If you are obsessing about your competitors you have already lost.

This is confession number 2 of things that I know that I shouldn’t do, but I am doing.

Becoming fixated on my competition.

I need to caveat that understanding where you sit in relation to your competition is a vital part of building your defensible value proposition, but understanding and obsessing are two very, very different things.

I’ve seen it and now I’ve done it, and from first-hand, experience working with the big guys and also scaling brands the problem is rife.

Hours and hours are spent picking apart their strategies, imitating their products, reacting to their price promotions, and tailoring messages so that it ‘fits in with category norms’.

This ends up with entire categories filled with carbon copy brands, undercutting each other on price to consumers with no loyalty that purchases based soley on availability and price.

The reality is that all businesses have competitors.

Direct competitors- businesses who offer a product or service that is in many cases, identical to you.

And indirect competitors- businesses who also solve the same customer need- that if you didn’t exist your customer would go to instead. This may be a completely different category in entirety, for example, if an energy drink wants to own the 3pm slump the indirect competitors are; coffee, chocolate, a piece of fruit or even an exercise class.

You must know and understand where you fit with all these elements, but make sure you are using your time and energy on what will deliver growth.

You need to focus your energy in building your brand so that it stands out- ensuring that your customer can see and experience the unique value that you deliver.

This stems from a deep understanding of the reason that you exist in the world, the want/need/desire that you solve, why you are the best brand possible to meet your target consumers' needs.

This coupled with a firm understanding of how you want people to feel when they interact with you, will enable you to build an authentic identity and narrative that will stand out and win loyalty amongst your competitors.

A great example of a brand that I am currently obsessing over is Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl Cookies are as the name suggests a Cookie company.

Sweet treats, particularly donuts have seen an overhaul in recent years with Donut Time, Urban Legend coming on the scene.

Crumbl Cookies have paid homage to this with an aesthetic that screams fun and delightful joy, but it is their behaviour that I am most fascinated with.

They have shifted the narrative from a ‘product-led’ to an ‘idea-led’ brand.

Limited edition drops, that whip people up into a frenzy.

TikTok content that is slick (and gets views in the millions)

Merch

Product extensions into card games.

In a world that has felt and continues to feel so hard and serious for frankly as long as I can remember, Crumbl Cookies are providing that antidote that we have all been craving. They are worth a stalk

So back to the competition. Obsession rarely starts out being deliberate. Slowly, surely, incrementally, then all of a sudden it's all-consuming.

In my case it involved me reading lots of other agencies' websites, and following ‘thought leaders on LinkedIn and without me really realising it, I was tweaking, holding back, and adapting what I was saying and how I was saying it. And in the end, I realised had lost the fun, the spark, the magic that I wanted to invoke when I first set out in the world to build a business that did the very thing that I do for my clients get them to act, think and play like a challenger brand.

Do you have an obsession with your competition? Ask yourself this question, how much time are you spending checking out what your competitors are doing, vs how much time and energy are you really putting into building a brand that stands up and stands out?