Quick, our competition is doing this, we have to do it too.

“Hey, look over there! Our competition is making moves that we’re not doing. Quick, we need to do the same”. Said many a leader over and over and over ad nauseum.

Sadly, time and again we see sheep companies. What on earth is a sheep company you ask? Well, in our office, a sheep company is one that has to follow the same thing that everyone else in their industry is doing. If they’re a little snazzier, they’ll try and emulate, hells bells, copy, what other companies in a look-a-like sector are doing.

Naturally, every company wants to win the prize for first-mover advantage, however, the reality is that for the majority of organisations, they’re all floating somewhere in the middle. Generally, in a sea of sameness.

Sure, first-mover advantage enables a company to establish strong brand recognition and loyalty before others. Generally, this applies to the introduction of a product or service, however, it can also apply to marketing and communications activities. The first to launch a podcast, event, campaign, sing-along song… you get the idea.

Why do some companies simply follow the ‘leader’, so to speak, and why is this problematic.

Firstly, following the leader. This is very much a perception of who they believe is the leader. It may or may not, be the first-mover in the sector. The organisation they are following, may indeed be a sheep in wolves clothing, who themselves are trying to emulate the leader, but doing so in a fashion that has more bells and whistles, smoke and mirrors (you get what we’re saying).

Secondly, this is problematic for a number of reasons.

Strategy and planning. Why is this problematic? Well, it isn’t problematic if your organisational, and marketing strategy, is to follow others in your industry / sector. That is the strategy of the company.

Further, a lack of strategy and planning indicates a lack of understanding of your target audience and absence of an articulated brand strategy and positioning.

While the copycat, follow the leader style may work in the beginning, after a while, this will wane with customers who will become confused, but not only that, will start noticing a gap between your marketing efforts and the real-time experiences with your company. Why? Because brand strategy and customer experience are inextricably linked. And, because the marketing efforts of your ‘leader’ are tied to their brand strategy and their customer experience.

What is the impact of this for your business and your customers? Easy. Your customers begin to lose trust in your brand. You know the rest from here.

So, what about the instance where you have your own marketing strategy (yeah, hoorah for you!), but your competition makes a spectacular move and management is dazzled beyond words and just needs to do the same thing?

We channel our inner two-year old in times like this. How? We keep asking ‘but why?”. Why do we need to follow? Why does this help our brand if we follow? And we keep asking why until we get to the bottom of what is really driving this push.

Nine out of 10 times the driver is fear. Fear that your company will be left behind. Fear that your company will lose customers to the competition.

Sure, some of those fears may indeed come to fruition.

We do believe, if your strategy is working, you have strong engagement with your customers and loyal advocates, shifting to a following strategy could indeed do more harm than good.

If your business is already hurting, then a review of strategy is definitely worth looking at, however, we caution doing this by following what your competition is doing. Staying true to your brand strategy and revisiting elements of your marketing strategy is a better investment.

At the end of the day, staying on your own path will set you apart from your competitors. Your customers will know your organisation for what it stands for (your USP, “unique selling point”), what your point of differentiation is to your competitors, and the customer experience they receive, which is authentically yours. This creates trust and meaningful engagement and is the best way to build return customers and loyal advocates.

While Oscar Wilde famously said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”, we still believe in flying your own flag, despite what one of the world’s greatest playwrights says. In the world of marketing and communications, greatness comes to those that are willing to be true to themselves.