Fending Off Competitor Smear Campaigns
If your competitors begin making negative attacks against your small business, do you have the resources necessary to stop the damage? Sometimes, as small business owners, we hate to admit it but it happens.
Competitors conduct smear campaigns and they can have damaging effects on your reputation, your credibility and most of all – your business.
Jay Bean, CEO of OrangeSoda, joins host Steve Rucinski to offer advice for business owners on how to successfully deal with negative competitor campaigns intended to discredit your business.
Below are the questions we asked Jay in this episode:
- (1:20) First Jay, can you tell us a bit more about yourself and your background?
- (2:11) How would you define an attack by a competitor?
- (3:27) Do have any examples of attacks you’ve faced in your own businesses?
- (5:01) Why do you think someone would put so much effort into it?
- (5:51) Do you feel there is ever any justifiable reason to attack your competition or put a competitor in a bad light?
- (6:37) It seems that there are more outlets now, more than ever actually, to conduct an attack, true or false?
- (8:35) Is there anything can you do to safeguard your business against a competitive attack before it happens?
- (10:21) Can you give us a little bit of information about OrangeSoda?
- (13:39) Your company specializes in SEO for small businesses; can you explain how an effective SEO campaign can help prevent competitive attacks?
- (16:16) Should you address the attack head on and discuss it on your site pages?
- (18:09) If it’s a blatant attack that could be damaging to your business, what are some things you would recommend a small business do to stop the attack in its tracks and limit the damage?
- (20:47) Do you ever recommend reach out to the competitor directly?
- (21:52) Can SEO help clean up the aftermath of an attack?
- (24:57) What are the 3 key tips to manage an attach that you would give to a small business?
- (26:23) What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned that you could share with others?
- (28:23) Jay, where can people find out more on the web?
Listen to Jay’s full interview now by clicking the red and yellow player below.
Brought to you by our sponsor:
May 27th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Good advice Jay. This is a real concern for anyone doing business online. You want to give your customers a chance to speak their mind but some people are taking advantage of that. You never know if it’s a true complaint or not. I learned a lot from this interview.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Fending Off Competitor Smear Campaigns…
If your competitors begin making negative attacks against your small business, do you have the resources necessary to stop the damage? Sometimes, as small business owners, we hate to admit it but it happens. Competitors conduct smear campaigns and they…
May 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am
This is a great topic and the show was informative on the subject. I think some of the best advice he offered was to “take the high road” when it comes to such things. Because when it’s all said and done, I think the person who keeps their integrity is the real winner any way you slice it.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Great advices Jay. You know what, I think this is one of the difficult challenges an entrepreneur will face. In my point of view,as much as possible, I do not want to step in to other’s shoes and degrade or humiliate them of any way. But if it happens to us because of those socially irresponsible entrepreneurs, it’s definitely hard to react on the current situation.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Don’t you think that a smear campaign will hit the company in its “face”? It will be interesting to listen to this podcast interview.
May 31st, 2009 at 10:55 pm
What is that smear campaign about, Martin?
June 1st, 2009 at 3:48 am
Mary,
I haven’t listened to the podcast yet. I will do it today.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:14 am
Oops I missed that Martin…
June 18th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Mary,
Jay Bean gave examples on how his company had been attacked by a smear campaign and how they tried to solve the problem.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:55 am
[...] Business Trends Radio recently interviewed Jay Bean, CEO of OrangeSoda, (disclosure: the company I am affiliated with), on this very topic. He told [...]