Page 102 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Chapter Five  Be Ready for Takeoff

What started out as mentoring from me has turned to
a heightened exchange of ideas. We have shared trade
show booths at different expos, market insights, and sales
figures; co-marketed through our channels; and invited
other like brands to join us. By joining together to expand
our market category, we have lifted our brands in a very
welcoming and profitable way.

Protect Your Brand
Now I don’t want to leave you with too rosy a picture of
co-opetition. There can be dark clouds filled with unethi-
cal bumps, and suddenly the relationship may shift and
you find not only your products being manufactured else-
where but your ideas co-opted. In our case, our most pop-
ular products were knocked off.

Another company was selling reusable eco goods and
it was a simple decision to work with them, at first because
they weren’t making anything. Their business was focused
on building a web platform, aggregating multiple products
in the reusable category to ride the wave of consumer
demand. By being on their more user-friendly website, our
brand gained a wider audience.

We expanded our brand presence on their platform so
customers could easily find us. However, as popularity for
our styles grew, the company requested we private label for
them, replacing our branding with theirs on our products.
When we declined, they stopped selling our brand.
Instead, they copied and began manufacturing and selling

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