Among all the types of competitors for your brand image out there, the most obvious is the “garden variety competitor.” This is the one that is the easiest to wrap your mind around. There are others, too many others. Some of which I’ll discuss in later posts. First, let me discuss the most obvious.
The most obvious are the direct or indirect competitors, companies which offer a product or service that can also fulfill the needs, wants, and desires of your consumer/customer. These types of competitors could be head-to-head product rivals, like one brand of television against another brand. Or they could be indirect competitors like television programming versus video gaming versus online gaming.
I know. Now you’re thinking, “Whadda mean they’re competing for my brand image? They’re competing for my dollars.” Not exactly. The dollars are just a way of keeping score in the battle over the brand image. Look at it this way.
The consumer has a need. He wants that need to be satisfied by a specific set of product features. A sale is made when the brand positions their set of features in such a way that the consumer sees that brand can fulfill his need. So the contest is for the occupation of a brand position, a brand image, in the consumer’s/customer’s mind. The image/position that fills the consumer’s need most effectively wins the dollars. The score is kept. And the competitor with the most dollar points is declared the leader.
This is all basic marketing theory. But what’s not so basic is this:
The realization that direct or indirect competitive forces can be at work within social media to affect your brand negatively. And these forces don’t always take the form of the “garden variety competitor.”
Many of you have heard of the “brand evangelist,” the person or persons who carry on and on with glowing testimony and opinion about how good a particular product or service is. Call them fans, devotees, disciples, evangelists or whatever you like. They’re out there and much has been written about them. But there is always a yin to a yang. There is hot and there is cold. If there is good then there must be evil. If there are evangelists, there are “anti-evangelists.”
I know you may not want to “hear” this. But, there are “brand anti-evangelists” out there. I’ve read them. You’ve read them. And we’ll learn more about them in future articles. They come in different flavors and sizes. Their motivations and goals are all over the map. They’re not all just p_____ – off consumers. There’s one thing they all have in common, their objective. They want your brand image. They want to control that brand position.
Social media is the tool they can use.
Just a comment on this article. Yes, there are brand anti-evangelists out there and I agree, they are not always just dissatisfied customers. They may be of the “look at me” or “I know better (best)” ilk deriving their jollies by setting themselves up as THE AUTHORITY. And here’s the kick – the “others” actually think these anti-evangelists ARE THE AUTHORITY and look to them for advice (read “advice” as decision making rationale, product selection, choice, etc.) Maybe companies need to figure out how to get the anti-evangelist mentality preferrably on their side – or at least not taking a position against them.