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#RISKYBUSINESS
The real competitor
is ‘doing nothing’
Jacinta Bolsenbroek, Diector of Communication
⏱ 3min read
Most businesses build their marketing around the obvious rival. They name the competitor, compare the features and explain why their product, service or approach is better.
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Comparison pages are created, competitor campaigns launch with carefully worded claims about being faster, smarter, friendlier or more effective than the business people already know.
Sometimes that is useful.
But often, the real competitor is not the rival with the bigger budget, the better-known name or the more impressive website.
It is doing nothing.
It is staying with the provider that is no longer quite right because switching feels like a hassle. It is delaying a decision because there are too many options. It is keeping the old software, old supplier, old process or old habit because changing it would require effort.
The biggest obstacle is often not “Why should I choose you instead of them?”
It is “Why should I do anything at all?”
The decision people avoid is still a decision
Marketing tends to imagine customers standing at a neat crossroads.
On one side is your business. On the other is a competitor. The customer compares the two, weighs the evidence and chooses the better option.
Real life is rarely that tidy.
People postpone. They ignore emails. They leave forms unfinished. They keep meaning to look into it. They tell themselves they will make a decision after the next deadline, meeting, holiday or pay day.
They do not always choose the wrong option.
They choose no option.
That is particularly common when the current situation is tolerable rather than disastrous. A business may be frustrated with its accountant, agency, software or supplier, but not frustrated enough to change today. The service is not perfect, but it works. The process is clunky, but familiar. The cost is higher than it should be, but switching feels like another job to add to the list.
This is where a feature-by-feature comparison misses the point.
You can prove that your service is better than the alternative and still lose to the comfort of staying put.
Inertia is not laziness
It is tempting to describe this behaviour as apathy or indecision.
Usually, it is more understandable than that.
Switching has a cost. There is time involved, information to gather, people to convince and risk to absorb. Even when the practical process is simple, the perceived process can feel complicated.
People wonder:
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Will the change interrupt what is already working?
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Will I have to explain everything again?
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What if the new provider is worse?
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Will there be hidden fees?
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How long will it take?
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What will I need to do?
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Will I regret making the change?
The current provider may not be winning because it is brilliant. It may be winning because it is already there.
That is a very different competitive situation.
If you are marketing only against the named rival, you are arguing about superiority. If you are marketing against inertia, you need to make movement feel worthwhile, safe and easy.
The ‘why now?’ question matters more than ‘why us?’
Most positioning focuses on “why us?”
Why choose this agency? Why buy this software? Why use this consultant? Why switch to this bank, gym, energy provider or delivery service?
But before someone asks why you, they may need a reason to act at all.
That is the “why now?” question.
It does not always require manufactured urgency. In fact, the tired countdown timer and “only three spaces left” message can make people more suspicious than motivated. Current marketing trends are moving away from obvious pressure tactics because audiences have become very good at recognising them.
The stronger approach is to connect action to a real consequence.
The cost of doing nothing
What continues to be lost, delayed, wasted or made harder if nothing changes?
A financial adviser might show how much a client could be losing through an outdated arrangement. A software company might calculate the hours lost each month to manual admin. A training provider might explain what a missed compliance deadline creates later.
The point is not to frighten people into action.
It is to make the cost of inaction visible.
Pop culture understands inertia better than most brands
Some of the most effective stories are built around characters who know something needs to change but keep resisting it.
In Groundhog Day, the problem is not a lack of information. Phil knows his situation is repetitive and unsatisfying. The challenge is that he has to stop repeating the same behaviour.
In The Bear, the tension is not simply about whether one restaurant is better than another. It is about whether people can change the way they work when the old way is familiar, emotionally loaded and deeply embedded.
In Succession, characters rarely lack options. They struggle to act because every decision threatens an existing arrangement, identity or source of power.
Even the endless popularity of reboot culture reflects something similar. Audiences return to familiar worlds because familiarity is easy. New stories have to give people a reason to leave what they already know.
