Wow, this is weird.
Netbriefings today (April 11) issued a press release announcing a campaign targeted at current users of ON24 webcasting technology and managed services. ON24 customers can get a free fully managed webcast from Netbriefings to compare the services.
Fair enough. But regular readers of my blog might think this post sounds strangely familiar. I think so too. On April 2 I wrote about a press release from AnyMeeting going after customers of WebEx and GoToMeeting.
That's not the strange part… The idea of directly targeting your competition isn't exactly new. What I found surprising was that Netbriefings basically copied the press release that AnyMeeting published 9 days earlier, updated the names and a few keywords, and put it out as their own. It's unusual to see so obvious a copy and paste job done by another company in the same general industry in such a short time span. It's not exactly subtle, and the interested readership base is likely to to see both.
You can read both press releases using the links in the above paragraphs. You'll see comparisons like this:
- AnyMeeting Launches Aggressive Promotion to Secure Leadership of Small Business Web Conferencing Market
- Netbriefings Launches Aggressive Promotion to Gain Marketshare of the Managed Service Webcasting Market
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Web Conferencing Provider Goes After Small Business Customers of WebEx and GoToMeeting
- Webcasting provider goes after business customers of ON24
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - AnyMeeting […] announced the launch of an aggressive campaign taking on WebEx and GoToMeeting in the small business market.
- Netbriefings […] announced the launch of an aggressive campaign taking on ON24 in the managed service webcasting market.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - AnyMeeting is offering a promotion specifically for small businesses that are currently using WebEx and GoToMeeting. Any small business […] interested in participating can simply provide a copy of their most recent WebEx or GoToMeeting invoice, and they will receive…
- Netbriefings is offering a promotion specifically to businesses that are using ON24. Any business interested in participating can simply provide a copy of their most recent ON24 invoice, and they will receive…
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And in a quote from the president/CEO of each company:
- "Being a small company […] we're out to prove that we're a better solution for them."
- "Being a small company […] they will see we're a better solution for them."
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Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but there is something about this that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it is because I used to write press releases in my former life as a product marketing specialist. Trying to come up with new and interesting things to say and ways to say it is often tedious and frustrating. Copying someone else's work verbatim strikes me as the wrong shortcut to use.
Oh well. It doesn't change the fact that the offer is a good one if you are currently with ON24 and are looking for alternative options.
