Should I Copy My Competitors' Marketing Strategy?

Should I Copy My Competitors' Marketing Strategy?

Join our host, Toby Rosen, as we uncover the secrets to refining your advertising, content marketing, and client acquisition methods by analyzing your competitors. We'll guide you through the essentials of scrutinizing ad spends, messaging, and platforms to sharpen your strategies.

Discover how personalized client service, showcased through compelling testimonials and case studies, can set your firm apart. This episode lays the groundwork for building a data-driven, adaptive strategy that evolves with the legal market and client expectations.

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For more, visit rosenadvertising.com

Chapters

• 0:15 Copying Competitor Strategies for Success
• 14:46 Leveraging Technology for Marketing Success
• 18:21 Adapting Marketing Strategies for Success

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Should I copy my competitors' marketing strategies me with pretty frequently, whether it's an SEO strategy or a pay-per-click strategy or something on Google, my Business copying competitor strategies can be a pretty powerful tool, because copying competitor tactics what we mean here is we mean analyzing their marketing, their operational techniques, these other firms that you're competing with. We are analyzing what they're doing and we're using these tactics to attract and retain clients and potentially steal some of the market share away from those competing firms. But here's the thing it's not just about imitation without innovation. This is about leveraging proven methods to enhance your firm's performance while adding your unique touch. We cannot just copy what the other guy is doing. So let's quickly jump into three of the top areas where we can copy our competitors. These are actually legitimate techniques and I don't want to bad mouth this too much. So let's jump into it. Number one is their advertising methods, and, of course, successful firms are going to be spending quite a bit of money on advertising and usually they're going to be doing that across a couple of different platforms. So, whether they're doing billboards or radio or TV, or pay-per-click campaigns on Google, social media, on LinkedIn, facebook, instagram, sponsored content on legal blogs or on websites. All of these tactics are legitimate and all of them are really interesting. So what we're doing here is looking at what these competitors are doing, analyzing their strategies, so we can figure out how much budget they're allocating to each objective, the messaging that they're using, the platforms they're prioritizing and maybe some of how their funnel is working. Number two we want to look at their content marketing. This is a really key area, even with the proliferation of AI, and really what content marketing is is all of the creating and sharing of valuable content that they're doing, whether it's on the website or the blog, or on their YouTube channel, or on a privately hosted webinar, whatever it is. We want to examine these efforts, identify the topics that are working well for this competitor, the formats of content that are resonating with their potential clients and the channels that they're using to effectively distribute that content. So if a competitor's blog on estate planning consistently has really high engagement you know, a 25% like rate and tons of comments we can look at addressing similar topics in our marketing and then adding a little bit more, so providing a little bit more insight, or even shifting things a little bit to make it more multimedia, and that way we can stand out while using a topic we know already gets some engagement.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Number three here is their client acquisition techniques. This is really important to look at, because number one and number two don't matter at all if we don't have a good way to acquire these clients and successful law firms. They're always employing robust client acquisition techniques. Their funnel is going to be really, really tight and there's going to be very minimal leakage, and these can range whether it's from an e-book or a free consultation at the top of the funnel all the way to referral programs and incentives that are getting existing clients to bring in new business for the firms. So some of these could be a little bit more difficult to see, but we really want to check what they're doing. They could also be using a CRM, a client relationship management system, to help streamline and maintain these relationships and continue and increase engagement. And you won't be able to find out every piece of this, but the more you can understand about your competitor's tactics will allow you to adopt and adapt them for your firm. So if a competitor's referral program is really thriving, they're telling you about it at your networking lunch. Copy it and try to figure out how you can enhance it, add more benefits, make it more personalized and make it more successful than your competitor is.

Speaker 1: 4:07

But look, the objective here is not just to copy what your competitor is doing. What we're trying to do here is take these ideas and add to them. We're trying to innovate based on these ideas. We want to add our firm's unique value proposition, make sure our idea is consistent with our brand identity, and then we're continuously measuring and tweaking our strategies so that we get to those optimal results. And by approaching it this way, we're going to stay competitive and we're going to maintain our distinct presence in the market. Because adopting these competitor tactics, yes, there are a lot of significant advantages for us, but leveraging these highly competitive strategies that you know somebody is already competing in, there are some downsides as well. But before we get into that, here's what we're really trying to do.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Here's what the pros of copying these competitor tactics really are, and number one is proven success. It's probably the most compelling reason to copy the competitor's tactics because we are assured of market viability. When a competitor is making money and their strategy is yielding those results, this is an indicator to us that the approach resonates with the target audience. So if a law firm has achieved really substantial growth through these targeted social media campaigns or through a specific type of link building for SEO. We can then go and implement a similar strategy based on what they're doing, and we know that there's a proven demand for legal services in that arena. So we capitalize on their success and we mitigate the risk of investing time and resources into an untested method. This helps us adopt the best practices that we can and then quickly refine them to fit our value proposition and our client base.

