Today at work I was
reminded that there are two key players when you’re in business. Your
partners and your competition. Since the partners are not a threat they are
sometimes over looked. The problem lies when there is a lack of
communication or neglect in keeping up
with the partners agenda. It is
important to practice a similar strategy with competition. Although you would not share your ideas with
them as you would partners, in both scenarios it is vital to be aware of what
they are doing. Is your partner coming
up with something that could benefit your company? Are they announcing
something else that you could perhaps be tied in with? Even more important when
is your completion releasing their products for sale? What events are they
holding?
In a prior blog I talked about how timing is
everything. All the lessons come full
circle in PR it seems. If you are planning an event at
the same time as your partners why not collaborate? Its more cost efficient and
more than likely you will have the same demographics, allowing you to reach out
to even more people.
The same works with competition. It is inevitable that you and your
competition will virtually have similar clients. At the vey least similar
demographics. If you hold an event around the same time of your competition you
are forcing your public to choose. Instead of allowing them to be educated
separately. This is a big risk even if you have the upper hand. Even worse, you are forcing the media to choose
and risk losing potential coverage, which in the PR world is unthinkable. Sure you can get a reporter but is it the one you want. Remeber each journalist has their own beats, columns and niche.
I’m thinking that perhaps an hour or so of the day should be
dedicated to researching the competition. Knowing information before it happens
and strategically planning accordingly. Having a good relationship with your
partners through constant communication can ease some of the work load in
having to monitor their actions aswell. Keeping informed will build a relationship
instead of seeming uninterested in what they are doing by relaying on solely
the partner to communicate their actions. Perhaps this is where newsletters
come in handy? We inform the partner and
request they do the same. As for our
"enemy", that work falls on our shoulders alone. Although there are many channels
of information to keep updated on their actions as well. Our friend the media is the neutral party in
which we should continually lend our eyes and ears to regularly in this
field. This isn't looking too time consuming after all....simple tasks with enromous rewards. Why can't everything be this way :) ?
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