Competitor Conquest
Don’t Just Compete for the Market. Compete
for the Customer.
Book a Demo Talk to MarketStorm 
Every business has competitors. But not every competitor represents the same opportunity, and not every customer of a competitor is someone worth pursuing.
That is where MarketStorm’s approach to Competitor Conquest begins.
We don’t think of competitor conquest as simply placing advertising around a competitor’s locations, targeting a competitor’s name or adding a competitor audience to an existing campaign. Those tactics can have value, and competitor targeting can certainly be used as one component of a broader strategy. But it can also be much more powerful.
When gaining market share is a serious business objective, MarketStorm can build a sophisticated intelligence strategy around the competitors a company wants to challenge, the products or services where the opportunity exists, the markets where the battle matters most and the consumers whose behavior suggests they may actually be in play.
Competitor targeting is a tactic. Competitor Conquest can be a growth strategy.
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Competitor Targeting A TACTIC
- Place ads near competitor locations
- Target competitor names
- Add competitor audiences to existing campaigns
- Can be useful as part of a broader strategy
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Competitor Conquest A GROWTH STRATEGY
- Identify the right competitors to challenge
- Focus on high-opportunity products, services and markets
- Reach consumers most likely to be in play
- Build a sophisticated intelligence strategy that drives real results
Start With the Competitor.
Then Get Much More Specific.
Most businesses can quickly name their competitors. The more important question is what, specifically, they are competing with them for.
A national company may compete with another national brand across dozens of product categories but see a particular opportunity within only two of them. A regional company may face one competitor in its established markets and completely different competitors as it expands. A local business may be battling a dominant operator for one high-value service while already performing strongly in other parts of the business.
MarketStorm can build conquest strategies around that level of specificity.
We can look beyond the
competitor as a company and focus on the products, services, categories, markets and consumer
behaviors that define the actual competitive opportunity.
That matters because a consumer’s relationship with a competitor is not necessarily the opportunity.
The opportunity is the moment when that consumer may be open to another choice.
THE STARTING POINT
A Competitor More than just a name.
GET MORE SPECIFIC
Products & Services Where the real
opportunity exists.
Categories Focus on the most
relevant areas.
Markets Prioritize where the
battle matters most.
Consumer Behaviors Identify the audiences most
likely to be in play.
The Actual Opportunity Consumers who may be open to another choice.
Find the Consumers Who May Actually Be in Play
Traditional competitor targeting can be remarkably broad. A consumer visited a competitor’s location, browsed a particular category or fits a predefined audience, so the consumer becomes a target. MarketStorm goes further.
The MarketStorm Intelligence Engine™ uses behavioral intelligence, AI and custom algorithms to look for patterns that may indicate emerging intent. Our ProtoSignals™ methodology helps us recognize when behaviors begin forming a pattern relevant to the product or service being contested.
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Competitor Exposure Has interacted with a competing business in some way.
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Behavioral Intent Shows signals of an emerging need or decision.
That means we don’t have to treat everyone associated with a competitor as equally valuable. Someone can be familiar with a competitor without being in market. They can visit a competitor without being dissatisfied. They can read about a competing product without being prepared to change. Our objective is to isolate the audience where competitive exposure and relevant behavioral intent begin to intersect.
Knowing who the competitor reaches is useful. Knowing who may be ready to reconsider is much more powerful.
Compete at the Product and Service Level
This is where Competitor Conquest becomes considerably more sophisticated. MarketStorm can get very specific about what a competitor offers and where those offerings overlap with the client’s growth priorities.
A company does not necessarily need to conquest every customer of a competitor. It may want customers interested in a particular product line. It may want consumers researching a specific service. It may want to challenge a competitor only within certain markets, during particular periods or around particular areas of opportunity.
That allows the strategy to move from:
“Target people interested in Competitor A.”
To something much closer to:
“Identify consumers demonstrating intent around the specific products or services where we want to take share from
Competitor A.”
That is a fundamentally different level of precision. It also means Competitor Conquest can be used by organizations of very different sizes. A local business can focus on a handful of competitors within a tightly defined market. A regional company can build different competitive strategies across its footprint. A national brand can identify specific competitors, product categories and market opportunities at scale.
BROAD TARGETING Competitor A
- HVAC Installation
- HVAC Repair
- Indoor Air Quality
- Ductwork Services
- Maintenance Plans
All competitor interest treated alike.
PRECISION CONQUEST Specific Opportunity
- Priority Product or Service Focus on the exact offerings that overlap with your goals.
- Relevant Market Target specific geographies or operating areas.
- Emerging Intent Find consumers showing signs of interest or need.
- Consumers in Play Reach the right audience, not everyone.
The principle remains the same.
Be precise about whose share you want, where you want it and what you are competing for.
Conquest Before the Search
The most difficult place to begin a competitive battle is often the moment when the consumer has already decided what they want and is comparing companies side by side. At that point, every competitor wants the same consumer.
Paid search, Maps, marketplaces and other demand-capture environments become crowded precisely because the consumer has made their intent explicit.
MarketStorm gives brands an opportunity to begin the competitive conversation earlier.
Within the Intent & Influence Layer, a consumer may already be demonstrating relevant behavior while preferences are still forming. That creates an opportunity to introduce an alternative, reinforce a differentiator or simply make another brand familiar before the consumer reaches the final comparison stage.
The objective is not necessarily to persuade someone to abandon a decision they have already made.
It is to become part of the decision before it is made.
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EARLIER IN THE JOURNEYIntent & Influence Preferences are still forming. Brands have an opportunity to introduce an alternative, reinforce a differentiator or simply make another brand familiar.
