A United Marketing Front: Competitors as Allies?

Shift gears back to 1995. I'd just opened up Despina's International Cafe & Salon Gallery on the square of a small downtown shopping area in a small southern town, Greenwood, South Carolina.
After about three weeks, just long enough for us to get our footing and to develop our rhythm, in walks Tommy Fisher, the owner of the restaurant at The Inn on the Square! This was a polished and respected businessman, and someone who had built his restaurant as the best dining establishment in town.

I swallowed hard, expecting the worst, and walked over to greet Tommy and his wife at their table. Tommy turned the tables on me that day and taught me a valuable lesson. He smiled and accepted my greeting with warmth and enthusiasm, welcomed me to the downtown area, and wished me much success. WHAT??? Here's the Biz Buzzz...

What Tommy taught me that day is that even competitors can be allies, just as we are told in “Leadership on the Line”. In their wonderful book, Ronald Heifetz and Martin Linsky tell us that allies don't have to be best friends, but they must share a common vision--an important goal towards which they can work together.

Tommy said, “Hey, I’m glad you’re here. The more restaurants we have downtown, the more people who will come downtown to eat!”, and that's when the light bulb went on for me. Yes, he elaborated, explaining that he didn’t want to eat at his own restaurant every day; neither would the customer base that we’d both be marketing to, and that the more of us there were in one area, the more activity by hungry consumers.

I recommend to small retail businesses, especially in these tough economic times, to work with their business neighbors (even their competitors) to market a shopping district collectively, rather than one business at a time. Shoppers like to park their car and hit lots of shops or options at the same time. Think mall shopping...think amusement parks...think tourism and how much easier it to drive traffic to your business, when you sell an entire block or two in your collective marketing. This thinking is not new, but it is an important marketing tool. I didn’t really “get it” until my competitor crossed the line and showed me how a collaboration could help increase business for everyone.

Some examples of collaborative marketing:

• South Carolina's Heritage Corridor The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor extends 240 miles across South Carolina, stretching from the mountains of Oconee County, along the Savannah River, to the port city of Charleston. It is divided into four regions and...
  
• Asheville, North Carolina's River Arts District. Why they even have a facebook page!
  
• Can you imagine each vendor or business in San Francisco's Chinatown doing their own marketing? SO much better to collaborate.
  
• How about Miami's fabulous people-watching South Beach area?


• OR Canada's International city, Toronto. Check out one of the arts districts, with what seems like a kazillion art galleries, all within walking distance of your parked vehicle.

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In his latest article on how to deal with new competitors, Randy Myers, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal & Dow Jones, quotes me. To go direclty to Randy's story, click here, Showdown: What to Do When a New Competitor Comes to Town.

Randy Myers, a former contributor to Barron's, is an independent business and financial writer. He is a contributing editor to CFO and Corporate Board Member magazines and a columnist with MSN Business on Main. You can find out more about Randy via his website, http://www.randymyers.com/