What to do when your business is a victim of a copycat body contouring competitor
You know you’re doing something right in your body contouring business when a competitor copies you. But you’re rightfully annoyed and concerned about it. And unfortunately, this happens more often than you think, and it can happen to you. Especially if you have a successful business. So what do you do if your business becomes a victim of a copycat body contouring competitor? We’ll fill you in here.
In this short article, we’ll
- Tell you all about copycats
- Give you some dos and don’ts in case it happens to you; and
- Provide some advice about how to prevent it.
Copying your brand, but not violating trademarks
True trademark infringements may require legal counsel
Before we proceed, we need to clarify exactly what we are talking about and what we are not talking about. We are not talking about another business using your business name or otherwise committing trademark infringements. That’s a different matter; in these cases you may need to involve legal professionals.
Body contouring copycat competitors copying your ‘brand’
What we are talking about is a body contouring business that starts copying your differentiators (stealing your brand), like offering a (1) Guarantee with each treatment protocol or (2) nutrition counseling with each treatment plan. That’s why it’s good to use overall differentiators to define and describe your business brand. Not only does overall differentiation make for a more identifiable brand, it makes it very difficult for copycat body contouring competitors to duplicate. Find out how to strengthen your body contouring business brand here.
New business opens nearby copying your body contouring business brand
Becoming a victim of a copycat body contouring competitor can also happen when a new business delivering the same or similar services moves in down the street and opens up shop. This very thing happened to one of our students who had only recently opened her body contouring business. Just a few months after she opened, a copycat body contouring competitor offering the exact treatments opened up only a few blocks away. Listen to our podcast, Steps to take when a body contouring competitor copies your business, to find out what steps she took.
Copying is easy
Being original is hard
About copycat body contouring competitors
- They are rarely successful in the long run
- Most have few original ideas of their own
- They do not have their own clearly defined brand, so they’ve attempted to copy yours
- If they are focused on what you are doing, they can’t be entirely focused on developing their own business and their own business brand
- While they may be able to copy what you say and do (to an extent), they cannot copy the way your body contouring business makes your clients feel
When your business is a victim of a copycat body contouring competitor
- It’s easy to copy, but much more difficult to replicate
- There’s a big difference in what they can say and what they can deliver
- Most of the time, these businesses who tout what you are touting, fall short on delivery because it’s not who they are or what they do. It’s your business brand, not theirs
Do’s
- Stay focused on your own strategy – trust the decisions you’ve made
- Use this as an opportunity to evaluate, improve, and strengthen your brand
- Ask yourself, can you find another differentiator?
Even when you are successful, look for ways you can improve. In our medical spa, after more than three years with a strong, successful brand in our market, we added a differentiator, the Visible Reduction Promise.
- Strive for a combination USP.
Our medical spa was established in 2015, and to date, no one in our market has been able to copy us because we use so many differentiators to define our brand. We have a Rejuvenation Bar where we serve Puretini’s, a Laser Body Scanner, lead the nation in Sculpsure procedures, provide white glove customer service, hold educational events regularly, and offer the Visible Reduction Promise.
What kind of differentiators do you currently include, and what differentiators can you add to define your brand?
- Look where you need to go, rather than who is copying you
- Learn from the copycat, find out what sets your business apart from their business and exploit your competitor’s differences to show why you are the clear choice
- Let your clients speak for you in reviews and video testimonials
Don’t’s
- Do not say or do anything negative
- Your clients may ask you about it; always take the high road
- Some business people advise you to confront your competitor, but we do not think there is anything to gain from confronting your competitors; focus on your business instead
- Do not lower your prices; this devalues your services and only attracts price shoppers. Instead, keep doing what you’re doing to show the value of your services
- Do not feel threatened; you have developed great business ideas. Most likely, the copycat will not be able to deliver what they are promising
How to prevent your business from being a victim of a copycat body contouring competitor
- You can’t prevent it completely, but you can make it harder by a unique set of differentiators, a strong overall differentiation
- Focus and work on being unique and hard to copy – differentiators again!
- Avoid complacency; evaluate and improve on a regular basis. We recommend quarterly reviews of (1) your brand; (2) your business numbers, and (3) competitor research
The short and sweet of protecting yourself from copycat body contouring competitors
- Copying is easy
- Being original is hard…but it’s achievable
- Develop an overall differentiation strategy that will tilt the client’s decision to choose you in your favor
- Create an effective differentiation strategy that you revisit on a regular basis to protect your business from copycat body contouring competitors
Visit www.bodycontouringacademy.com to learn more about growing your body sculpting business.