Do Not Fear the Copycats

“They copied all they could follow but they couldn’t copy my mind, so I left them sweating and stealing a year and a half behind.”
– Rudyard Kipling

“Copycat services, copycat products, copycat people are like a photograph versus a real person.

They are only going to be a 2-dimensional version of you. Whatever thought process you went through to create your offering is something they never experienced. You know why you used those words in that way in your marketing. You know why you choose to do things at a particular time and in a particular way. You know what is really behind every element of what you do. In fact, you don’t even have to think about it, because it came from you.

The copycats? They think what you created is gospel. They think you are providing the template for ‘how things should be’ in your field.

Suddenly, in their eyes, you have become the point by which what they do is defined.
Are you feeling sorry for them yet? You should be. Aside from not engaging their imagination, copying you (to such an extent that you notice!) means that whatever they do is static. They may make changes but they will never get the heart of it.

Of the two of you, who is in the better position to tweak what you do and communicate with your market? Who is better placed to make changes as markets move?

You are—every time.

The copycats will give it a go but it will usually just stay lukewarm. Without your input, they will never work out why it doesn’t work for them.”

Yosemite

Ruby Beach