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LATER IN THE JOURNEYSearch & Comparison Intent is explicit. Multiple competitors are pursuing the
same consumer.
From Competitive Exposure to Intent Retargeting
A sophisticated conquest strategy should not end with one competitive signal or one advertisement.
MarketStorm can use the initial signal to identify an opportunity, serve advertising, verify that we are reaching a human and then use Intent Retargeting to continue the relationship with relevant audiences.
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Competitive
Signal -
Relevant
Intent -
Initial
Exposure -
Human
Verified -
Intent
Retargeting -
Continued
Influence
The consumer can then encounter the brand across available media environments as the journey develops.
They may see Display advertising while researching. Later they may encounter the brand through Connected TV. Streaming Audio can continue the relationship when there is no screen. Native can reach them while they are reading and exploring. Digital Out-of-Home can connect physical exposure with a larger digital audience strategy. We aren’t simply following someone because they encountered a competitor.
We are using competitive intelligence as one signal within a larger understanding of intent.
Market Share Is Won Market by Market
Competitor Conquest becomes even more powerful when combined with market intelligence at local resolution.
A national brand may have one obvious national competitor, but that doesn’t mean the competitive environment is identical everywhere. Regional brands, local operators, product availability, pricing, consumer preferences and brand strength can vary dramatically by geography.
MarketStorm can adapt the competitive strategy accordingly.
In one market, the opportunity may be taking share from the national category leader. In another, a regional competitor may be far more important. Somewhere else, the client’s brand may already be dominant and the objective may be defensive rather than aggressive.
This allows a national conquest strategy to operate with local competitive intelligence.
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National Leader
The opportunity may be taking share from the national category leader.
COMPETITIVE FOCUS: CONQUEST
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Regional Rival
A regional competitor may be the more relevant opportunity in this market.
COMPETITIVE FOCUS: LOCAL GROWTH
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Strong Position
The client’s brand may already be dominant and the objective may be defensive rather than aggressive.
COMPETITIVE FOCUS: DEFENSE
The strategy can be national.
The competitive battle is often local.
Competitor Conquest Can Be an Add-On. Or It Can Be the Strategy.
Many businesses initially think of competitor targeting as a small addition to an existing media plan. It can absolutely work that way.
A company may allocate a portion of its campaign to competitive audiences, test specific competitors or use conquest as one component of a broader audience strategy. That can be a sensible place to begin. But that is not the limit of the capability.
We have also seen what can happen when an organization makes gaining competitive market share a serious strategic priority and supports that objective accordingly. Instead of treating conquest as a small audience segment, the company builds a coordinated strategy around the markets it wants to win, the competitors it wants to challenge, the products or services where it sees opportunity and the consumers most likely to be open to another choice.
That gives MarketStorm considerably more room to use the sophistication of the Intelligence Engine.
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Audience discovery can become more granular.
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Competitive strategies can differ by market.
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Creative can address specific
areas of differentiation. -
Intent retargeting can continue the relationship.
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Cross-channel activation can build familiarity over time.
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Measurement can look for changes not only in direct response but also in branded search, direct traffic, brand consideration, physical visitation and other relevant business signals.
There is a difference between running competitor targeting and building a strategy to take market share. MarketStorm can do both.
The Larger Commitment Creates a Different Kind of Opportunity
Competitor Conquest does not become more sophisticated simply because more money is spent. It becomes more sophisticated when the business makes the competitive objective important enough to build a complete strategy around it.
That commitment gives us the ability to ask better questions.
Which competitors actually matter? Where are
they strongest? Where are they vulnerable? Which products or services represent the greatest opportunity? Which
markets should be prioritized? What behaviors indicate that a consumer may be open to an alternative? What should
that consumer understand about our client’s brand? How should that message change as intent develops? What happens
after the first exposure? And what evidence would tell us that the competitive position is actually changing?
Those questions move Competitor Conquest beyond media buying.
They turn it into market strategy powered by audience intelligence.
Creative Matters More in a Conquest Strategy
Finding a competitor’s potential customer is only half the job.
The brand still needs to give that consumer a reason to consider something different.
That makes creative strategy particularly important in Competitor Conquest. The message should reflect the actual competitive opportunity. Depending on the business, that might involve a product difference, service advantage, value proposition, local presence, customer experience, availability or another meaningful distinction.
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01 INTELLIGENCE
Who may be open to another choice?
The intelligence helps us determine who may be open to another choice. Behavioral intelligence identifies relevant audiences and competitive opportunities.
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02 CREATIVE
Why should that choice be you?
The creative helps answer why that choice should be you. Creative communicates the difference that matters to
the consumer.
When those two pieces work together, competitor conquest becomes much more than repeatedly putting a logo in front of someone who happens to know another brand.
Measure Whether the
Market Is Moving
The ultimate objective of an aggressive conquest strategy isn’t simply clicks. It is change. Depending on the business and available measurement, MarketStorm can look at signals such as website behavior, branded search, direct traffic, conversions, CRM outcomes, brand lift, footfall and other indicators that help us understand what is happening in the market.
For national or multi-market brands, we can also look for differences between markets. A conquest strategy may produce strong movement in one geography and require a different approach somewhere else.
No single metric proves that market share has moved, and we don’t need to pretend that every customer journey can be perfectly reconstructed. Instead, we look for multiple forms of evidence that help answer the more important question:
Are we changing consumer behavior in the markets we set out to influence?
SIGNALS OF MARKET CHANGE
- Branded Search
- Direct Traffic
- Website Behavior
- Brand Lift
- Footfall
- CRM Outcomes