It’s been a problem for businesses since the dawn of commerce: you invent an entirely new product or service, it sells like hot cakes – and before you know it, it’s being shamelessly copied by your rivals. 

Your commodity is no longer unique. Even worse, some competitors may be undercutting you, offering the same product or service at reduced quality for a cutthroat price, thereby damaging its cachet and reputation in the market. 

It’s a frustrating situation to be in. There are things you can do to fight back against the copycats, however. The uniqueness of your product or service may be lost forever, but you can still regain the high ground in the eyes of prospects and customers.      

Please note: The guidance below focuses on counteracting copycatting by means of marketing and customer comms. We’ve assumed that your product or service – as innovative as it may be – is not formally protected by any trademarks, patents or copyrights. If it is, then you may wish to seek legal recourse as your first step. 

Bolster your brand identity

In a marketplace crowded with near-identical products and services, having a strong and unique brand identity is crucial. A well-defined brand identity not only sets your offerings apart from competitors, but also forges a deeper connection with your customers.

There are several ways to strengthen your brand’s identity. Firstly, review the story that underpins your brand – i.e. its mission, vision and values. This story is what drives your brand forward and makes it resonate with your audience. 

Sense-check your brand story against the following questions: Does it accurately reflect the origins of, and inspiration behind, your brand? Does it clearly articulate your mission (i.e. what you do) and your vision (i.e. what you aspire to achieve)? Does it connect with your target audience, on an emotional level? 

Once your brand story feels right, you just need to ensure that it’s always communicated in a cohesive and consistent way. The best way to ensure this is by creating tone-of-voice guidelines. These needn’t be exhaustive or dozens of pages long – a few well-chosen adjectives (e.g. authoritative, quirky, disruptive) and a short list of dos and don’ts can suffice.

Highlight your true USP 

Okay, so a specific product or service you offer is no longer unique. So what is unique about your business, on a bigger-picture level? What can’t your competitors easily replicate? 

Perhaps it’s your customer service, or your manufacturing process, or your sustainability efforts. Just ensure that your USP is straightforward enough to be easily communicated without relying on niche jargon or long-winded explanations. 

Consider what proof points you can use to demonstrate this USP, whether that’s leveraging customer testimonials, data, or case studies. Finally, decide how you’re going to showcase your USP, across your website, social presence, email comms and any advertising campaigns you may have planned. 

Educate your customers

Don’t simply wait for your customers to try out knock-off versions of your product or service, only to come back to you when they realise you do it better. Instead, get ahead of the issue by educating customers on the nuances, benefits and value of your product or service. This enables them to appreciate its superiority without having to first make a disappointing comparison.   

Educate through the content that best aligns with your audience and your product or service. For example: if you’re speaking to a time-poor audience about a relatively straightforward product or service, a short video or blog may suffice. If you need to make a more complex, multifaceted argument, you may want to opt for a whitepaper or webinar. 

Offer superior customer support

Most brands promise high-quality customer service these days, and so it’s not always an effective differentiator for prospects. But actually delivering exceptional support to existing customers goes a long way in fostering loyalty and advocacy. This, in turn, makes them far less likely to switch to a competitor offering a very similar product or service – even if it’s cheaper. 

Encourage loyalty through promotions

Customer loyalty isn’t solely borne of customer service. Loyalty programs and personalised offers can also enhance customer retention. If your customers are fed a low-key but steady stream of discounts, freebies or extra benefits, they’ll be less open to being swayed away by copycat rivals.  

Monitor your competitors

Without keeping a close eye on what your rivals are up to, you may not even be aware of them copying your product or offer until it’s ‘too late’ and your customer base starts shrinking. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can keep abreast of competitors’ moves. 

• Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a free tool that provides real-time updates on any given subject.
You can set up Google Alerts for your competitors’ names, which will notify you whenever they are mentioned online, allowing you to stay updated on their latest activities – including launches of new products and services. 

• SEMrush

For more intense monitoring, there’s SEMrush, a digital marketing toolkit that helps businesses gain insights into their competitors’ strategies. Besides alerting you to copying of your products and services, SEMrush offers deep insights into your competitors’ digital marketing strategies, helping you understand their strengths and weaknesses.

• Social media monitoring tools 

Tools such as Hootsuite and Brandwatch will keep a close eye on your rivals’ social media accounts for you. They’ll not only keep you ahead of any new launches, but also help you analyse customer engagement and sentiment around them. 

• Competitor newsletters 

Sign up for all your competitors’ newsletters, and have them tell you about any new product or service launches themselves. It’s also worth regularly checking in on their websites. 

Once you’ve gathered all the information available on any rivals’ launches that encroach on your own offering, you can conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on them. By making clear-eyed comparisons between your product or service and competitors’ copycat versions, you can start formulating effective arguments for sticking with the original. 

Want to get ahead of the competition – and stay there? We can help. Get in touch.