What if your competitors lie?

If your competitors’ website, ReadMe and other materials sounds exactly like yours, you have a problem. Even if their claims are a lie and yours are the truth.

You can’t control what your competitors say. You can’t control how credulous people in the market are. You can only control what you say and how you define your target market. So how does this work, if your competitors lie?

Target people who verify

If, in your niche, you have open source projects and commercial products with dishonest marketing, one of the characteristics of people in your ideal audience is going to be ‘people who care enough to do their homework.’ (I’m assuming, of course, that you are not the one with dishonest marketing. I don’t encourage dishonest marketing. Ever. But it happens.)

So if your competitor says it’s the ‘fastest,’ ‘most reliable,’ ‘most secure,’ or something, but they really aren’t, based on objective measurements, you can’t do anything about it other than focus your efforts on people who care so much about speed, reliability or security that they will not take anyone’s word for it. Those users and customers will discover the lie, and hate your competitors for it. Everyone else? They’re not your market.

Be prepared with proof

If you’re in a niche with dishonest competitors, be prepared to prove precisely how you’re better. Having proof is always a good idea, but it’s critical and should be front-and-center if you’re dealing with dishonest competitors. Usually I’d put proof on a product page, ie not on the homepage, but if your competitors are dishonest, your proof points should be on your homepage, perhaps even before scrolling down.

Proof points mean anything objective. It could be a demo (or a link to a recorded demo), a review/analysis from a third party, or a quote or case study from a customer.

Be honest and transparent

What if your competitor makes a blanket claim, which is part true and part false? If you’re transparent about the pros and cons of your project and product and clear about when it is and is not an ideal use case, you will gain trust and credibility with your users and customers. Chances are there are situations where your competitors are the better option — be open about that. Users who have discovered your competitors’ dishonestly will appreciate that you are not like that.

Be specific

Nothing says BS like vague claims. If you want to avoid looking like you’re dishonest and set yourself apart from those who are, best as specific as possible, everywhere. From market category to value propositions to every single statement you make, steer clear of vague “the most secure xyz” statements and instead be very, very specific.

Dishonest competitors are incredibly frustrating. But even though you can’t make them change their ways, you can ‘win’ against them if you take the right approach.