Speaker 1: 5:49

Number two, and one of the big reasons we really want to do this, it's sort of a dovetailing into proven success but cost efficiency, because it's already proven. We know that we're going to be able to skip over a significant amount of trial and error. This can be time consuming and costly and there are no guaranteed results in pretty much anything in marketing, even when we're copying a competitor. But by observing and then copying the tactics that your competitors are using, we significantly reduce this learning curve. So if we notice a competitor's blog is attracting a ton of traffic and they tell us, hey, we're getting so many inquiries off of these blog posts, then let's replicate their strategy With adjustments based on our firm's voice and expertise, we're going to do new blog posts. This doesn't just save us a bunch of resources and accelerate the implementation of these strategies, but it helps us get to return on investment much quicker because we know that something is likely going to work.

Speaker 1: 6:43

And finally, there's benchmarking. This is something that really helps us because, especially if we're in a market where there isn't a lot of competition or there are only a handful of good competitors or whatever the situation is, benchmarking and using these competitor tactics they allow us to measure our performance much easier. So if we know that a particular firm is using the same tactic we are and generating X number of dollars, we need to beat that. It gives us a benchmark to beat in every scenario. So if a competitor has a really high client retention rate due to their personalized follow-up system, we want to copy that personalized follow-up system. That'll help us evaluate and enhance our own client retention strategies and then build on it, because really, what copying competitor tactics does at the end of the day is give us a strategic shortcut towards success. It allows us to leverage these proven methods, reduce our time and cost. That comes along with implementing something new and experimenting and then actually have a benchmark that we can chase, but the reality of this is that it's a starting point. This isn't the end goal. We need to adapt and we need to innovate and we need to be consistent with our strengths and with our image and our market positioning.

Speaker 1: 7:57

And the reality is that, while copying competitor tactics can offer some really clear and really significant advantages, we need to understand the downsides, and one of the big well, really big drawbacks is the potential for you to lose your firm's unique value proposition. Differentiation in really every market, but in the legal industry especially, is really key to attracting and retaining clients. When firms are relying heavily on competitor strategies without injecting their own flavor and creativity and capitalizing on their strengths, they risk blending into this sea of similar services. This lack of differentiation can make it pretty much impossible for potential clients to understand why they should choose you over a competing firm, and in a crowded market, standing out is pretty much the entire game. So mimicking our competitors can actually dilute our brand identity and weaken our position. Our value proposition, at the end of the day, is what distinguishes our firm from others and gives clients a real reason to choose you over your competitors. So if your marketing messages and your client acquisition strategy is all just too similar to the other firms in your market, you're probably going to miss out on opportunities not only to engage clients but to highlight to those clients what makes your firm special, whether it's your particular area of expertise or your unique approach to client service or the way you actually solve legal problems. These distinguishing factors need to be communicated in the marketing, and so copying competitors. It can obscure some of these strengths and it can make it harder for clients to see why they should pick you over somebody else. But let's assume that you're going to be able to deal with this. You're going to be able to lace in your value proposition and make your marketing unique enough.

Speaker 1: 9:47

One of the biggest concerns that we have with copying competitor strategies is these sort of unintended consequences from these really fun organizations in every state that regulate legal and ethical issues, usually called bar associations. And the reality is, when we rush to adopt these successful tactics from competitors, it's really easy to overlook the fine line there is between inspiration and infringement. And, of course, using similar language or creative concepts in your marketing materials is probably not going to be an issue, but you want to be careful because it could inadvertently lead to copyright violations or some kind of you know message from the bar association that's not as friendly as we usually like it to be, and so we don't want to expose the firm to legal risks. We don't want to expose the firm to reputational damage, because clients will also see this. We want to make sure we're steering clear of any ethical or legal guidelines. But clients will also notice if we're being unoriginal. If they're seeing two ads on the page that say essentially the same thing and have essentially the same landing page, they're going to notice that our firm is essentially copying the other firm and while this isn't necessarily going to immediately crush your business, it's just not the best look in marketing. And yet you want to make sure you're covering all the ethical considerations, like I said, making sure that you're not exaggerating, making sure you're not copying something somebody else is saying if it's not going to pass the bar rule test, essentially.

Speaker 1: 11:17

But a bigger concern for us is that copying competitor tactics also carries the risks of adopting either an outdated or maybe an inappropriate strategy. And just because a tactic worked well for a competitor right now or in the past doesn't mean it's going to be effective for us today. The legal landscape, the client expectations, just the world in general, is constantly evolving. The strategies that were successful a month or a year or five years ago just might not work today. What works for one firm might also not work for another, due to differences in the target audience or the funnel, or geographic locations or specifics in the practice areas. So what we don't want to do is blindly copy these strategies, because that will inevitably lead to some wasted resources and some missed opportunities.

