How David Out$ells Goliath

If you haven’t already read Malcolm Gladwell’s book “David and Goliath,” please do so before continuing on to the rest of this post. Well, at least understand that we’re going to build off Mr. Gladwell’s ideas (and biblical metaphors) to demonstrate a few of our own.

The big box retailer is Goliath, the 800 pound gorilla who’s dominated the market for as long as there has been one. The independent dealer is David, the entrepreneur with a dream and a vision and a budget that wouldn’t cover Goliath’s lunch tab. To make this fun, let’s establish that both David and Goliath are selling slingshots.

In the competitive world of free enterprise, how can David ever compete with, much less outsell, Goliath?

Goliath has a history of success and for decades has seen upstarts like David come to the table only to vanish out of business moments later. Goliath has spread his massive wingspan from coast to coast in creating an impressive network of retail stores nationally promoted by an award winning ad campaign crafted by a hip agency that only works on days of the week with seven letters or less.

David, by contrast works seven days a week and most holidays just trying to survive and stay afloat. David does not have a single bricks and mortar store and stays up most nights studying the channels of modern marketing in hopes of selling just enough slingshots to make payroll each month.

This, however, is the year the slingshot industry may well get its long awaited shakeup. This is David’s year. name of sexy websites Here’s why: (Malcolm Gladwell’s treatise on how David can beat Goliath by changing the way the game is played needs no expounding here. Let us instead examine how changing the game applies to reaching customers in the modern marketplace.)

David, it turns out, is extremely adept at using his agile marketing channels to tell his brand story and reach his customers. He manages his own WordPress website. He blogs regularly. He tweets with authority. His Facebook posts are welcomed additions to his fans’ news feeds. He’s also got an entertaining YouTube channel that positions him as the foremost expert in the slingshot industry and encourages customers to submit their own content.  On top of it all, David religiously tracks his customers’ online behaviors within his store and has figured out how to make his digital space a great experience for his patrons.

Goliath too has a website and all the requisite channels of communication. However, due to his sheer size, Goliath isn’t nearly as agile as David. To make matters worse, Goliath sees his size and legacy as an asset, not a weakness. He’s content to rest on his laurels and believes that winning customers in digital space isn’t nearly as crucial as winning them face to face in a retail environment as he’s done since David was in diapers.

“So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.” Adapting to a new game payed off for David, who turned out to make a lot more than just payroll in the years since he revolutionized the slingshot industry. See Amazon and Zappos for proof.