Comparative marketing strategies, where you compare your product against competitors, can be risky but also very powerful in the right circumstances.  If you have a genuine and measurable advantage over your opposition, you might have a lot to gain by considering it.

It’s worth knowing when to use comparative marketing strategies and how to use them.

First, be clear about what it is.  Making a claim in isolation isn’t comparative.  It’s comparative when you take some specific aspect of your product or service and compare it against those of your opposition.

Direct or Indirect

There are different ways you can get comparative.  If you name a competitor, you’re engaging in direct comparative marketing.  If you don’t name them, explicitly, you’re being indirect.

It’s safer to not be explicit about who your comparison is against.  And you can do this by de-identifying a competitor and still use their information.  But it can be more compelling to name a competitor.

Apples and Apples

Good comparative advertising compares like for like.  You can open yourself up for challenges from competitors or regulators if you do not compare the same attributes or compare in the same context.

A current TV ad for Crimsafe shows a competitor screen being kicked in after 3 kicks.  The Crimsafe screen doesn’t kick in.  The competitor door was installed by the competitor and the Crimsafe door was installed later in the same position.  These are important or the comparison wouldn’t be fair.

Choosing the right comparisons

Choose the point of difference you base your comparison on with care.  The key is to choose a factor that is unlikely to change over the lifetime of your comparison.  If your prices are better than your competitor, keep in mind that unless you have significant cost advantages your competitor could change their pricing and render your campaign ineffective.

Another price-related factor to avoid is ‘value’.  Claiming more value than a competitor can be subjective.

Instead, choose something your competitor is unlikely to be able to change.  The quality of the build, the strength of the product, the geographic reach of your service, the freedom to transact in so many ways or some other factor that should see your advantage stay intact.

What to Show

In your comparative marketing, keep your points on facts and comparisons.  Don’t show too much about your competitors and, as unusual as it sounds, don’t show too much of your own product or service being used.

The message in your comparison needs to get through.  If you start blending other campaign agendas you can blur and weaken your competitive message.

Advertising

Most comparative marketing is in fact comparative advertising.  You can reach a large audience and make a big impression by demonstrating and proving the superiority of what you sell over your competitors.

It’s also the riskiest form of comparative marketing because of the very same attributes that make it so powerful: it’s a broadcast medium, viewed by the masses.

But if you’re accurate in your claims and you compare the same attribute in the same context, getting comparative in mass communications is a powerful strategy.

Sales presentations

Sales presentations are where you can make greater comparisons, and safer comparisons.  You still need to toe the line on comparing accurately, but you can more freely name names.

What’s more, getting comparative in sales presentations also lets you provide more detail and tailor your comparison.  If your customer is already using a competitor, you can tailor your comparison against that competitor.

Depending on what you sell, sales presentations also allow your customer to see a comparison for themselves, directly.  If you can achieve this, it’ll make a much bigger impact.

Social Media

Twitter and Facebook can be powerful ways of achieving comparative marketing by recruiting your contacts to supply the comparisons and the testimonials.

You need to accept that the medium can be high-jacked, and you’re still required to monitor content and treat your social media like any publishing.  But you can outsource the content and get greater credibility by getting customers making your claims on your behalf.

Prepare To defend

Lastly, something to keep in mind if you decide to get comparative, especially in broadcast media, is that you might need to defend your decision against competitors or regulators.

You might be right in your claims but the more effective your campaign the more motivated your competitor is to stop you or to at least rattle the sabre.

And regulators will also require you to provide at least some degree of substance to your claims.  You’ll need to have these at hand.