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Amazon Selling Expert & Internet Marketing Thought Leader

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David kicks Goliath’s butt…and we are just getting started.

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In business, if the little guy has a big email mailing list and loyal following - he'll win.

Did you hear about the single mom with a small struggling business who just kicked Coca-Cola’s butt out of her territory?  This is an awesome story with a great lesson about the power of EMAIL MARKETING and SOLID ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS via social media and customer engagement.

There’s a touch of “I told you so” in this story as well, but I’ll save that tidbit for the end. I want to inspire you and show you how to do this stuff yourself!

Make no mistake – this would be a VERY different story if it weren’t for EMAIL MARKETING and SOLID ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS.

Here’s a video of the short story (sorry for the 6 second ad that I couldn’t remove). Take special note of the ONLY action this single mom took (at the 2:10 mark in the video) that started an avalanche of support and lead to her eventual victory.

Did you catch that? She sent out an email blast to 35 customers and BAM – it was lights out for Coke! There’s no way the Coke sales rep that signed Publix saw this one coming. He was probably already counting his commissions when he got the bad news.

Her email list was only 35 loyal customers and she kicked Coke’s butt – imagine what she could have done with a list of 1,000…or 10,000…or tens of thousands (like I and many of my top students now have). If I were advising this sweet single mom on her next marketing move it would be this…GROW YOUR STINKIN’ EMAIL LIST! (The same advice I give most businesses that pay me for advice.)

And now for my eerily accurate “I told you so” prediction:

Do you remember my blog post of “bold Internet marketing predictions” that I first published a couple years ago? (probably not, so I’ll remind you.)

I predicted a couple of years ago that we’d start seeing strange things like “little guys from nowhere” bringing huge mega-corporations to their knees because of the power of their online circle of influence.

As an example, I chose “Pepsi Co.” as the mega-corp that would be begging for mercy from a “little guy” with a loyal online following.  I wasn’t far off now was I?  Here’s the blog post of predictions I first wrote in 2010, and then updated several months ago (it’s worth a review for sure):

I mention the very scenario from this article in prediction #2.

In conclusion there are two lessons:

1. Grow your email list & expand your online influence.

2. Don’t skip any of my blog posts!  😉

Leave a comment, question, or “shout out” for all the little biz guys fighting their own Goliaths – click the comment button and tell me what you think.

Comments

  1. This is a remarkable story and very heartening. Add to the story that it looks like she has a very good, currently sought after product that inspires her customer base.
    Thanks for sharing this, Jim.

  2. What an inspirational and motivational story!  I’m always rooting for the “little guys.”  There are a lot more of us, and together, we can make our voices heard.  The big corporations had better watch out!
    Thanks for sharing :0)

  3. Good for her going up against Odwalla with her product.  You can hear her determination as she describes what she’s been through and where’s she’s headed.

    • Hi George,

      You might try opening up the newsletter in the Kindle e-reader or iBook reader. I just watched the video on an iPad 3.

  5. It is something I have said for years 

    “Never underestimate the power of an underdog” ~ Ken Patterson

  6. Just completed Jim’s List Building Class and this drives home offering email marketing management to local small businesses!
    Has anyone used the info in Video 15 “Another Profitable Strategy”  to offer email services to local businesses
       I have been scouring the Offline-biz site for any kind of success stories to share with local businesses.   Seems that IM marketers have not been able to present the value of list building and auto-responders. BUT this little list hit the ball out of the Park!  Most marketers I’ve PMed have only one or two clients they provide email marketing to.  Comments or Ideas from anyone would be helpful