I'm guessing that if you signed up to get these emails from me, you're probably not the CEO of a big global megacorporation with an army of minions working for you.

Like me, you're probably an underdog. A small or solo business who gets great results for your clients, but has to do most of the marketing for your business yourself.

Often we underdogs find ourselves up against superior forces. Bigger marketing budgets. Dedicated business development teams. Long-standing relationships and the old-boy network.

And the truth is that we can't beat big firms if we try to take them on head-to-head. We can't out-spend or out-schmooze them.

But underdogs have an advantage. A big advantage.

We can play to our strengths.

Big firms need loads of clients. We just need a few. That means we can focus on being the perfect match for our ideal clients. They have to be “all things to all men” to a much wider set of needs.

I reckon I'm a pretty decent marketing coach. I could help lots of different sorts of businesses. But probably not that much better than a bunch of other marketing coaches.

But when it comes to helping consultants and coaches, there are very, very few others with my experience and track record. Especially when it comes to online marketing.

Playing to your strengths doesn't just mean focusing on a specific niche, it can also mean the type of marketing you do.

I focus pretty much only on online marketing. I can't reach anywhere near all my potential clients that way. But I can easily reach enough, and that's all that matters. Your big competitors can't afford to focus like that – they need to reach everyone. So they spread themselves thinly and don't get world class at anything.

And as an underdog you can harness the one thing that's genuinely unique: yourself. You can be the face of your business. You can let people see who you really are.

I'm sure the videos I do turn away as many people as they attract. But they attract enough people strongly enough to want to do business with me.

And as a result, I end up working with people looking for something different. Big firms tend to attract clients who want safety and security. You don't learn or grow much from working with those clients.

So what are your strengths that you can harness?

Make a quick mental list. Rule out all the generic stuff that everyone says like “great customer service” or “we really get results”.

If you haven't got much, that's a hint that you may want to focus on building some. Otherwise you're going to be competing head to head with a bigger army.

And that's a losing battle.