Webinar: Winning Market Share When Competitors Pull Back

Webinar Recap

Discover how to thrive in uncertain times by optimizing your marketing budget and staying visible.

In this insightful webinar from Quantum Creative, industry experts Peyton Carter Krzyzewski (Director of Strategy and Growth), Lori Aitkenhead (Director of Digital and Social Marketing), Jay Spiegel (Creative Director), and Tanya Keller (PR Advisor) shared actionable strategies for businesses to gain market share when competitors are scaling back.

1. Strategic Digital Marketing in Lean Times

• Reallocate Budget to High-Performing Channels: Use your CRM and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to identify where your most valuable leads and conversions are coming from (e.g., phone calls, form fills). Shift your budget to these channels for maximum impact.
• Maximize Current Budget:
  • Cut inefficient campaigns: Eliminate high-cost, low-conversion campaigns, focusing on meaningful conversions rather than just clicks.
  • Leverage discounted leads: When competitors pull back, cost-per-click and cost-per-impression often decrease, meaning your current budget can yield more results.
  • Focus on High-Intent Audiences: Prioritize retargeting website visitors, those who’ve interacted with specific high-value pages (pricing, case studies), and email campaign clickers.
  • Hyper-Target: Go beyond basic geotargeting. Use CRM data (income levels, demographics) and GA4 insights to target specific neighborhoods or audience segments with higher intent.
  • Repurpose Content: Save time and money by transforming existing content (webinars, blog posts, videos) into various formats (short social clips, infographics, articles).
  • Capitalize on Content Gaps: Identify outdated competitor content (e.g., old industry trends) using tools like SEMrush and create superior, updated versions to boost your organic rankings.
  • Reevaluate Weekly: Monitor your budget allocations and results weekly to quickly pivot and optimize campaigns, especially during initial changes. This is also an excellent time for A/B testing, as the marketplace is less competitive.
• Optimize for AI Search Now:
  • Focus on Long, Specific Questions: Unlike traditional SEO keywords, optimize for full customer questions (e.g., “How much does a dental exam cost in 2025?”).
  • Use Question-Based Headings: Incorporate questions into your H1, H2, and H3 tags.
  • Provide Short, Quotable Answers: Start your content with succinct 2-3 sentence answers to questions so AI overviews are more likely to pick up your content.
  • Utilize Summaries, Bullet Points, and FAQs: These formats are easily digestible by AI for generating overviews.
  • Prioritize Third-Party Mentions (PR): AI trusts authoritative mentions in news and reputable third-party blogs more than just links. PR is crucial for AI visibility.
  • Add Schema Markup: Implement this special code on your website to help Google and AI understand the content (e.g., pricing page, FAQ).
• Measure Digital Improvements:
  • Direct Traffic & Branded Search Volume: Unexplained increases can indicate AI overview mentions and increased brand awareness. Use Google Search Console for branded search.
  • Word-of-Mouth Referrals & Social Engagement: Higher engagement and referrals suggest increased awareness.
  • Referral Traffic from AI Sources: Look for chat.openai.com or gemini.google.com in your GA4 referral traffic. While not a dedicated metric yet, this indicates AI is pulling from your site.
  • Monitor AI Bot Activity: Your dev team might be able to identify AI bots scanning your website.
  • Manual Checks & Citation Growth Tools: Proactively Google your niche’s questions and explore tools like SEMrush or Conductor for early indications of AI citation.
  • Ask Your Leads: Directly ask new clients and leads how they heard about you to uncover AI-driven referrals.

2. Creative Strategies for Visibility

• Repurpose Existing Assets: Extend the life of your content (blog posts, videos, infographics, high-performing social posts) by transforming them into new formats. This saves time and money, reinforces key messages, and helps reach a wider audience.
• “Stop the Scroll” with Engaging Content:
  • Emotional Appeal: Use humor, surprise, curiosity, or empathy to create memorable and shareable content.
  • Visually Striking Content: Employ bold/bright colors, high-contrast visuals, and motion graphics (videos, GIFs, animations) which are naturally attention-grabbing and often prioritized by algorithms.
• Apply Design Principles:
  • Minimalism: Clean, uncluttered designs are easier to process and stand out. Utilize negative space to highlight a single compelling message.
  • Typography: Use large, readable fonts for headlines and smaller fonts for body copy to create visual hierarchy. Stick to 1-2 brand-consistent fonts.
  • Brand Consistency: Maintain consistent use of logos, colors, and design elements across all platforms to build recognition, trust, and familiarity.
• Leverage Tools & Resources:
  • Templates: Use or create custom templates to provide a consistent framework and reduce future effort.
  • Stock Photos/Videos: Don’t shy away from high-quality, unique stock assets that align with your brand’s style.
• Mind Your Tone and Messaging:
  • Empathy: In uncertain times, customers seek stability and reassurance. Avoid hard sells and opportunistic messaging.
  • Provide Value & Solutions: Emphasize how your brand can offer real solutions to their current concerns, positioning yourself as a helpful resource.
  • Be Relatable: Use authentic language that resonates with your audience, fostering a sense of community.

3. Public Relations as a Competitive Weapon

• Strategic Evaluation:
  • Review Current PR Efforts: Assess what you’re already doing and identify opportunities for expansion.
  • Think Beyond Media Relations: PR encompasses more than just news stories. Explore new audiences and ways to reach existing followers.
  • Research is Key: Understand your audience, what competitors are saying, and who is writing about your industry.
• PR Tactics for Social Channels:
  • Employee Spotlights: Use videos or reels on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to showcase your team.
  • Virtual Tours/Product Demos: Highlight unique offerings with brief video tours.
  • Thought Leadership: Craft blog posts or articles to share on LinkedIn, establishing expertise.
  • SEO Integration: Self-publishing content on your website and through traditional media is crucial for the new AI-driven SEO landscape.
• Traditional PR Tactics:
  • Speakers Bureau: Offer your team’s expertise as guest speakers or panelists for trade associations, chambers, or community groups.
  • Earned Media: Pitch good news stories to local TV affiliates or public media.
  • Community Collaborations: Partner with local groups or non-profits where your expertise aligns, creating mutually beneficial exposure (especially as corporate sponsorships may pull back in uncertain times).
  • Podcasts: Seek out free or low-cost podcasts with large followings that might need your expertise.
  • Media Relations: Build and strengthen relationships with journalists by offering newsworthy, valuable content.
  • Content Library: Curate and repurpose videos and images.
  • Press Kit: Create a digital and traditional press kit with videos, images, caption sheets, and quote sheets.
• PR is a Long Game: Building trust and strong relationships takes time. Position your brand as an expert and a valuable resource. Focus on telling genuine, newsworthy stories with appropriate humor or fun.

Conclusion: Stay Loud, Stay Strategic

Resist the urge to pull back during uncertain times. Instead, be strategic:

• Review your current efforts.
• Use data to pinpoint the most effective channels.
• Reallocate your existing budget.
• Take advantage of a less competitive market to experiment.
• Build brand trust, loyalty, and awareness now.

By doing so, when the market becomes crowded again, your brand will have a significant upper hand, remembered by consumers for being present and valuable throughout.