Standing Out in a Competitive Market Despite Being An Underdog

American business magnate, billionaire, politician, and philanthropist Ross Perot is often quoted by “Life is never more fun than when you’re the underdog competing against the giants.“

Anyone who has read about David and Goliath understands that if you want to kill a giant you shouldn’t play by his rules. If you are trying to make a brand compete with the incumbents you shouldn’t emulate them instead you should look for new markets and build your strategy according to those markets’ needs. You don’t always have to be a market leader to be loved by people. People love to support underdog brands and learn about their stories. Here are three reasons why people love the underdog more than the incumbents:

1- Always ready and available to help, support, and provide a value proposition customized to the patient’s needs. You may not be providing an innovative product or service that other eye care professionals don’t have, however, you can give appointments earlier than the incumbents. You can suggest, recommend, and provide options and bundled products and services that already exist in the market, but how you present them to solve patients’ problem make their life easier too.

2- Give emotional support that attracts the audience: People love to hear the story of the new kid on the block. If you have an authentic and original true story don’t keep it to yourself. Let your audience hear it and interact by sharing it using word-of-mouth. As an underdog, your goal is to build brand awareness and tell people about the reasons they must hire you as their eye care professional. Your humble brand story should be digestible in a word-of-mouth format as well as on weblogs and on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,…)

3- Provide a different and better customer experience: Know your strength, identify a niche product in which you have a competitive advantage, and don’t hesitate to specialize in providing an experience that no competitor can emulate. Make your employees part of your story as an underdog and build a culture of fighting not giving up or rising and not falling.

Always keep in mind you need to start from somewhere, you are not the first underdog business, and you won’t be the last. Among the most noticeable underdog companies that shaped our modern world economy is Apple, Ben & Jerry’s, Sam Adams Beer, Chipotle, Snapchat, Home Depot, and many more.