Beat The Big Guys By Being Small

The original content is from Tom Peters, but I like John Moore's formatting better.

I've long believed that big success could be more easily attained in small business. Tom and John would seem to agree, as they posted this 16-point manifesto for microcorps to beat the bejeezus out of the big guys way back in 2005.

My favorites from the list are:
#1: Niche Aimed
Never try to be all things to all people. You can ask my friend Susan Friedmann for some great ideas on niche-focusing.

#3: Dramatically Different
Being significantly different within your community, your industry, etc. should be obvious, but this is where most companies (big and small) fall short.

#5: Emotionally Bond with Clients/Vendors
Treat your customers and suppliers like family -- maybe even better than family. Connect with their passions and find an alignment within your company's services and products that appeal and feed that passion.

John Moore created a great video primer on these techniques and called it "Jumbo Shrimp Marketing" -- I've embedded the video below.

Ries and Trout and Jack Palance?

One thing.
Just one thing.
You stick to that and everything else don't mean shit.

I can't think of a more pithy explanation of Ries and Trout's manifesto on Positioning.

Too many businesses fall prey to attempting to be all things to all people. Find the one thing and become the company (become the person) known for that one thing.

My thing is ideas.
Scott Ginsberg's thing is Approachability (he's "That Guy.")

What's your thing?

Think Different. (But Not TOO Different.)

In a brilliant act of confronting Apple with its own words (and then making them eat those words) a YouTube user with the screen name "KeeptheiPhoneFree" created a video mashup of all the third-party iPhone software that was effectively rendered useless when Apple released the firmware update 1.1.1.

The real act of brilliance was in using the audio from Apple's groundbreaking "Think Different" campaign. Listen to the narrator (who I think is Richard Dreyfuss) call out Apple's salute to "the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." According to Apple's script they have no respect for the status quo -- yet that's just what Apple is trying to maintain by fighting the iPhone hack that allows for greater user ability by these self same "Crazy Ones."

So, according to Apple it is okay to Think Different -- just don't think TOO different from them.