Influencing competitors

I'm reminded by Josh Bernoff at Forrester about the influence of competitors. Josh asks, should you talk about your competitors? Absolutely, and I'd suggest that you should hope they talk about you.

In every market there are competitors (otherwise it isn't really a market), and there will be some influencers working for those competitors. So first, a reality check. It's unlikely that competitors will become your advocates (unless you can convince them into a partnership, for example). But remember that the influential competitors are influential on your prospects - that's the definition of an influencer. So you can't ignore them either.

Trashing a competitor publicly will be counter-productive, but neither are you going to endorse them. So what to do?

Josh suggests a middle ground. Talk about your competitors. Give credit where credit's due. Understand where your points of differentiation are, and emphasise them.

What is the point of this? The point is, you want competitors to talk about you. Given that they are just as unlikely to trash you, they will try to ignore you. They’d rather not talk about you.
Engaging with other non-competitor influencers has the effect of raising your profile in the industry, including your competitors. Because influencers are talking about you, your competitors will be forced to follow. Otherwise, their influence is diminished, because they are not seen as being in touch, or truthful.

This is particularly true for players trying to break into a market. It’s easy for the more established players to dismiss such competition. But they can’t do this if industry influencers are paying you attention. Importantly, talking about your competitors to influencers is very effective, because it aligns you with your competitors. What you are doing by engaging with influencers is creating a program to influence your competitors.

Your measure of success is simple. Do your competitors see you as a competitor? If yes, then that’s all you can do. If no, then you need to start influencing them.

Influencing the competition

I met up with one of Influencer50’s competitors yesterday. It’s always an interesting experience discussing the market and client needs with a rival. Give and take is the broad rule.

Competitors are a primary source of influence for your market. Remember, the important thing about influence is who you’re trying to influence. I’m trying to influence my customers and prospects, and so are my competitors.

Traditional marketing dictates that competitors should be regard as hostile enemy, to be dissed at every opportunity. But that approach doesn’t work anymore – your customers are way too smart for that nonsense.

We show our clients how to engage with influencers, to enlist them in marketing activities. But if competitors are influencers how can you influence them in your favour. Isn’t this an oxymoron?

There are many types of influencer that you can’t expect to be overt advocates. Analysts (the good ones, anyway) for instance. So it is for competitors – they are unlikely to be your advocates. But you can make sure that you are on their radar screen. You can make sure that, when a prospect mentions your firm, your competitor knows who you are and has something other than hearsay to respond with. In fact, competitors appear well-connected with the market place if they understand the strengths and weaknesses of their competition (that is, you).

So meet your competitors. Discuss broad market issues. Discuss other non-present competitors (mine enemy’s enemy, and all that). Show them that you’re human, not an ogre. It also turns out that competitors are just as keen on meeting you as you are on them. There is quid pro quo at play, and it should benefit you both.