

Ask HN: How to take advantage when a competitor shuts down? - jpn

A competitor of ours has shut down (Fotopedia).<p>Seems like a lot of people are upset, especially since they only gave a 10 day notice for users to download their own content.<p>What are the best ways that I can reach out to their customers and invite them onto our platform?<p>https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bonjourn.al<p>Obviously, I don&#x27;t want to break any rules (no auto Tweeting)
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olivierduval
Maybe you may start to talk to you competitor...? I guess that if they inform
their customers that you might be an alternative, this may be a win-win-win
deal: \- they wouldn't look like complete a __hole \- their customers would
know where to go \- you would have more customers, even if you need to setup
an easy migration path from fotopedia to you (in less than 10 days) and maybe
have some bonus for these customers (upgraded accounts for 1 to 3 months)

You might have a look at what happened when Google discontinued their news
service and how their competitor managed to take advantage of this...

But maybe the first thing you should do is: understand why fotopedia customers
went to them instead of coming to you?? Is this the business model? The
design? The features..?

And would these customers be a good fit for you?

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mhoad
Here is the approach I would recommend taking if it were me:

Get in touch with the team at Fotopedia ASAP (Call them if you can get their
details either from the site or via WHOIS). Start a conversation immediately
about arranging a deal for them to recommend you as an alternative. Depending
on what your model looks like for your own business I would recommend even
going so far as to offering a cash incentive for them to do so (Nothing major
at all).

Creating a landing page specifically targeting Fotopedia users. Offer them a
special deal for signing up. Get Fotopedia to send all their users that link
in an email to their customers.

You might want to also considering running an Adwords campaign targeting their
brand name (This may or may not be OK in Google's TOS depending on where you
live). Send all of that traffic to that same landing page.

But for a couple of hundred dollars you should very easily pick up a large
number of new clients this way. Again knowing nothing at all about your own
business I would tend to think that this is a bargain compared to your usual
CAC.

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wiseleo
Your messaging needs to change.

"Attention Fotopedia users: here is how you can use Bonjournal to achieve a
similar experience."

When looking at your site, I see no indication that your service is capable of
offering a similar experience.

When Tungle shutdown, a competitor sent an email to every Tungle user. It was
an effective email and provided clear guidance of what to do next and why they
were capable of handling my business. Let me post it for you.

Subject: What to do when Tungle shuts down

Hello, We have noticed you are using Tungle.Me, and may be affected by the
upcoming shut-down of their service

If you're looking for a great scheduling alternative, with an extra edge for
your business, check out ____! We know changes can be difficult, so we want to
offer you ____ Business subscription - Free for 3 months!

____ can be added to your website, email or used as a standalone contact-page.
With ____ you can always share your up-to-date availability, and let anyone
schedule time or a service with you - no coordination phone calls and emails,
no timezone mess, no registration required.

____ can also help your business grow by engaging your online visitors and
turning them into clients. Proactive contact form, phone conferencing, video
meetings, credit-card payments, and even email campaigns, are all part of
____.

Join over 100,000 businesses that chose ____, and get your Free Business
subscription for 3 months.

Any question? contact us at ____

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jpn
Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions.

We reached out to some of the founders of Fotopedia and are reaching out to
Fotopedia users via Fotopedia as well as Twitter.

We also wrote a blog post comparing some of the alternatives, which we hope
people will find useful.

[https://bonjourn.al/blog/17-fotopedia-alternatives-a-
short-l...](https://bonjourn.al/blog/17-fotopedia-alternatives-a-short-list)

I've also posted the same question on Quora:

[https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-startup-take-advantage-
of-a...](https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-startup-take-advantage-of-a-
competitor-shutting-down).

Thanks again!

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honzzz
There is going to be a lot of "10 Fotopedia alternatives" 'listicles' on a lot
of blogs whose authors will target Fotopedia ex-users looking for a
replacement; articles like [http://unexploredparadises.eu/fotopedia-
alternative](http://unexploredparadises.eu/fotopedia-alternative)

You might want to set up a Google alert and try to be on all of these lists.

~~~
doodilin
Thanks for this advice! We also ended up creating our own listicle
([https://bonjourn.al/blog/17-fotopedia-alternatives-a-
short-l...](https://bonjourn.al/blog/17-fotopedia-alternatives-a-short-list))

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sejje
Optimize some landing pages for "Fotopedia alternatives" or "Fotopedia
shutdown" etc.

I imagine some people are looking to migrate off and your service can be
there.

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dbjerome
Identify your proven competitive advantages and demonstrate them through your
company strategy.

Beyond that, focus on creating something great rather than talking to your
customers. Make sure your platform is revolutionary, and they will come.

As Henry Ford said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have
said faster horses."

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sjs382
Twitter is a great resource for this. A lot of their users will be
complaining—do a search. Also, try to get news sources that report about the
shut-down to recommend your service as an alternative (also via twitter).

