Comparative Advertising

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  • sublocked

    Hey ad dudes. I'm working on a new site design for my app Cashboard, and I'm strongly considering including a "comparison" page.

    I see lots of people searching for "(competitor's name) vs" and figured that I should just own those keywords instead of shying away from it.

    Has anyone done something like this successfully? Any gotchas to look out for?

    I've been reading a lot on the subject, and it appears that if you provide an honest explanation of the comparison more often than not it's beneficial.

    Any educated input on the subject would be welcomed.

  • studderine0

    Let me ask you this, why do you need a "comparison" page?

  • sublocked0

    Studderine I feel a comparison page would be advantageous because...

    1 - There's lots of misinformation and confusion on how these types of services stack up against each other. Many, many blogs comparing certain software packages, and not always on things that I feel matter to running a service based business.

    2 - "(service) vs (service)" or "(service) alternative" are common queries on Google. No service in this industry is owning that yet. People genuinely care about researching the differences between these.

    3 - I'm going to offer data import for competing services in the near future. This is a grab @ their keywords and their entrenched user bases.

    It's a competitive market, and I believe that educating businesses on the advantages of my product outweigh the disadvantages of mentioning other products. Additionally, marketing wise it seems I don't get included in a lot of the discussion and I'd like to insert myself into that conversation.

    • Also I think I can easily rank for their own keywords.sublocked
  • studderine0

    All good points, but do you think that your content can/should do this or do you need a dedicated section?

    • I'm guessing my content hasn't done this so far, and it can't hurt to try and rank SEO wise for their keywords.sublocked
  • vaxorcist0

    I checked out cashboardapp.com... interesting, especially the re-brandable feature... good for some clients/companies...

    Question RE: competitor chart... is this an industry where there's a big player and a bunch of upstarts, i.e. Oracle vs everyone else, or is it more like buying a TV, i.e. many brands, very similar and hard to differentiate?

  • sublocked0

    @vaxorcist thanks...yeah it's weird. There's Xero and Freshbooks which seem to be the biggest, then there are a bunch of others that are hard to differentiate between unless you really spend a ton of time with them.

    I'd like to just hit the relevant points on how my app compares positively to other more discussed competition that people might not find with a quick run through.

    The current site is about 5 years old and has languished as I've spent all my time and resources on making the app, and the new mobile app shine.

    Here's a look at what the new one will look like.

  • sublocked0

    I also suppose you could also lump QuickBooks in there as the 800lb gorilla in the room, then the other options.

    • -also...sorry it's early haven't had my coffee yet.sublocked
  • vaxorcist0

    I see.....

    you might make some VERY specific comparison chart pages, like you vs quickbooks, you vs Freshbooks, etc.... one page per comparision for the biggies, and a general checklist chart for the many other similar services....

  • vaxorcist0

    You have a bunch of people HERE from a supposed target market, and some of us used to work in Ad Agencies, which tend to focus on things like "Emotional Buying Decision Triggers" and how to hit them with design and copy... unlike say many Design Agencies, who tend to focus on things like Elegance, Usability and such...

    WHY??? Because the first thing I learned when working at a rather smart ad agency was that most people actually make decisions based on something very emotional, but use all the information to justify it, and more info may just make them more determined to defend a choice, unless they haven't yet decided and more info just causes more anxiety, in which case they may choose the "safe" choice...

    i.e. There was a study somewhere that all the extra info some database upstarts were informing potential database customers with tended to just make the clients choose oracle, because they were overwhelmed and seeking "safe harbour"

  • vaxorcist0

    I remember reading that business success often has more to do with the list below than being innovative or better....

    1. Ability to Empathize
    2. Clarity of Purpose
    3. Timing

    1. The reason I say this is that, the "do they actually understand me, do they really get it" question seems to determine who buys what when dealing with a "partnership" kind of website that takes a huge part of your business infrastructure and puts it online, i,e, like your system.

    2. Clarity of Purpose... I think one of the reasons that 37 Signals has been successful is that they DO NOT try to be all things to all people, and it shows.

    3.Being in the right place at the right time matters, and if you're at the right place at the wrong time, maybe a tweek to go somewhere else, like a target market that's more niche might work....

  • sublocked0

    @vaxorcist Many thanks for this! I'm a UX guy / programmer by trade and definitely am ignorant to these types of marketing tactics. You've keyed in on some interesting points that have lead to great reading material.

    This will definitely help me write better copy. Much appreciated.

  • dibec0

    Sub ...

    Do it.

    Great for SEM/SEO. Ranking. Indexing.