⛳️ How to Fight Your Competitor and WIN.

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The "Us vs. Them" Playbook: How to Position Against Competitors

You’re scrolling through your feed, and there it is: an ad for your biggest competitor. It’s slick. It’s confident. And it’s probably making a claim that you know your product does better. It’s annoying, right?

Most brands see this and have one of two reactions: ignore it completely, or get defensive. The top 1% have a third reaction: opportunity.

Your competition isn't just something to be tolerated; it's a strategic tool you can use to make your own brand stand out. Directly positioning yourself against a competitor is one of the fastest ways to clarify what you stand for and help customers make a choice. Your choice.

Today, as we dive into Module 3: Competitor & Market Research at an intermediate level, we're not just spying on competitors. We're learning how to fight them.

Here’s the strategic playbook we're unlocking today:

• Why you should stop ignoring your competitors and start using them to your advantage.

• Three powerful frameworks for creating "Us vs. Them" ads that highlight your strengths.

• How to draw a line in the sand and make customers feel smart for choosing you.

This is how you turn a competitive threat into your biggest marketing asset. Let's get into it.

🔍 The Big Idea: Comparison Isn't an Attack; It's CLARITY for the Customer.

"Us vs. Them" advertising isn't about petty attacks or running negative campaigns. When done right, it’s a confident, powerful way to help your customers navigate a confusing market. You are drawing a clear line in the sand and saying, "They believe in doing things that way, for those people. We believe in doing things this way, for people like you."

This creates contrast. It simplifies the choice. And it makes customers who agree with your philosophy feel like they've found their team. It's one of the most effective ways to build a loyal tribe.

🧱 The Frameworks: Three Ways to Draw Your Line in the Sand

Here are three proven frameworks for building an "Us vs. Them" campaign.

1. The Feature Smackdown (The Classic Comparison): This is the most direct approach. It's about highlighting a specific, meaningful feature that you have, and your competitor lacks.

• How it works: You create a clear, side-by-side contrast. "They make you do X manually; our software automates it." "Their product contains X ingredient; ours is free of it."

• When to use it: This works best when your feature advantage is significant, easy to understand, and directly solves a major customer pain point. A minor or complicated feature difference will just confuse people.

• Example: A battery company showing their battery lasts 10 hours while the competitor's only lasts 6. Simple, clear, powerful.

2. The Philosophy Fight (The Battle of Beliefs): This is a more advanced, brand-building approach. You're not comparing features; you're comparing your core values and beliefs about how things should be done.

• How it works: You define a fundamental difference in your approach to the market. "They believe in fast fashion; we believe in sustainable, built-to-last quality." "They believe in complex software with a million features; we believe in elegant simplicity that just works."

• When to use it: When your brand is built on a strong mission or a unique point of view. This builds a much deeper connection than a simple feature comparison. It attracts customers who share your worldview.

• Example: A coffee brand's entire marketing could be about "fair trade and organic beans" vs. the "mass-market, mysterious sourcing" of their competitors.

3. The "Enemy of My Enemy" Angle (The Champion Play): This is the most sophisticated strategy. Here, you don't make the competitor the villain. You make the negative outcome their product creates the villain, and you position yourself alongside the customer in fighting it.

• How it works: You align yourself with the customer against a shared enemy. The enemy isn't "Brand X"; it's "the 3 PM sugar crash Brand X causes." The enemy isn't "The other software"; it's "the hidden fees and surprise charges their software hits you with."

• When to use it: When you want to take the high road while still drawing a sharp contrast. It makes you the customer's champion, the one who is protecting them from the bad outcomes created by "the other guys."

• Example: An all-natural cleaning product doesn't attack a chemical brand directly. It attacks the "harsh chemical fumes" and "worrying ingredients" that families want to avoid.

🧠 Real-Life Application: Find Your "Us vs. Them" Angle

Think about your single biggest competitor right now.

• What is ONE key feature they lack that you have? (This is your Feature Smackdown).

• What is ONE core belief you hold about your industry that is the opposite of theirs? (This is your Philosophy Fight).

• What is ONE negative feeling or outcome their customers complain about that your product prevents? (This is your Enemy of My Enemy angle).

You now have three powerful, potential campaign strategies waiting to be built.

THE 1% PLAY: "The Judo Flip" – Let Your Competitor Pay to Warm Up Your Leads

Reacting to your competitor's ads is smart. Hijacking their entire sales pitch in real-time is how you dominate. The "Judo Flip" is an aggressive strategy where you use your competitor's ad spend to create desire, and then you swoop in at the last moment to steal the conversion.

This is about turning their momentum against them.

The "Judo Flip" Execution Plan:

Step 1: Deconstruct Your Competitor's Core Promise. Find their highest-performing ad. What is the single biggest promise it makes? What dream are they selling? (e.g., "Our software makes project management effortless.")

Step 2: Find Their "Broken Promise" or Critical Weakness. Now, become a detective. Go to their landing page, their product reviews, and their social media comments. Find the gap between the dream they sell in the ad and the reality their customers experience. This is their Achilles' heel.

• Example: Their ad promises "effortless" project management, but the top reviews all say, "The setup is a nightmare and takes forever." The broken promise is "effortless."

Step 3: Craft the "Interceptor" Ad. Create your own ad that speaks directly to the audience that has just been primed by your competitor. Your ad's message should follow this formula: "So, you're looking for [Competitor's Big Promise]? Don't get stuck with [Their Broken Promise]. Get the result you actually want with [Your Superior Solution]."

• Example Ad Headline: "Want Effortless Project Management? Don't Get Stuck With a Nightmare Setup. ScribeFlow is ready in 5 minutes."

Step 4: Target Their Audience. This is the kill shot. On platforms like Meta or YouTube, launch your "Interceptor" ad with precision targeting:

• Target interests directly related to your competitor's brand name.

• On YouTube, you can target users who have watched videos from your competitor's channel or who search for their brand name.

• Target audiences whose demographic and psychographic profiles perfectly match your competitor's customer base.

You are now inserting your brand directly into their conversion path, speaking to a customer who is already problem-aware and solution-aware thanks to your competitor's ad spend. You're using their money to warm up your leads, then flipping them with a superior message that addresses their biggest fear at the exact moment of decision. This is not just competing; this is chess.

💣 VALUE BOMB (A Critical Mindset Shift!)

Don't attack your competitor's logo or their customers. Attack the problem their product creates. Frame your business as the obvious, superior solution to that specific problem. This keeps your marketing focused on customer benefits, not petty rivalries, which is always more powerful.

🛠 TACTICAL TIP (Weaponize Their Bad Reviews!)

Go to a review site like Trustpilot or Amazon. Find your competitor's 1- and 2-star reviews. Look for a recurring theme or a specific, painful complaint. This week, draft ONE ad headline for your product that directly solves that exact complaint. For example, if their reviews constantly say "the battery dies so fast," your headline is "Tired of Your Tech Dying on You? Get All-Day Power." You're using their biggest weakness as your new hook.

To the next one, Tomasz.

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