When the Copycats Come Out. You Know You’re Doing Something Right…
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery — So relax and say thank you!
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When the copycats come out, you know you’re doing something right.
People who copy your approach to marketing, events or company branding or who offer imitations of your product or service are paying you a HUGE compliment.
Understand that they are a fan of what you do and take comfort in the tribute they are paying to you by copying your work.
So relax and say thank you to the copycat…
Accept the compliment (by calling them out publicly) and get back to doing what you do best — creating great work…
Don’t Let Copycats Kill Your Ideas:
Raise the bar for yourself; push your limits and set new challenges.
It can be frustrating to invest time, money and sweat into something just to turn around and find your competitors feasting on your ideas. But, you can’t let them slow you down or stall your progress. You must keep hustling and moving forward.
Whoever makes the first version of something is less important than the person who makes the best version, so stay focused on creating great content, and products and serving your customers well. In the end, that’s what will keep you on top of the game
You Must Stay True to Your Customers:
When you’re building your brand you’re intently focused on the needs of your clients and customers.
You do everything for them — to improve their lives, solve their problems and relieve their pain points. Once success hits and the bitters start biting, many people turn their attention to the copycats, becoming obsessed and paranoid in the process.
You must not do that — be strong and focussed on what you beleiev in…
Stay close to your audience, fans, clients and customers. Make a commitment to understanding their needs and constantly innovating and forcing the copycats to try and keep up.
This is My favourite: Just ignore them:
Just ignore the copycats — its the best way!
They don’t add any value to your life, projects or ideas — so don’t spend your time and energy worrying about them, a total waste of energy and time...
If people are stealing your ideas, content or approach — that’s okay. What really matters is that people can’t copy your unique experiences (being you). They can’t copy your personality or the value you deliver in your work remember that.
Stay focused on your own growth, clients and the new experiences you are having and forget about the rest who are following behind and stealing your moves. Think of it this way, the more copycats you have, the bigger your fan base will be — good idea right?
Whoever makes the first version of something is less important than the person who makes the best version.
Don’t be afraid to speak up:
While I suggest that you ignore the biters and keep doing you, at the same time, if someone blatantly rips off your content don’t be afraid to call them out on it.
Speak up and talk to people and learn about why they are copying you. Get their thoughts on it and have a conversation about it. Often times it can be a misunderstanding where simply educating them on proper citation and reference practices can make a huge difference.
I’ve seen great collaborative projects come out of this type of positive confrontation.
On the other hand, I’ve had people completely ignore the fact that they stole from you and ultimately be left with no other option but to go to someone else.
The takeaway here is to always be kind to your copycats. After all, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. Credit — Ross Simonds.
By Pete Moore — Seamless Entertainment
