Small business failure, a lack of appreciation for the competition

Many small businesses are started because of a dislike for the competition. But how many of those small business people actually think about the things their competition is doing right? It takes a thorough investigation into everything that is happening in the industry to succeed in business.

I just read an incredibly insightful article in Wired about Ticketmaster, aka: the evil empire that "everyone" hates. You know, that company that charges you $10-20 in fees for a $15 event ticket. I'm guessing that many small ticketing start-ups began because of their frustration with the extraordinary fees, and lack of creativity of the market giant. But how many of them appreciated what Ticketmaster can do better than anyone?

I'm not playing devil's advocate here, as I believe the cannibalistic nature of the excessive fees is long-term bad for both venues and performers. But what is true is that your small business will not succeed if you haven't evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. Will your upstart ticketing company be able to handle millions of tickets sold this week without system failure? Can you lock down 40,000+ seat venues in your market? Do you need to?

Not every business must be able to topple the giant in their industry, but there is a need to truly understand your competition, how you're similar, and different. You must know what your place is in the market, and understand what challenges your competition hands you. I worked with a small upstart recently who boasted the ways they were doing something no one else in the industry was focused on. Problem was, the positive things they were doing were indeed exactly the same as the rest, while the only unique elements of their business were not desired by their customers. They were preparing for a take-over of an industry, when in reality all they were equipped for was a small slice of a pie that was firmly controlled by their competition.

Get to know your competition. Discover what you can do better, and know what they do better than you. Learn from their expertise and hardships to get where they are.

Pork Council believes people prefer fairy tales?

Intellectual property disputes have always been one of my greatest passions, as well as frustrations. So many complexities taken into consideration to decide who has rights to what brand name or tagline. It can be exhilarating if you're into that sort of thing. Other times it can be downright frustrating. Then other times it can be hysterical.

ThinkGeek, an online marketer of technology accessories, comical shirts, and other hysterical parody products, posted an April Fools joke product for "Canned Unicorn Meat." Anyone with an ounce of common sense would know this is a joke, and curious parties who attempted to purchase the product got a message that they had just fallen for an April Fools gag. Everyone got a good laugh out of it, everyone except for the National Pork Board.

In the advertisement for mythical meat product, ThinkGeek used the phrase "The new white meat" and several sites referred to the product as "the other white meat." The National Pork Board had their lawyers send a cease & desist letter, pointing out that THE OTHER WHITE MEAT is a registered trademark of the National Pork Board and ThinkGeek's use of the term is an infringement and dilution of  their trademark rights.

Trademarks are a way to distinguish that the product in question comes from a unique source. That way, we know whether we're buying Hormel's authentic SPAM product, and not an off-label spiced ham meat byproduct. Trademarks are important to help consumers know they are buying the authentic product that they prefer. If another company attempted to call their spiced ham canned meat SPAM, Hormel could interject and bring legal action against the offending company.

I don't believe any consumers saw the canned unicorn meat and truly believed it was a viable replacement for pork. This was not a true threat to the National Pork Board, nor was it something damaging to the public's love of pig-derived meats. The real threat to the National Pork Board are the counselors to the board who thought it would be a good idea to pay thousands on the drafting of a legal document asking ThinkGeek to stop using the similar taglines to sell their competing meat (which never existed in the first place). Instead, they spent a lot of time and money to provide comic fodder for the masses so we could mock the National Pork Board and Faege & Benson, the attorneys who sent the C&D letter.

Before you react to what you believe is a trademark violation, take a moment to consider whether there is a real threat to your business. It's probably wise to consult with someone other than your trigger-happy lawyers before you dump dollars into starting a fight that doesn't really exist. I'd gladly save you the several thousands of dollars and embarrassment.