Lara Dunning — May 7, 2019 — May 7, 2019
The digital age has changed the way we market businesses, products and brands. One of those ways is to leverage your competitors. On the surface, it might seem like promoting a competitor and linking to their content would have a negative effect on your own business. However, content marketing shows us there are actually advantages by bringing a competitor into the conversation.
Here are 3 reasons to link to your competitors as part of your marketing strategy.
Linking to Your Competitors Shows Loyalty to the Consumer
Building trust with your audience is something a business or brand does over many years. One of the ways to keep your customer’s trust is to share information that serves them best. Your website is full of useful information and resources and your competitor’s is too. By sharing outside resources that are relevant and useful to your customer, you show you care about their best interests. This simple act of going the extra mile to source out the best information to help them make decisions and give them insights on products or services helps develop customer loyalty. Customers will appreciate a business that has their best interests in mind.
It Establishes You as an Authority
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Most consumers are aware of a business’ or brand’s competitor and have been exposed to their content through their website, blogs and social media posts. A consumer is very likely to be exposed to a competitor’s information already. The best approach is to control the conversation by choosing which of your competitor’s content to share. If you are consistent about the information you share and the position you share it from, then users will see you as an authority on the subject. Once you have developed a reputation for being the go-to source, customers are more inclined to share and reshare your content on social media platforms.
Google Knows How To Rank You
Businesses and brands often keep tabs on their Google ranking, but what they might not understand is how linking to competitor websites or other companies in the same industry helps Google categorize their own business. According to PR Daily, the links a company chooses helps Google determine where that business should be categorized and ranked.
As an example, if your company sells dog food, and you link to other sites that sell pet products and supplies, it helps Google understand that your businesses are in the same industry, which can potentially boost your ranking. Alternatively, if your dog food company links to a website that sells home goods, Google will be confused, and therefore not understand where to put your company or how to rank it.
Time to Refresh Your Marketing Strategy!
Now that you understand the importance of sharing competitor links, take some time to review your content marketing strategy. If your competitor has relevant and useful information to share with users, stay consistent with the way you share that information. Also, take the time to analyze how it is received and responded to, and make adjustments as needed!
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