Free marketing ideas

Companies essentially compete in two groups of industries. The first include industries where cooperation with competition is important, where it is usually understood as something good and useful. The other includes industries in which companies and individuals do everything they can to taint their competitor’s reputation.

I compete in industries where we always talk nicely about competition. We even cooperate and help each other out. One such industry is publishing, for example. A single publisher will never say that another publishing house publishes dumb books. It’s similar with seminars and business education. I encourage entrepreneurs to attend seminars, whether they’re organized by us or by the competition.

Why do I do this?

For two reasons. Firstly, my mission is to help entrepreneurs, and discouraging them from attending other seminars and reading other books would be contrary to my mission. Secondly, it would simply be bad for the whole industry if we talked against each other. If I said that the competition had worthless seminars, that all other counselors but myself were incompetent and that only we publish good books, this would create mistrust in the whole industry among customers. Ultimately, I’d lose my credibility.

Let’s have a look at an example of industry where competition is constantly being spat on. Water filter sellers are like that. They speak badly about competition. Only their water filter really works, they say, the others are so-so. Or sellers of food supplements. Although scores of them sell similar pills (with the same ingredients), they like to say that only their pills are of good quality while the others are only little better than fakes. By attacking the competition in this way, vendors only confuse customers. Confused customers buy from no one. And the industry’s reputation is at risk.


If for example vendors of Kransky sausage claimed all at once that only their sausages were good, and that the others fill their products with antibiotics – would this really encourage us, customers, to eat more sausage? There you go.

Calling people names is usually impolite, inappropriate and ineffective. Read plenty of books and don’t miss out on educational opportunities in 2010. At Lisac&Lisac or anywhere else. Invest in yourself!