Copy Cat

[Pompal 09.]

I guess this post might be more of a vent than a question or comment but here goes.

I specialize in sports massage and working with athletes of all ability levels from the elite to the weekend warrior. For about a year I had the market in town all to myself. About 3 months ago a new person came into town and opened up shop with the same premise. I actually know them well and I was excited for them and wanted them to do well. I was hoping that it would be nice to refer someone to them if I was out of town or booked.

The problem is the fact that I feel they are copying everything I do. I create cool shirts with my name and a week later they have shirts. I make a brochure advertising to athletes, they put a brochure right next to mine wherever I put one, I donate g/c to races and sure enough they did too at the same race.

I know there probably isn't much I can do and feel like saying something will come across as jealous and childish. I guess I just wanted to vent and see if anyone has had something similiar happen.

Hope everyone had a great Turkey day!

 

[T a r a n]

let me also add that I understand they also have to do their advertising thing in order to get clients so I guess it doesn't make me too mad. I guess I just wish it didn't feel like I was coming up with all the ideas and then just passing the idea on to them. I guess it is also tough because they undercut my price by about 20 bucks.

whew, guess I drew this one out

 

[Evilcharm]

i had the same experience with another mobile therapist. he actually plagerized my service menu for the duplicate things he offered. he called mr. mush once and complained that we were infringing on his 'exclusive' market to certain hotels. he didn't have exclusive anything as far as we were informed by these same places. mr. mush told him, hey, none of us can possibly corner the market. we all can only do so many people, and competition is a healthy thing.

we went through the same negative emotions as you're experiencing. we finally came to the comclusion that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

do your thing, keep your ideas fresh, your standards high, and most of all keep in mind that when anyone advertises for a massage, it's essentially planting the seed of massage in the community collective conciousness.

 

[irockj0rsockz]

Yep, had the same things happen to me, complete with the lower prices... especially with website stuff. I've seen at least a 1/2 dozen sites that have lifted entire sections of my FAQ word for word. I even saw one site that had just copied the whole dang page.

There's also a business in town that has the same text from my brochure reproduced in theirs, word for word.

It's frustrating, but I just remind myself that if it works for them, that means it's working for me too. (But I do find it a bit irritating, considering how many hours I spent on getting my text just right.)

 

[Sarah M]

Breathe, have you considered dropping them a note citing copyright infringement and request they invent their own wording? Not that the infringers would necessarily pay any attention to it, but then again they might. That's what copyright laws are for. I've had someone plagiarize my ad materials word for word, then completely deny it. I filed a grievance within the association we both belong to, which is in process (hopefully). I get that I can't have an attachment to the outcome of their removing my descriptions from their site, but it does build a case in the event they try to sue me for copyright infringement.