It isn’t always advisable to follow the “Monkey See, Monkey Do” mimicry theory. But with technology, supply and demand and other key business factors moving at such a fast clip, pioneer businesses can be overtaken in the race for profits. When a competitor decides to provide the same product or service but tweak it to be better and to use more marketing, the originals are left behind.
My boss Joy Gendusa , the founder and CEO of PostcardMania, says the advice to all business owners when this happens is to market correctly and in the necessary quantities and the money will follow.
Take Netflix and Blockbuster, for example. Without a doubt, Netflix revolutionized how people rent movies. Since 1999 Netflix has always had a quarterly growth in customers—that is, until last quarter. Thanks to Blockbuster, this year Netflix stock has gone down 40%.
It’s a classic case. Netflix started a company with a great idea, and then Blockbuster decided to use the same idea and adjust it to work for them. Behold Blockbuster’s new program allowing customers return DVDs they received by mail at any store and exchange them for movies in store, thereby eliminating the wait time. It was an innovative idea, but the real key is the aggressive marketing that they have put in place. No wonder customers are switching services.
Even smaller-scaled companies can benefit by trumping their competition with more marketing.
“If you want business coming in, you have to market, said Gendusa. “A business is a small economy. The main focus should be on getting the promotions out, not the money spent to do so. If you do it [marketing] right, you’ll make the money back.”
Karla Jo Helms is vice president of public relations at Clearwater, FL-based PostcardMania.
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