in the opposite direction, before turning down an adjacent street. Seeing how confident this driver seems, other drivers follow him, then other drivers follow them. The initial driver has no idea where they’re going. And now they’re all lost, wasting their time and running out of fuel!

Here’s why I’m telling you this. Following the marketing tactics of your competitors has the exact same effect.

Allow me to explain.

The most expensive mistake in marketing

You’ve no idea if the marketing your competitors use is working or if they’re running out of time and money. Following them is always a very risky tactic.

Here’s just one extremely common example of how the odds are stacked against you. It comes from the world of advertising.

Advertising providers give ads away to companies, knowing that when a company’s competitors see their advertisement, they’re also likely to advertise. These free ads are simply bait, to hook others in your industry.

Google and Facebook offer free advertising coupons all the time, knowing as soon as you use them, they win. They’ve done the numbers. They know a hefty subset of competitors will assume, the ads MUST work, if (whoever) is advertising there.

And yes, this follow-the-follower approach applies to every area of marketing, not just advertising.

If you’re not attracting enough new clients or making enough sales, stop following the followers. In short, quit dabbling. Your marketing needs to be meaningfully different. And it can’t be meaningfully different if it’s just like your competitors.