Comments on: Build Your Business By Promoting Competitors

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:37:46 +0000

I read some great articles on this site, but this is not one of them. Promote your competitor and you’ll grow your business? Ok, I’m interested. Then I read it and little actually supports that assertion.

How is learning their strengths and weaknesses or cozying up to them as a supposed friend promoting their business? The former is just Business 101 and if you do the latter, you have bigger problems. The idea of promoting your competitor has merit, but this article fails to make the case.

By: Marci Reynolds

Marci Reynolds — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:18:51 +0000

Lisa..

Loved this article and have a very recent first hand experience that supports this. I was providing marketing consulting to an early stage Internet Television Startup and we were creating the business plan and financials. Since iTV is fairly new, we were using a lot of best guesses and estimates.

I finally suggested that we simply reach out to some of the other Internet Television sites and ask to speak with their CEO’s. Long story short, 2 of the 5 CEOs agreed to meet with us and shared very detailed information about their strategies, key learnings and “getting started” advice. The few hours we spent were invaluable!

Since the meetings, we’ve continually promoted both of the competitive iTV sites on Twitter and other mediums. We got help, they’ve gotten ongoing, free advertising and WOM.

Best,

Marci Reynolds
J2B Marketing

By: Martin Lindeskog

Martin Lindeskog — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:55:47 +0000

As an experienced purchaser I helped out “colleagues” (competitors) in the welding industry when they needed to get raw material and vice versa. It was a small world and we knew each other pretty well and people had worked at different companies in the past. The real competition was on the market place with the sales people reaching out to the end customers, trying to convince them to pick our brand instead of someone else.

I wanted to hear at an early stage from the supplier if they couldn’t deliver according to my request and specific material specification. It was a “trinity” combo of quality, price and delivery (lead) time.

I have been in touch with advertising agencies who are starting to think in new ways when it comes to the new media and marketing channels. It will be fascinating to follow the development and paradigm shift of the media landscape.

By: Andee Sellman, One Sherpa

Andee Sellman, One Sherpa — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:13:17 +0000

Thanks for the forward thinking Lisa.
This whole new world of social media is certainly challenging old mind sets and ways of doing business.
It is becoming nearly impossible to operate with a power and control mindset these days because the online tools simply won’t allow you to control word of mouth and sentiment any more. Information is flowing so freely that as small business owners we must co operate together and become allies because in the end we’re all able to build a valuable niche where we can co exist together