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Surprise – Disrespecting Competitors Doesn’t Work! | danny brown
Updated 5 months ago
Source: http://dannybrown.me/
Surprise – Disrespecting Competitors Doesn’t Work! | danny brown --
social media pr and marketing for the conversation age
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Surprise – Disrespecting Competitors Doesn’t Work!
August 17, 2009 1 Comment
You have a product. It’s an awesome product. Thousands ...
- 81 comments on this story
Showing 27 relevant reactions out of 81.
My company has this problem with a competitor. We knew their business and recognized the weaknesses. Our challenge was rise above their online and very public libelous attacks. We provide excellent service and are very professional. We let our company, our professionalism, and our great customer service speak for itself. We must be doing something right because they copy almost all of our ideas. It's ... See all content
Great post! It is so true that companies - including non-profits - can thrive by focusing on our core competency, improving our offerings, and keeping the focus on our own business. (Minding our own business?) Otherwise, customers/clients wonder whether we care about them or our competitors. It's impossible to win when we take our eye off our own game to watch someone else's.
@wpdude Also a bit unnecessary. Hey ho ;-) http://bit.ly/GQLsN
I agree. Resorting to petty cat calls is both immature and disrespectful...
...But when you receive such a catcall, the best way to deal with it would be to listen to this priceless wisdom from Leo Tolstoy:
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
There are times when you need to call out on facts, but I think that can still be done with a level of respect without resorting to petty catcalls?
Should you slam the competition or let your product/service do the talking? @dannybrown raises interesting questions: http://bit.ly/wTDzg
@dannybrown suggests that trashing your competition is not a wise business move. Agreed! http://bit.ly/wTDzg
Makes me think about the MAC vs. PC ads, both digging at each other rather than really showcasing the products and what they do best. Even if you're right, that self-promoting bashing just sounds bad, can be a turnoff. If you build the better mousetrap, the comparisons should take care of themselves.
Such a good post, thanks.
Danny you are so right. if you are always looking back at your competiton you can not be looking forward as to where you want to be going. Your customer or prospect would be wondering why you are so intent on trashing your competiton it would not give you time to say why they should buy from you.
I would have to vehemently agree. Your time is better spent developing your product instead of disrespecting your competitors.
And if a competitor stole your product, you're still better off developing your product instead of disrespecting your competitors.
However, sometimes you just need to call a spade a spade.
I'm wondering if perhaps you misunderstood my answer, Ari? My point was if you can't help, offer a recommendation for someone or something. I've done it before via Twitter and LinkedIn and I'll continue to do so. But if you or your product is right for that person, you wouldn't need to recommend elsewhere.
By recommending someone that's better suited to the project, it's actually benefited
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Is that an absolute, Danny? If a company in Paris visited your blog and opted to contact you with a PR project--and assuming your plate was empty and you could take on the client--would you, or would you consider recommending a European competitor?
If it was a case of sending customers to your competitors fairly, I'm guessing they probably still would be pretty uniform. "Never send to your competitors unless you can't help and they can."
There's a difference between sending to your competitors because you don't have the product your customers need/want, and sending them to your competitors through disillusionment with your approach
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Disrespecting your competitors has another unintended consequence: it will bring attention to them they wouldn't have otherwise had.
If you hadn't tweeted a question about "dissing competitors" but about "sending customers to your competitors," I wonder if your responses would have been as uniform.
Wise words from @dannybrown -- your product is your competitive response, there is no need to attack your competitors! http://dannybrown.me/2009...
Wise words from @dannybrown -- your product is your competitive response, there is no need to attack your competitors! http://ow.ly/klhZ
Great post Danny. Too many people get wrapped up in the idea that they need to a defensive stance or aggressively criticize the competition. In reality, like you wisely said, your product is your defense. Focusing on what you offer, rather than what others are offering (besides the obvious competitive research), is just a better way of doing business. Groovy stuff :-)
That's a solid point, David - I think even the most loyal evangelists of a product can soon tire of an approach they might not agree with. Lose the faithful, it's hard to attract newcomers.
I think you can still compare without the putting down. Maybe go with, "Well, they're pretty good here but this is where we still lead the field." It's not disrespectful; it's not putting anyone's achievements down; yet it's still saying, "We're the guys to beat."
And unless the competitors product can prove otherwise, then all you're doing is telling the truth. :)
Great post Danny. One of the core teachings in media training is never to bash your competitors. Understand the features and benefits of your product or service and use those attributes to set your product apart. This should go for any marketing tactic.
Thanks Jim, appreciate it fella. I think that was the key point that came over from the majority of the responses - if you're product is so cool, then it doesn't really matter what your competitors do, you'll still shine. And that's not something that you can really argue with...
Me thinks me knows what you're referring to ^_^
I think the answers you'll get here will be pretty unilateral as well.
Saying that you're better than your competitor does nothing. Welcoming the competition and proving that you're better will shine in both the short-term and long-term.
If your competitor's product sucks, let your customers point that out. Your loyal customers
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This is really interesting and I completely agree - but the competitors name is often injected into the conversation by the buyer. From framing where you are in the market: "Ah! so, you're like xyz?" to "how do you compare to y" or the really lazy question "who are your main competitors". Do you smile sweetly and insist on saying nothing?
Another superb post Danny,
Your ability to consistently produce such essential content is amazing.
I especially like "your product is your response to competition. Anything else is just poor form."
A great point and an extremely valuable one too!
As always, wise words from you, Danny! Spending time ripping on the competition just makes you look desperate AND takes away the time you could be using to perfect your own product or service. In fact, I can think of someone who could have stood to read this before trashing someone else in a blog entry today ... ;)
Surprise, surprise - disrespecting competitors isn't the most popular route... http://bit.ly/GQLsN
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