Using competitor brand names. How far is too far?

[CaliB]

We are a small company competing for traffic in an industry with more or less one other very large brand. I'm noticing we are getting a descent amount of organic traffic for the competitor's brand name however I haven't done any on-page inclusion or link building for the term. We are using their brand as a keyword in our paid campaigns and seeing potential. I firmly believe we have a superior product. I'm tempted to start going after our competitor's brand as a keyword to skim some of their traffic. My question is how far it too far? Do I actively try to obtain a few anchor text specific backlinks? Dare I use their brand name as a term on our page? Maybe just a simple blog post comparing our two products is more appropriate? Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Jonathan1979]

I like your idea for comparison, however, be warned that once you open the box be prepared for counter campaigns by your competitor.

But I think a blog post like that sounds a natural and potentially a good source of conversions.  Just be sure to be ready to back up any claims you make.

But yes, I like your idea, and thanks for the idea of using adwords advertising to do this.  I like that too.

[MikeRoberts]

A similar question was asked last month that might give you some insight as well. http://moz.com/community/q/should-i-use-my-competitor-s-name-in-my-content-to-help-my-rankings