How to compete with me-too organizations
- Wed, September 02 2009
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
I recently received an email from a reader of this blog asking for some help on the nonprofit marketing front. She runs a pet shelter. She’s troubled by another, less effective and less scrupulous shelter in her community that engages in me-too marketing. Every time she has an event or kicks off a campaign, the competing organization does the same. What to do?
I can attest to the fact this is incredibly annoying and often confounding. It certainly has happened to me at Network for Good - competition imitating what we do and even trying to confuse our customers.
But here’s the thing about competition. You don’t win against it by focusing on it.
You win by doing a better job focusing on the only thing that matters: those you want to reach. Namely, your constituents, your prospects, your donors, your shelter dogs. You win by maintaining a relentless focus on them. On serving them. On cultivating them. On amazing them. And on thanking them. When you maintain that focus, you excel, you innovate and you stay ahead.
You win a race not by looking over your shoulder but by focusing on the finish line.
Comments
Great point. It is sometimes hard to maintain focus, when you see this sort of behavior—particularly hard when it is from the people that you would expect would be interested in collaborating more effectively. But it’s worth remembering that in some ways, competition can help us to do just a little bit more, put just a little better facts or actions behind our words.
I can attest to the fact this is incredibly annoying and often confounding.