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Everyone Loves an Underdog

July 19, 2007 · By Shane

Underdog

Maybe your business is up against heavy competition. You’re not the biggest. Or the most well known. And you don’t have the cheapest prices. But you know that if people compared apples to apples, they’d see that you’re the best. And still, everywhere you look, the chips are stacked up against you. Every day you’re fighting an upstream battle.

Perfect!

That means you’re the underdog. And that’s a good place to be as long as you remember who you are and why everybody loves an underdog.

Here’s why everybody loves you …

  1. You’re scrappy. You’re always up for a little friendly competition. It’s an opportunity to learn and exercise your assets and abilities. You’ll chase the cat up a tree every chance you get. But you do it with a great sense of fair play. I mean hey, you’d never actually hurt the cat.
  2. You’re fun. Maybe it’s your ability to innovate. After all, who else can spend hours having the greatest of fun with a stick? Your tail is always wagging. Every day is a great day and everything is always new and exciting.
  3. You’re a best friend. Customer service matters. You’d never bite the hand that feeds you and you’re always willing to shake-a-paw or fetch a pair of slippers. Loyalty is something that just seems to come naturally.
  4. You always do your best. You’re always off and running. And no matter how futile the effort is to gain traction on a hardwood floor … you just don’t stop until you do.

The big dog is not always the best dog. But everyone loves the underdog. And underdogs that stay true to their roots do very, very well.

Go get ‘em Rover.

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11 Responses

  1. Community Building Blog

    July 19th, 2007 at 8:22 am

    1

    I couldn’t agree more - how much of Apple’s resurgence and brand loyalty from its users can be contributed to the fact they were always the underdog in the home computer market?

    - Martin Reed

  2. Shane

    July 20th, 2007 at 1:51 am

    2

    Hey Martin,

    Apple is a great example of an underdog. They got really innovative when Jobs came back years ago and launched the whole iMac revolution … and they consistently hit all 4 of the points that I made in the post.

  3. Better Blogging with Michael Martine

    July 20th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

    3

    Great post! One thing about being number one is that people are going to percieve you as being deficient in all of the above, so an underdog can totally capitalize on that. There’s no need to fear…

    OK… I just totally dated myself.

  4. Gregg Hawkins

    July 20th, 2007 at 7:10 pm

    4

    I totally agree 100%. This isn’t a business experience, but when my brother and I played baseball we were the underdogs. People told us that we were too small to play. We trained twice as hard, trained in the offseason while everyone was hanging out with friends, and our junior and senior years in highschool we tore it up.

    It was all about hustling and not taking our skill for granted. We gave it 100% everytime on and off the field for baseball. We also had fun! :D

    -Gregg

  5. Gregg Hawkins

    July 20th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

    5

    P.S. Being the underdog is always the best when you come out on top. Being successful over the others and showing them who you really are and what you can do is the greatest of revenge. :D

  6. Shane

    July 20th, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    6

    Hey Michael,

    You’re exactly right. A lot of times, the top-dog isn’t any of these things because they’ve become too large and bloated. But a lot of people appreciate and even crave all the noble qualities that a good underdog has. It’s a great capitalization opportunity.

    Gregg,

    That’s a great story! Most underdogs seemingly come out of nowhere all of a sudden. Nobody knew all the hard work that you guys were doing behind the scenes.

    It’s very easy to underestimate a good underdog strategy. Most people discount their competition because of their own egos. Never understimate the competition. Even the small competitors. ‘Cause you never know what they’ve got going on that you can’t see.

  7. Smart Posts Worth Reading #9

    July 22nd, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    7

    […] Everyone Loves an Underdog: Good job on this one Shane! It’s true everyone loves an underdog, reading that post got me thinking of my businesses. And I love when a post makes me think like that. :) […]

  8. Adam Donkus

    July 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm

    8

    Are you trying to rank for the underdog movie that is out this summer?
    lol
    Everybody loves an underdog

  9. Shane

    July 23rd, 2007 at 7:32 pm

    9

    Adam,

    haha - If I’m trying to rank for underdog with this post … then I’m definitely the underdog!!

    The movie was probably rolling around in my subconscious when I got the idea for the post.

  10. Sponsoring the underdog, underrated marketing that pays off

    July 25th, 2007 at 5:46 am

    10

    […] I’ve just noticed that a blog I like Zoomstart had a post about the underdog, check it out it’s a good […]

  11. Forget Loss Leaders; Profit is Non-Negotiable - Zoomstart

    March 11th, 2008 at 4:51 am

    11

    […] what’s really changed is the amount of sheer competition in the marketplace. Most companies can’t afford to take a hit with a loss leader. And the […]


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