How to Steal Market Share from Your Competitors with Strategic Advertising
Mateo Velasquez
1 min read
Want to attract your competitor’s customers? Forget price wars. The key is well-timed advertising that intercepts the buying decision.
The experiment: 13 weeks of behavioral tracking
Researchers tracked a group of homemakers over 13 weeks to see which brand they chose when shopping for a specific product.
They also tracked how many ads they were exposed to in the days leading up to their purchase.
The question: does advertising exposure influence brand-switching behavior?
The results: more ads, more switching
When shoppers saw 0 or 1 ad, only 18% switched to another brand.
But when they saw 2 or more ads, the switch rate jumped to 26%.
That’s a 8 percentage points increase in brand switching driven solely by ad exposure.
This is known as the short-term attraction effect — advertising that hits just before a purchase can shift decisions in your favor.
What does this mean for your brand?
If you want to win over your competitor’s customers, you must run targeted campaigns focused on buyers right before they make a decision.
Increase frequency wisely
Be present in the final consideration window
Highlight your key competitive advantage
Consistency beats noise
This isn’t about bombarding people — it’s about strategic presence. Advertising, when done right, doesn’t annoy. It attracts, reminds, and converts.