Am I a Marketing Sheep? 261 Questions.
"You're nuts."
That's what Justin Singer of SMBology reports hearing from roughly half of the people he's heard from about the Competitors page on his Web site.
Yes, he lists all of his competitors on his Web site. Furthermore, it's a main navigation link.
No, it's not smart to connect potential customers to your competitors, unless that is what they want.
So, who wants to know who your competitors are? According to Justin, its the other half of the people he talks to. In a competitive market (there are 28 competitors listed on his site), Justin wants to differentiate his business on trust. With one word on his home page, he communicates the following:
If we were trying to pull a fast one on you; if we weren't willing to stand behind our service; if we didn't believe we were the best solution for you, would we put a list of competitors on our Web site?
There is no doubt that Justin is losing potential business because some of his visitors will check out his competitors. But, he believes he's gaining the right customers by demonstrating that SMBology is trustworthy supplier who's not afraid to stand side by side with others in the market.
Justin wants to do business with those customers who say "that's gutsy. That's who I want handling my IT services."
In every marketing campaign there are those things that we as marketers know will land with our target audience. When good marketing messages conflict with knee-jerk fears about "looking corporate;" when effective copy is dumbed down so that no one gets left out, are you prepared to defend your best prospects' needs and desires?
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