If you aren’t the leader in your category… OR, you are currently the leader but there is a rival gaining ground quickly and stealing minds from you, then here is a strategy that will put a damper on them.
The strongest competitor has picked out a particular strength or clear benefit and used advertising to dramatize it in the minds of consumers. The problem is you cannot be all things to all people. By picking a strength or clear benefit you’ve also left a weakness.
There is no way around this because of the way the human mind works. Everyone realizes there are trade-offs and in order to be really good at something it is assumed you aren’t as good at some other things.
Your competitor has a strength or a clear benefit. If they are successful then enough people already believe it. You want to leave that alone.
Instead think about their weaknesses. Make a list of them. Find the one that is most scary to consumers and dramatize it.
Here is one of the most brilliant attack ads ever written. Very simple. Extremely effective.
For The Millions Who Should Not Take Aspirin
If your stomach is easily upset… or you have an ulcer… or you suffer from asthma, allergies or iron-deficiency anemia, it would make good sense to check with your doctor before you take aspirin.
Aspirin can irritate the stomach lining, trigger asthmatic or allergic reactions, cause small amounts of hidden gastrointestinal bleeding.
Fortunately, there is Tylenol…
Killer copy. Sales took off immediately and vaulted Tylenol to #1 in short order.
Notice how long they took before even mentioning their brand name. This is important. If you do it too early then people will categorize the communication as mud-slinging. You want the information to go into the mind BEFORE they have a chance to categorize it as an attack. Get them worked up emotionally first.
Dramatize the competitor’s weakness FIRST and then hit the prospect with your strength.
An attack ad is MUCH different than a comparison of benefits and features. It is not an ad that says, “Our product is better than y product because we have more xyz, are cheaper, etc.”
No.
It must exploit a weakness that logically FOLLOWS from the competitor’s strength. Then, your STRENGTH must compensate for the competitor’s weakness.
Jason