Is name-checking your competition part of your overall content marketing strategy?
If you’re like most casino affiliates, the thought of mentioning a competitor’s site in your content sounds about as appealing as drinking poison.
It turns out, however, that acknowledging the other players in your vertical is not only not like drinking poison, it could actually be a good thing.
That’s the point that Tom Demers of Content Partners makes in a very interesting posting on SearchEngineJournal.com titled, 5 Reasons Why It’s OK to Mention Competitors in Your Content by Tom Demers. Here are a few of Demer’s points that are (painfully) relevant to casino affiliates.
Maybe You Care More Than They Do?
Is is possible that the sites you think of as competition aren’t really your competitors at all. Sure, they’re all trying to get to the same goal, signups and deposits, but are their value propositions really the same as yours?
Unless they’re offering something your customers want, but can’t get from you, then you don’t need to worry about mentioning them.
The Internet Does Not Exist in a Vacuum
Here’s a piece of shocking news, your players already know about your competition. What they might not know is what you offer that the other guys don’t.
Anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack is a win on the internet. So don’t pretend the other guys don’t exist, acknowledge them and then mercilessly shoot them down.
Can We Be Friends?
Not only is there a chance that your competitors aren’t out to get you, there’s a decent chance you might want to be friends with them. It’s not a real stretch to think that, somewhere, there’s a good site that covers verticals you don‘t cover well, while you cover verticals they don’t cover well.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? That’s right, maybe you two crazy kids can cross promote your offerings. (It’s not as far-fetched an idea as you might think.)
Finally
Mentioning, and even linking to, your competitors is not something that should keep you up at night. After all, if you’re sporting solid content, great customer service, and good deals, you’ve got nothing to worry about.