My company launched in the UK a year ago and I guess we sparked a lot of international interest - competitors are launching all over the world with similar market offerings. As we’re preparing to expand into new countries, our core US/UK team (which I'm a member of on the US side) is faced with the challenge of figuring out how to integrate ourselves into conversations that focus on our competitor.

As it’s been a steep learning curve – lots of mistakes have been made and lots of learning has been done – the lessons have been valuable. Below I’ve outlined some of my learnings, which I’m certain have exceptions (as most things do) and are likely to be modified and expanded upon as time progresses:

1. If you have a very direct means of communication (ie, you’re the type who gets to the point and not as good at padding the discussion) try not to mention your competition in an effort to clarify differences. Although bloggers will ask for (and may welcome) clarification, unless you have the right approach (which is not easy to discover) it’s best to focus on your company, and it’s strengths. Users will figure out the differences, as they will look for those factors in the competition.

2. If you do mention the competition to clarify your offering, don’t give a long explanation of what your company does and close only by noting that the competitor does not do these things. It ends up looking/sounding terrible – bias/possibly incredible. If you’re going to talk about the competition to distinguish yourself, give the same form of coverage on both sides of the equation. Equal weight, equal space.

3. Focus your postings in blog "neutral" zones (ie, third party coverage as apposed to coverage by avid supporters of the competitor).