Speaker 1: 12:04

So, for instance, if a competitor has a really strong presence on social media let's say they're on TikTok or on Instagram this doesn't necessarily mean your firm should automatically invest in the same platform. Your target audience might prefer different channels for engaging with legal services. They might use Facebook more than they do Instagram. They could be older, they could be much younger and use TikTok, and what's really important here is to conduct some research to understand where your potential clients are most active and most receptive. Just because they're active somewhere doesn't mean they're likely to click there. We also need to understand where they are engaged, and without this tailored approach, you're probably going to end up investing in tactics that don't resonate with your audience and ultimately hinder your marketing and business efforts because they cost money and look, there are huge benefits to copying your competitors. I don't want to put you off of this, but differentiation is incredibly essential for standing out in the legal industry, whether you're copying somebody or not, and so overly relying on these competitor strategies can significantly undermine what we're trying to do in our marketing.

Speaker 1: 13:08

So what we need to do is find a way to strike a balance between drawing inspiration from competitors and creating our own unique strategy that actually represents our firm. The goal here is to analyze what others are doing successfully, without falling into this trap of directly copying what they're doing. So let's talk about how we do that. How do we find a balance and create our own strategy? First, we need to talk about analyzing competitors without just mimicking their strategies. So we want to conduct a comprehensive competitor analysis. We need to look at their marketing tactics, their client acquisition methods and their content strategies. We need to pay attention to what seems to work for them and why it seems to work for them. Are they particularly active on certain social media platforms? Do they publish a lot of educational content? Is it on the website? Is it on social? What kind of feedback are they receiving from clients publicly. This kind of observation allows us to identify the successful elements that we can then adapt for our own marketing. But instead of directly copying these tactics, think about how you can innovate and tailor them to fit your firm's unique strengths and your client needs. So, for instance, if a competitor's blog is driving a lot of traffic, what are the unique perspectives or the additional insights you can offer in your own content? Or maybe you can add multimedia elements like videos or more detailed infographics, or focus in on a niche topic that wasn't covered in the article you want to copy. The key is to build on what works and then add your own twist to make it well yours, and encouraging this adaptation and innovation is essential.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Every law firm has its unique strengths, whether it's a particular area of expertise, a distinctive approach to client service or even just a unique culture in the office. These strengths are what we want to leverage to differentiate our marketing strategies. So if we're known for personalized client service, this is what we're pushing in the marketing. We're using client testimonials and case studies to show how our personalized approach has made a difference in people's lives. Studies to show how our personalized approach has made a difference in people's lives.

Speaker 1: 15:18

Because innovation, it doesn't always mean reinventing the wheel. It often involves taking proven concepts and enhancing them with our capabilities, making the wheel light up or spin on its own. Now let's look at how these technologies that we want to use like the wheel can play a pivotal role in differentiating our strategy. So, leveraging this technology it doesn't just enhance efficiency, but it helps us find some new ways to stand out. It can actually give us some features that we can sell. So if we really want to push on client service, then we want to make sure we have a really robust CRM system so that our client interactions are really good. This will allow us to personalize client experiences by tracking their interactions, their preferences, their case details, and it gives us an opportunity to give this more tailored and responsive service, which is going to set us apart from competitors, who probably are going to take a more generic approach.

Speaker 1: 16:09

And on top of that we've talked about it on the podcast before we can use AI to help our marketing efforts, so we can look at vast amounts of data to help identify trends or predict client behavior, or even we can use it within our marketing platforms to personalize marketing messages. This is obviously something that's getting more integrated into the platforms we use every day, but we're going to be able to use AI to help us understand which types of content resonate most with our audience, and this is going to create much more targeted, much more effective campaigns. And the tools we need for social media things like Buffer or Hootsuite. These are helping us streamline our content scheduling and engagement, and, with AI's added power that's coming into these tools, we're not only ensuring consistent, timely communication with our audience, but we're using this AI to do exactly what we just said figure out where people are engaging, how we can improve client satisfaction, out information about competitors or do research on our own marketing, like Google Analytics, semrush, ahrefs. All of these are really effective.

Speaker 1: 17:20

So we're taking all of these pieces of technology and we're leveraging all of them to help us enhance our ability to innovate and differentiate and understand what our competitors are doing and then using these tools to get more insight on what we're doing and elevating our marketing efforts beyond all of that, because, look, the goal is not to replicate, it's to innovate. We want to build upon what works and then infuse our firm's unique abilities and unique qualities to create a strategy that is both effective and ours, because this is what matters when it comes to standing out in the legal industry. It's incredibly competitive online and even when that plan is done continuous monitoring, adaptation all of that it's all incredibly critical to staying ahead of your competitors. The legal landscape, client expectations really just everything all of it is constantly evolving and your strategy needs to be flexible enough to adapt to these changes. So we need to be regularly reviewing our marketing metrics to assess the effectiveness of these tests.

Speaker 1: 18:21

Things like Google analytics, our social media insights, our CRM reports all of this can provide valuable data to us on what's working and what's not, and you need to be prepared to pivot and refine your tactics based on this feedback. So, if something like a social media campaign, it's not generating the expected engagement or return, experiment, start with different types of content, different platforms, and make sure you stay agile, because staying agile and responsive makes sure that your marketing stays relevant and competitive and your firm does the same as well. We're going to be talking more about building unique strategies and what the elements of a complete marketing strategy are in future episodes, but for today, that's it for Legal Marketing 101. Check out RosenAdvertisingcom for more Thanks.