The Power of Being Small: Underdog Branding and SEO Reselling

The SEO reselling business is not a new concept today. In fact, there are at least a thousand individual and team resellers in America today. There are SEO Resellers who have already established a name in this industry.

Being a newcomer in the business implies that you have to vie against these big names, and to compete with them automatically makes you an underdog contender.

Underdog Branding

To be an underdog in any field means being small, being under somebody who came in first, and who is more popular and loved by many. These are true, but I will slightly disagree with the last part because not all popular brands earn the heart of the masses. People do not always pick Levis over Wrangler or Gap, or Apple over Lenovo. Certainly, more and more people are seeing the potential of the underdogs. Especially during this time of economic decline, most Americans go for cheaper products and those that have “low rank” appeal, or those brands that are less identifiable.

Underdog means hard work

In sports, the then underdog Filipino fighter Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao had to beat a bunch of famous Hispanic boxers to achieve his “best in the world” status. In music, The Beatles had to start with the comedy label Parlophone while most popular rockabilly and soul artists were handled by mainstream rock and roll records.

In literature, Haruki Murakami had to spend years in the shadow of his fellow Japanese writers Kenzaburo Oe, Banana Yoshimoto, and even his namesake Ryu before becoming the “most-read Asian writer” of his time. And in business, Apple had to spend years of researching and experimenting with their products to finally dominate the entire international technology industry.

Underdog Branding is positioning

In an affectionate country like America, underdog branding is the most bruised yet still the most effective way of positioning in the market. Americans love those companies that have humble beginnings, the “rags to riches-Cinderellaesque” stories. When Barack Obama and McCain battled for the country’s top positions, they overused their underdog traits to seduce the nation; their race, their struggles and hardships, their uncanny family, and political backgrounds were the staple elements of their political speeches during that time.

In underdog branding, the product, service, and the company itself are positioned to hit the hearts and minds of specific target audiences who will most likely identify themselves with the brand. This may be why most companies launch their brands onto low-level units of society (blue-collar workers, entry-level employers, households, women, ethnic groups).

Yet for some countries in Asia, mainly those that have been colonized by Western countries and especially to those who remained poor after the colonization, underdog branding is not an effective marketing strategy. Third-world countries see no grandeur in rags-to-riches stories, for this is a common occurrence in their communities and because almost half of their population is inherently exposed to poverty.

Underdog branding and SEO Reselling

Honestly, attempting to dominate the SEO Reselling business today is neither impossible nor too late. It is true that there are a thousand Resellers out there that came in years earlier than you did, but not all of them have the “advantageous disadvantage” you have now as an underdog.

You can use your ‘newcomer and beginner status’ to win the hearts of local business owners around you. You can also brag about your innocence on the dirty tactics of the business like “Black Hats” and “Fake SEO optimization”.