Personalize content to position yourself over a competitor

Need to convince potential customers as to why you are better than the competition? Creating comparison articles and (landing) pages that highlight your USPs might be a good idea. You can then either tinker with SEO and aim for organic reach or by running ads that target your competitors’ keywords and related search terms. Once you know their interest in a particular competitor, you can adjust your messaging on key pages to highlight your winning qualities over the competition.

You can build audiences using UTM parameters from your campaigns. So, for instance, if someone clicks on an ad link with Company A in the UTM content parameter, they will see competitive content that highlights Company B’s qualities over Company A’s.

This can also work if you have a comparison page explaining how you stack up against each competitor. Simply create an audience for people who have viewed that page. It doesn’t matter how they got to the page, what matters is that now you know they are interested in how you measure up to Competitor A. All you need to do now, is to give them the relevant reasons and tip the scales in your favor. Once they are part of this audience, you can also keep your messaging consistent throughout the website.

You can personalize several parts of your site, not just to highlight why you are better, but how you will make the switch easy.

Competitive headlines and subheads

Summarize why you’re better than your competitors above the fold, using headlines and subheads. For example, highlight specific features or pricing advantages that make you stand out. If your main USP is your dedicated customer support, then mention that as well.

• Find out how our analytics software stacks up against {{competitor name}}.

10X the processing power and dedicated support

• Customers switch from {{competitor name}} to us because they get 5X more users and dedicated support.

See how we stack up

Personalized comparison tables

If you are running competitor ads for various companies at the same time, you may want to show comparison tables targeted at a specific competitor, depending on the ad a visitor has clicked on. You can use Unless to adjust the headlines and rest of the content to emphasize various features. For instance, bring a specific feature set to the fore, or simply display a side by side comparison of a particular competitor instead of all of your competitors.

Effective CTAs

The biggest challenge with competitive advertising is actually getting customers to take the first step (or to switch if they are already using a competitor). People tend to prefer certainty, rather than trying something new. To make the change easy, offer an incentive in your call to action. For instance, “Sign-up today and get 10% OFF on your first year,” or “Free onboarding for {{competitor name}} customers that switch this month.”

The company below offers a web design software for teams. They compete against really big players. Their pricing makes them attractive for people who are looking for a more affordable alternative. They are also browser-based, while many of their large competitors require native app installs.

They use Unless to create highly personalized and compelling landing pages for competitive ads. Furthermore, if someone had landed on the website via a competitive campaign and later returns, they get greeted with an extra incentive!