Are you doing camouflage marketing? If so, you’re probably wasting your marketing dollars. In this Quick Tip, we will talk about camouflage marketing and how you can avoid this common mistake.
What is Camouflage Marketing?
Camouflage marketing is talking about your company in a way that makes you indistinguishable from the competition. Another term we use for this is categorical marketing—where you’re marketing your category but not yourself.
Now, suppose you are the only type of company with a particular type of tour in a specific area, such as being the only rafting company in an area. In that case, pushing the category alone is a viable strategy. But let’s say you’re one of multiple rafting companies in the same area and you’re spending your marketing dollars to convince people to go rafting. In that case, you’re using your marketing efforts to promote the category, which benefits you and your competitors.
The Problem
If a prospective guest turns their attention to rafting during their trip planning, they are going to find the other 4 to 5 or 10 rafting companies, and if you haven’t truly differentiated yourself, you’ll probably get some of the revenue that people spend on that category, but not the share that you are hoping for.
Example
We had a company in this exact position. They had spent so much of their website efforts on good SEO that all they were really doing was telling search engines and prospective guests that they offered rafting tours in the Smokies. Only about 2% of the space on their home page was dedicated to any aspect of differentiation. If guests saw that they were just one of many rafting companies in the Smokies with no differentiation, then the decision is likely going to come down to price, which then squeezes their margins.
Are You Using Camouflage Marketing?
A Quick Test:
- Take snippets from your website and competitors’ websites.
- Remove all brand names.
- Have someone read the copy and see if they can tell which one is your brand.
- If they can’t, you’re camouflaged, and people are not making the choice based on what makes you the best option for them.
The Solution
The proper solution is brand strategy and positioning work to identify and articulate your differences. But, here’s a shortcut—if someone called you today and said, “Hey, I am going rafting tomorrow, and I see a bunch of rafting companies out there. Why should I raft with you?,” what would you say? Hone a great, compelling response and then test it with the next people to ask you that question.
Once you have the message clear and concise, use it all over your marketing. That’s going to give you a better return on your marketing investment.