Marketing works in the same environment. Your audience is surrounded by familiar choices, familiar routines and familiar excuses. You are not always asking them to reject a competitor.
You are asking them to interrupt a pattern.
That is harder, but it is also where the opportunity is.
Make switching feel smaller
If inertia is the opponent, ease becomes part of the proposition.
Businesses often talk about how good the outcome will be while leaving the process of getting there vague. They promise transformation, efficiency or peace of mind, but do not explain what the customer actually has to do.
That gap creates friction.
Compare:
We make changing accountants simple.
With:
We handle the transfer from your current accountant, contact them directly for the records and have you set up within five working days.
The second statement does more than claim simplicity. It shows where the effort goes.
A software company might offer to import existing data. A marketing agency might begin with a fixed-scope audit rather than a long-term contract. A solicitor might provide a clear checklist before the first meeting. A gym might let people pause or cancel online instead of requiring a phone call.
These details are not administrative extras. They are competitive advantages against doing nothing.
Don't expect people to compare what they cannot understand
Another reason people delay is that businesses make comparison unnecessarily difficult.
Every provider claims to be better. Every website lists benefits. Every sales deck contains a grid of features. The customer is left trying to work out which differences matter and whether any of them justify the effort of changing.
This is where current marketing trends around clarity, proof and useful content matter.
People are increasingly sceptical of polished claims and increasingly responsive to information that helps them make a decision.
That might be a transparent pricing page, a switching guide, a calculator, a short video showing the process or a plain-English explanation of what happens after someone gets in touch.
The best content does not simply say, “Choose us.”
It helps someone understand whether change is necessary, what it will involve and how to take the first step.
That is why practical content often outperforms grand brand language. A “How to switch” page may be more valuable than another paragraph about your values. A before-and-after example may do more than a list of features. A clear answer to “What do I need to prepare?” can remove more resistance than a claim about being customer-focused.
Urgency without the theatre
Marketing against inertia does require urgency, but not necessarily drama.
Urgency can come from timing, capacity, cost or consequence.
A tax adviser can explain the deadline. A web agency can show the impact of another quarter with a broken conversion path.
A recruitment firm can demonstrate what an unfilled role is costing the business each week.
The urgency should be specific and credible.
“Act now” is weak because it does not explain why now matters.
“Every month you keep this manual process, your team spends approximately 40 hours repeating work that could be automated”
gives people something to consider.
The difference is respect. One message tries to push the audience. The other gives them a reason to move.
Market against the behaviour, not just the brand
The obvious rival is easy to identify. Doing nothing is harder to name because it is not a company. It is a behaviour.
But once you start looking for it, you can see it everywhere.
It appears in the customer who keeps using an outdated system. The homeowner who delays repairs. The business owner who knows their website is underperforming but has not booked a review. The team that keeps holding meetings because nobody has changed the process.
Your marketing should speak directly to that moment.
Not only:
We offer more features than our competitors.
But:
If you are still doing this manually, here is what it is costing you.
Not only:
We provide a better service.
But:
You do not need to keep tolerating slow replies, unclear
pricing or repeated explanations.
Not only:
Switch to us today.
But:
Here is exactly what switching involves, what we handle for
you and how quickly you can be up and running.
That is a more useful argument because it meets the real objection.
The real competitive strategy
Feature-by-feature comparison has its place. Sometimes customers genuinely need to understand how two providers differ.
But if your marketing is built entirely around beating the obvious rival, you may be competing against the wrong opponent.
The bigger challenge is often the customer’s reluctance to change.
Marketing against inertia means showing why action matters now, making the cost of waiting visible and reducing the perceived effort of switching. It means replacing vague urgency with a credible reason to move. It means explaining the process clearly enough that the first step feels manageable.
The question is not just:
Why should someone choose us over them?
It is also:
Why should someone leave what they are doing now?
And perhaps most importantly:
What can we do to make that change feel easier than staying stuck?
Because your strongest competitor may not be the business down the road.
It may be the familiar, imperfect arrangement your customer has already decided to tolerate.
We should talk.
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