Ever feel like you’re being followed? That your every move is being monitored? If it’s by new entrants or persistent challengers then it’s to be expected. But what if your every move is being imitated by the market leader?
That’s the situation that we’re in and have been for years. Is it a case of ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ or is it the escalation of a David vs Goliath contest? Either way, it’s interesting to think about the nature of our competitive environment, the meaning of market leadership and the resources that really matter.
Brand refreshing
There’s been a lot of brand refreshing going on in the email signature industry. Anyone who’s been searching for email signature software solutions over the past few months will notice that the websites of the main players – ourselves included – now have a new look. What has become clear in this process is that the market leader has ‘refreshed’ their product to imitate our own established offer… again.
Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery?
Are we flattered? In a way. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You see it all around, innovators being imitated by industry behemoths – everything from the motor industry’s adoption of Tesla’s pioneering electric car technology right through to the legal row sparked by major supermarket chains imitating Marks and Spencer’s iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake (Yes – we indulge, a favourite at the Rocketseed UK office).
Imitation across the marketing mix
In our case, the market leader’s imitation is right across the marketing mix…
Our competitor is now showcasing product marketing capabilities – including receiver segmentation and targeting, email signature banner rotation – that we’ve been offering for years and are now on version 7 of and about to launch 8.
From trying to commodify email signatures and selling purely on price they’ve now woken up to what we’ve been saying all along and which clients have long realised ‘you get what you pay for’. We’ve never seen email signature marketing as a commodity to be sold on price alone. Email as a communication channel is simply too sensitive.
As for promotion, let’s just say that, to be honest, we’ve been slightly mystified by some of our competitors’ attempts to boost their brands. After all, email signatures are all about clear information, on-brand design and company-wide consistency. Putting it mildly, based on those criteria, some of the brand refreshes appear more successful than others.
Market Leadership
It makes you wonder if so-called market leadership is more about resource than really setting the direction of travel for the market. It’s no secret that we have a fraction of the market leader’s resources and we’re realistic about that. At Rocketseed, we see resources rather differently – through the eyes of our clients rather than our investors. Customers don’t care about funding, they care that there’s a robust technology in place and a real person to help them get the best signature for their business.
I’m immensely proud of the fact that Rocketseed has achieved its growth organically. The truth is that we’ve focused on the resources that our customers value – innovation, agility and empathy with their requirements. So is it a typical business David vs Goliath story?
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