Watch out for that bus

Many years ago I took a defensive driving course. While it was a lot of fun and taught me plenty about staying safe on the road, you might be surprised that my biggest takeaway had to do with marketing. 

We were set up adjacent to the skid pan, where you had to go in fast, brake hard, go into a skid, and steer the car away from the bus that was right in your path. Fortunately, the bus was in fact strategically placed witches hats.

To avoid the bus, don’t look at it

The instructor told us not to look at the bus while trying to avoid it. Instead, he advised us to look where we want to go. Think about it – to avoid the big scary object in front of you, you should not look at it. 

The way the instructor put it was that when driving, your arms and legs will do the job of avoiding the obstacle, as long as your eyes show them where you want to go. 

Look at the bus and you’re likely to drive right into it. 

The same principle applies in marketing

Do you spend a lot of time looking at your competitors? I’m sure you do. But while there’s merit in understanding competitive pricing and new product or service offerings, watching them too closely is not healthy. 

Especially as it relates to their marketing activity. 

Obsessing over your competitors’ ads, content, social posts etc. won’t help you do better, more engaging work. In fact, it will do the opposite, and odds are you’ll end up with work that is a pale representation of their original ideas. 

Look towards where you are going when you craft your messages, campaigns and content. Work out what makes you unique, how you meet the needs of your prospects and solve their problems, and exactly what you need to communicate to them. 

That will give you the best chance of positioning your brand and solution in their mind, so that when they become active category buyers, they think of you (and not your competitor who does a much better version of being them than you can). 

You do you

Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Be yourself and work hard to bring the uniqueness of you to life in everything you do. This is very important in competitive markets, where there are a lot of buses you need to avoid hitting. 

If you’d like some more tricks and tips from the marketing equivalent of a driving instructor, we’re here for you.