I read an interesting interview about "underdog branding". The article looked into the research of professor Anat Keinan, who explored the workings of famous underdog brands from Avis to Snapple.

Anat said, "Underdog brand biographies are effective in the marketplace because consumers identify with the disadvantaged position of the underdog and share their passion and determination to succeed when the odds are against them."

Underdog campaigns  can be especially effective in difficult economic times. Perhaps the most famous campaign was initiated in the early 1960s by Avis, the car rental agency. Losing money and market share to industry leader Hertz, Avis worked with advertising giant DDB to turn the industry on its head with the message that "We are No. 2 so we have to try harder" campaign. A year later Avis was in the black and inside of three years its share had risen from 11% to 35%."

There were three keys to making an underdog strategy work that you need to understand if you decide to go down this road, according to the Building Brands Web site.

1.    Upgrade your products and services before launching a single ad. Even great marketing won't sell a crummy product.

2.    Answer the question, why should anyone buy a product from us? For Avis, the answer was, because we work harder.

3.    Get every employee involved. Avis workers received a copy of the new ads in their pay envelopes before each campaign was launched.

Keinan stressed that underdog branding isn't for everyone, for example, hospitals shouldn't trumpet their lack of resources. Also, make sure the underdog label is credible. Keinan went on to say, "Many brands emphasize their underdog roots, but if they are later acquired by large corporations, it diminishes the credibility of their underdog brand biographies. Brands such as Ben & Jerry's and Snapple have been criticized by consumers once they were acquired by large corporations."

Locally you can see some of this in type of advertising. Take GCI's latest radio campaign, "We're Number Two". They use their position in the local wireless market in contrast to their number one position in customer service and quality of service. Are you the underdog in your niche? Can you use it to your advantage?

As a business owner, you have an expertise that you can use to build your online brand and to market your business. Being seen as an expert in your field gives your customers added reason to trust you. Additionally, you can strengthen your brand and attract well-informed customers to your business.

As a starting point, establishing yourself as an expert will not happen overnight is an important concept to understand. Being recognized as an expert is a process that takes time and is the result of consistent work-which is more than just doing something today and forgetting about it from there.  Being recognized as an expert is something that can immeasurably benefit your business and is something you can and should start working on today.

When marketing yourself as an expert, you must first determine your area of expertise. Your subject matter should be something you are already knowledgeable about as to minimize the need to do extensive research or learn new skills. Discuss topics directly relevant to your business and be useful to existing and prospective customers.

Whatever you sell, make a list of the special things about your products and your industry that will help customers know what to buy, how to care for it, how to decide between competing products and what to give as gifts. The subject matter shows your expertise. Start by writing short articles on topics related to your business. The articles shouldn't be sales pitches. Instead write informative articles that help a reader learn more about what you sell. Make them short and concise.

The best place to start is with your own blog. A blog is simple to set up and can be linked to your store site. You are in control of what you publish whatever you like whenever you like. However, a blog requires that people come to your site to read your posts. When you are starting out, you will be writing to a very small audience and  the only way to build a larger audience is to keeping writing.

To advertise your blog, post messages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Other people will read them and may become interested in your blog. They may even re-tweet your posts so people who follow them, and who don't necessarily follow you, will read the notices, too.

Other options for publishing include writing small eBooks and either giving them away as a method of promoting your business or as an incentive to sign up for your newsletter. E-publishing also helps establish your expertise. Writing an eBook does not have to be time-consuming to create as you can repackage older blog posts as eBook content.

Another way to share your expertise is to post on online forums that relate to your area of expertise. One way is to post answers to other people's questions and avoid directly advertising your product. You can generally include links back to your shop site or blog within the signature line of your forum posts which will drive traffic from the forum to your site.

In addition to writing original posts, you can aggregate information by looking for interesting information on the Web that's relevant to your customers. Write a post listing these sites and what they contain. Doing this helps people see you as a site that provides good information whether by writing posts yourself or finding great information and sharing it. You'll be perceived as a trusted source of information.

Becoming an acknowledged expert in your field doesn't cost you a lot of cash. Spending a little time and effort writing articles and seeking out places to publish will help you build your expertise, reinforce your brand and attract customers to your site.

Source: e-commerce-guide.com