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Can I Use My Competitor's YouTube Video Against Him?

by whoserman
5 replies
What are your thoughts on engaging a competitor directly?

I'm in a performance art niche and have a video of me performing very well. My competitor has a similar video, but it's very obvious that the performance is not at the same level. If prospects compared us, it'd come out ahead more often than not.

Importantly, he's the incumbent and (with the exception of the video) has better marketing than I do. Also, he's got affiliates. I'm solely on PayPal right now. Both of us are established, but he's clearly still ahead in my niche.

Obviously, it's a risky strategy that'll need a lot of thinking through... but I wanted to make sure it's legal before nailing down the details and thinking through the complexities of the strategy (or potential war that might result).

Thoughts?
#competitor #video #youtube
  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    There is no law against naming your competitor directly in any of your marketing, BUT you want to be very careful to make statements that you can definitely back up. You cannot, however, use any portion of your competitor's marketing in yours. That is copyright infringement. So feel free to reply, but not actually showcase where your competitor overstated his abilities.

    One recent commercial that comes to mind is Sprint, check it out-
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    I strongly suggest instead of thinking of this person as a competitor, you think of him as a potential partner. Youtube is more than just a video viewing site, it's also a social site.


    You say he's a better marketer, why not find ways to help each other?
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  • Profile picture of the author QueenMelanie
    Don't do anything where; if the same thing happened to you you would feel cheated or annoyed, and don't do anything blackhat because they'll prob figure out who did it and retaliate!

    With competitors in your niche it is much more ideal to somehow get along than be enemies
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    business is business. if you are better then show it.

    i am sure you have seen the mac vs pc commercials right?

    here is the key thing to think about...so what if you are better. if he is better at marketing then you are not going to get enough people to see your comparison...they will only see his solution.

    When you look at things like that, you might want to consider more of a piggy back approach as opposed to an "i am better than you" approach.

    If you cant get eyeballs to see that you are better then that strategy doesn't work very well does it?
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  • Profile picture of the author TheProductReviewGuy
    Banned
    There's nothing illegal about talking about other peoples businesses. If you're in the UK, you always see supermarket ads where Asda compare their prices with Tesco and Morrison etc.

    I would recommend you join forces and help each other get traffic. If you promote his channel and he promotes yours, you could be exchanging views and getting more subscribers.
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