Never Mimic the Competition

Today I read some marketing advice that made me cringe. This "traditional" marketing firm (which shall remain nameless) recommended that when entering a market you study the most successful of your competitors so you can become just like them. The presumption was that if they're successful they're doing something right, so what they're doing is the right thing to do.

It makes so much sense in theory but has nothing to do with reality.

Mimicking the competition is a strategy for failure. If you're just like everybody else, you're offering no compelling reason for anyone to choose you over them. And without a compelling reason your only recourse is to outspend them on advertising. But that's a strategy for failure too because advertising rarely returns more than it costs.

I say, find a niche that nobody else is serving very well, and design your business around them. If you do it right you'll create that compelling reason that makes people want to go to you and only you.