 COMPETITORS
OGLE GOOGLE'S FROOGLE By
Jenny Fujita and Joy K. Miura, Fujita & Miura Public Relations
On December 13, Reuters news service announced "The popular search engine
Google has added an online shopping site called Froogle to its bag of tricks."
While this new service gives Google a competitive edge, it also has the potential
to alienate it from both competitors and customers. Yet the "ever-friendly"
Google has managed to take a bigger slice of the search engine pie, now "running
neck and neck with Yahoo," and keep its customer-competitors happy. How?
"…they're being creative on how to monetize their site," said Salomon
Smith Barney analyst Lanny Baker. Even though Google's Froogle is in direct competition
with MySimon and BizRate, they provide links to those sites, as well as Amazon.com
and eBay, at the bottom of each search results page. Everyone wins with this arrangement
- customers see more shopping choices in their search, competitors get a plug,
and Froogle charges ahead. What
a clever PR move: serve your competitor. To apply this tactic to your business,
think first about what you have that your competitors don't have - but want. Consider
not only the obvious, like your services and products, but also how you carry
out your business. Perhaps you use a progressive, new accounting procedure that
you could teach your competitors; maybe you have a supplier for a hard-to-find
item that would be cheaper with a bulk buy; or possibly you use a piece of machinery
only once a week that your competitors could rent the rest of the time. Whatever
it is, you have it and they very well might want it. From
there, it's all in the offering. Approach your competitor in a humble and gracious
manner with something they want (and only you have). It will set you apart as
the leader in your field and provide them with something valuable in a way that
only a colleague could. Moreover, customers notice when you collaborate for their
benefit, and truly appreciate these efforts. |
