When you hear the word “ambush” what comes to mind? Warfare? Exactly. You don’t think of business but that is exactly what can happen to you if you are lazy and you become predictable in the market.

Want Proof?

This is a picture of a billboard in Southern California. You can tell it is California due to the sunny sky and one visible cloud. To the left of the picture is a billboard which Audi posted, promoting their new car. Their tag line? A smug, “Your move BMW.”

How did BMW respond?

A full-on ambush.

They purchased the billboard space right next to the Audi ad and posted an ad for their new car with “Checkmate.” And this happened just DAYS following the Audi billboard. Audi cannot respond to “Checkmate” … that’s game over.

Stick a fork in Audi. They are done.

Taking on a competitor can seem like a good idea, but you must be prepared for the consequences. And being stung by a competitor can have severely damaging effects. Let me illustrate both topics and how you can both protect your business and aggressively go after your competitors.

Who is the enemy? Not your competitor, but predictability.

Let’s first discuss the issue Audi found themselves in. They went aggressively after a bigger, stronger competitor, who, rightfully so, came back and crushed them. Before going after a bigger competitor, make sure you have the ammo you need to defend yourself when they retaliate. Actually look for ways your competitor can come back at you. Write these down in your business journal and decide if your plan of attack is worth the return fire.

Now, let’s discuss how to protect yourself from getting attacked in the first place.

If you recall, during the Revolutionary War, both sides would just stand there and fire out in the open. “Taking cover” was looked at as “unmanly” and “poor sportsmanship.” Hey, I look at “lead poisoning” as unmanly too! Guerrilla fighting tactics are common place today. It is simple really. You ASSUME that when you are on patrol your enemy is watching your every move and you never go back to your base the same way twice.

The same is true with sports. John Madden, who recently retired from broadcasting, coached the Oakland Raiders for ten years. During his coaching days, the Raiders played Denver 18 times without suffering a loss. EIGHTEEN TIMES. What was the reason? “Simple really,” recalled Madden, “they would run the same three plays in certain key situations, so we practiced to exploit those plays. We kept thinking they would catch on and change things, but they didn’t.”

Are you as predictable?

This goes right in line with what I learned a decade ago from Mark Joyner. Predictability breeds death. Here is the summary of Joyner’s example:

Let’s say you sell furniture and you advertise in the Sunday newspaper without fail and you run the same ad, which is, if they come into your showroom on Monday with the ad, they get 10% off. It’s worked well and you’re just too lazy to test anything else out.

Your competitor takes advantage of your predictability and Sunday morning comes. You have the same routine, of course, and you read the paper with your morning coffee. The first thing you look at is your ad, but this time, your heart sinks. Directly across from your ad is a huge ad from your main competitor, “All Furniture 20% off. Sunday and Monday only.”

You brush it off, after all, you are closed on Sunday, it won’t be bad as you have plenty of loyal customers. But then Monday comes and your showroom is a Ghost Town. You begin to panic, so you have a new ad created. You decide that even though it will kill your margins, you need to move some furniture for cash flow, so you offer a 25% savings, beating your competitor’s 20% offer.

Not so fast.

Your competitor has your number. He knows you are lazy due to how you have been running your campaign. He also knows you don’t have much creativity and he correctly predicts your next move, which was to reduce your prices even further. Sunday comes. As you sit down with your morning coffee, you open the paper to see your ad of 25% off next to your competitor’s ad of only 20%, but instead, your heart sinks further than before.

“You Can Pay Lower Prices for LOWER QUALITY furniture, or for Just a Few Dollars More, You Can Invest in Furniture That Will Last You a Lifetime – Guaranteed.”

Monday morning when your store opens, the only foot traffic you get is from your employees. Not one customer. Game over.

Customers aren’t stupid. When they see the same message over and over, they will eventually tune it out. But more importantly, the same message can be easily exploited by a competitor.

I can hear you now … “But what about your “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” method Jerry? Where you find what works and do it over and over and over again?” Sorry if you misunderstood. That concept does NOT include a marketing message, headline, or ad. Those must always change as buying habits change, prospects change and demand changes. For example, if I find that advertising in Google AdWords is effective, I will continue to use Google AdWords until it stops working, but that doesn’t mean I just stick with the same ads and never change them. That would be stupid.

Remember: “Whatever can be tested, can be improved.”

If you are predictable, your competitor has a better opportunity to not just ambush you, but kill you. Look around, it is happening all around you. Rainmakers are those who avoid being ambushed and look for ways to properly attack their competitors in order to gain market share ethically. Want to learn more? Attend the SEO Rainmaker workshop in Nashville, TN June 25-26.