Don't hit or squeeze below the belt
This is a true story of something that happened to me this past few weeks. I don’t make it a practice to talk about myself on this blog, but I thought that this story may be relevant to other marketers and may give you something to think about before launching your own campaigns.
Last month I got a message from a representative of a local company (let’s call them Company A) responding to one of my tweets (I’m @blogjunkie on Twitter btw). His message was along these lines (heavily paraphrased):
Hey, I saw your tweet about how you were frustrated by Company Z’s service. I represent Company A and we have a competing service. We’d like to give you a free trial of our service and at the end of the trial, you get to keep the accompanying product. In return, please record a video of yourself expressing your feelings towards Company Z’s service. The video will be featured in our upcoming online campaign. We’ll even send guys to help you record the video.
After getting this email, I wasn’t sure how to respond. I had to read the message multiple times to be sure that I understood their campaign mechanics, i.e. they wanted me to “express my feelings about” (trash) Company Z’s service instead of talking up their own service.
On the one hand, I publicly tweet and talk about my displeasure towards Company Z’s service all the time, so the video wouldn’t be too far from how I already make my feelings known. On the other hand, it was weird to trash them because it felt like Company A was offering me an incentive to trash their competitor and felt like hitting below the belt.
In the end I responded with this:
I would prefer if I do a comparison between Company A & Z. That way the review would be balanced and fair for both parties. In fact, I don’t mind promoting Company A if the product is as good as I hear it is.
The video idea is interesting but feels a bit scripted. I’m not so comfortable the idea with a “sponsored rant” and can’t think of how I could present it transparently.
I don’t think it is your intention, but the way you suggested the video may be construed as Company A ”rewarding” influencers who bash the competition–a tactic that I feel many will look upon negatively. I would urge you and your department to reconsider how to approach bloggers with this offer.
I may be one of the minority but I really feel it is better safe than sorry. The last thing you want is for your social media campaign to get blasted for astro-turfing. If this rules me out for the free trial, I’m cool with that.
We had a few more exchanges after that in which he explained that they were only approaching Twitter users who already publicly expressed frustration at Company Z and we debated the definition of astrotufing. I’m glad however, Company Z’s representative said that after discussing it with his colleagues they decided to change the tone of the campaign and encourage positive reviews of their own service rather than highlighting frustrations of their competitor’s service.
Have Integrity and Be Authentic
The moral of this story is 3-fold:
1. Trashing competitors is not cool. Harping on your competitors’ shortcomings is negative selling. You should focus instead on communicating your strong points and value proposition. If your product is strong enough, you shouldn’t have to worry about the competitor right? And also, you’ll never know if your own service will begin to suck like theirs and suddenly you’re a hypocrite. The public will remember your previous actions.
2. Your reputation is worth much more than a clever campaign. The idea to create a UGC based campaign that trashes your competitor sounds clever, especially when everybody is already against the incumbent. It’s one thing when you’re a shop owner bad-mouthing the guy at the end of the block to walk-in customers, but when you’re talking smack in a nationwide online campaign I’d call that playing with fire.
3. The public always finds out the truth. We see time and time again how the public uncovers the sleazy truth of a company’s shameful practices. For example, the case of Belkin’s fake Amazon reviews. If your campaign is based on the premise of incentivizing individuals to ‘buy’ their influence, whether for trashing competitors or singing your praises, you’ll get found out no matter how clever you try to be.
All companies, small to big will encounter an opportunity to put down their competitors at some point of doing business. I would be a bigger fan of your company and proudly promote your products and services to my friends if your company upholds its integrity and was honest and authentic in your communications.
