Good morning and welcome to the Monday morning marketing podcast, I'm Esther.
And I'm Melanie.
And today we're talking about collaboration versus competition. Who comes out the winner?
Hmm. Well, collaboration and competition are essential for today's businesses. I feel that's really, really important to emphasise. Having a bit of competition helps benefit the consumer at the end of the day also helps you sort of buffer up what you're supposed to be doing with your business. But collaboration is also essential as well. And that's how Esther and I ended up working together through a bit of collaboration.
Exactly. And I mean, we could have ended up being complete competitors because we're both in the same field. But at the end of the day, we both bring so many different aspects to the table that it would be silly to compete against each other. I mean, yes, Melanie would win every time in a fight, OK? She is a black belt in. What was it again?
I was never a black belt,
Oh, sorry,
I know where you're going with this yea.
Right. So she's practised a lot of martial arts and let's just say I was never going to measure up there. And she started in the digital marketing space before me as well. So I'm not even going to compete. But definitely having her on my side is a definite benefit and knowing that the things that she knows that I don't know can help and benefit my clients as well.
Right. And it works the other way around as well. But this is a slow process. We're not expecting you to, you know, go out there and just be friendly with every business out there. But it's understanding how it will work for your business or how it will work against your business. I mean, you can really only collaborate in a business if you've got a similar audience, but they've got different wants and needs perhaps.
Yeah. I mean, you could for example, if you have, let's say, an event space that you want to rent out, then you would need to connect with people who are event managers, but you would not be collaborating with them. Collaborating is when you get too much work and you would need to outsource that work or bring somebody else in into the team to help you to do that work. So it's, you know, knowing the difference between who your competitors are, because, as Melanie says, it is important to have your competitors to know who they are and what they're doing in the space so that you can level up your game and your marketing and also then knowing how they might possibly be able to be brought in to your team to help alongside you. Not everybody would be open to collaboration either. Shouldn't they, Melanie?
No, I don't think anybody is. When they first up, before we started recording today, I was saying, you know, when I first set up, I like most people, I started on my kitchen table and never even occurred to me to collaborate with anybody, not certainly not from the get go. But it was only because I was brought into a larger team where we're all working for the same effort that I started to realise that, you know, I could work with people who are in this similar background to me because you can connect with people on a personal level and that competition is still there, I suppose. But you start seeing the person rather than the bit than the brand, I suppose.
Yeah, definitely. And everyone has their pros and cons and their strengths and their weaknesses. You know, just because you might be really good at one aspect doesn't mean that you can't learn from the other people in that, whether it's in in a team or in a community that you're in, that, you know, they're giving advice, take the advice, run with the advice, use the advice. And, you know, in the end, that will make you come out as the winner.
OK, people don't just engage us because of prices or locations, it's also because they connect with us on a personal level as well. So even though my cell phone has to do very, very similar things, sometimes people just click better with us.
Yeah,
you know, that could be the deciding factor. And and let's face it, I mean, I know a podcast goes to lots of different continents, but at the end of the day, we're based in Ireland, both of us. And it's a very, very small community.
It is
So we all know each other fairly well. We're all in each other's orbit. And there's no point trying, you know, putting up walls between us because we're just in too small an area really
Yeah, definitely. And another part that comes into that with the whole competition thing is could be based on pricing. If you're willing to price yourself out of beyond everybody else, then have something that you're going to be you know, it's going to make you head and shoulders above everybody else. But if you're going to be pricing so low that you're affecting everybody else around you and you end up getting so much work that you can't fulfil it, you know, you have to be sensible about these things as well. Whenever you're trying to compete and so, like Melanie says, we're both in Ireland. It's a small country. We basically know most of the people in our field here on the island. And so when somebody does something that could go against or go against us in a way that, you know, it could affect how people see digital marketers or social media managers or trainers, then it affects everybody.
It does.
So bear that in mind as well. Whenever you're you're marketing and whatever, yeah.
No pressure or anything.
Yeah, no. I just mean, I think that's that's the main key here. You know, be nice to people because you never know when you're going to need them. And that's when collaboration comes in as well. I mean, you could be happy enough on your you know, on your TOD, all on your own working away. But you might end up needing somebody else. And if you have annoyed them in some way, that could be really detrimental to the to the whole process.
It's not just digital marketers either. Whatever sector or field you're in, it's always important to put the best impression forward. And, you know, competition is healthy. I think having competition is healthy. It helps you sort of always realign and refocus what your audience wants from your business. I think it helps you better manage your expectations of your clients and their expectations of you. I think that's actually a really good thing to to focus in on. So I don't think having competition is a bad thing. But I also feel it's important that people understand that collaboration works both ways.
Yeah,
OK. I know for a fact there's a couple of people over here who are digital marketers who work with website designers and graphic designers, and they're setting up a package of things to do. And it just works so well because they're all in the same space and in the same audience. And, you know, I all I do is social media training. But you do a bunch of stuff, don't you, Esther?
Yeah.
So because I all I do social media training and social media management, then it wouldn't be any harm for me to collaborate with another couple of businesses because I don't want to set up an agency.
Exactly. Exactly. But your clients already know you and likes and trust you. So they would want to go through you to get the rest of the package.
Yeah.
So it makes sense like that as well. And that's something that, you know, connect with like minded people. Like Melanie says, you know, it's not all tick, tick, tick or give, give, give. It is both parties reaching an agreement to that is mutually beneficial to both sides. And at the end of the day, as Melanie says, competition is healthy. There is competition in every area of business. If you're setting up a business that nobody else does, be rest assured that other people will join
fairly quickly.
Yeah, they'll all jump on the bandwagon. Yeah, I do that now too. You know, so you will always have competition no matter what you do, no matter where you are, live with it, embrace it, roll with it. It's all going to work out for the best.
But always be open to opportunity. And I think the only reason why I'm still in business and I'm a sole trader, so I don't have support staff or, you know, VAs or anybody else like that to support me at the end of the. The only reason why I'm still in business is because I collaborated.
Yeah, yeah, and you did it at the right time. That was right for you right for your business. So, you know, as Melanie said, don't jump straight into it from day one of setting up business. Get your head around it. Understand that it is something that can be beneficial if both parties are in agreement. OK, so if you've any questions about this, do reach out to us, because it's something that Melanie and I have both been doing. And we look forward to hearing from you and hearing about your collaborations. And so just reach out to us and let us know how you're getting on.
And don't forget to send us a message or find us on any of our social channels. We always love hearing from you and you always give us some great laughs and great ideas.
Absolutely. Thanks for joining us again today, guys. See you next week.
Bye.