Big brands spend millions doing this

Hey, it’s Patrick.

If you run a few-million-dollar eCommerce brand, you’ve probably felt it.

You look at the giants in your category.

Their budgets.

Their ads everywhere.

Their brand recognition.

And it feels impossible to compete.

But here’s the truth most founders miss:

Big brands create the market. Challenger brands capture it.

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When massive companies spend millions on marketing, they’re doing something incredibly expensive:

They’re educating the customer.

They teach the market:

→ the problem exists

→ a solution exists

→ their category matters

By the time a customer starts searching, they’re already convinced.

And that’s where smaller brands win.

You don’t have to create demand.

You just have to capture it better.

The most effective way to do that is what we call the “Us vs. Them” strategy.

Instead of trying to look like the big brand…

You position yourself against them.

Not aggressively.

Just clearly.

They are for everyone.

You are for someone specific.

This works because customers make decisions through comparison.

They ask:

Why should I buy this instead of that?

Your job is to answer that instantly.

Find your 3–5 real advantages.

Things like:

→ better ingredients

→ faster shipping

→ stronger performance

→ cleaner formulation

→ better customer experience

Then make the comparison obvious.

The moment the customer sees the difference, the decision becomes easy.

Some of the best challenger brands in history did exactly this.

Dollar Shave Club vs. Gillette.

Apple’s Mac vs. PC campaign.

They didn’t outspend the market leaders.

They told a better story.

The same principle applies to ads.

Your creative should stop the scroll immediately.

Side-by-side comparisons work extremely well:

“Brand X vs. Us”

Clear difference.

Clear value.

Clear reason to switch.

When someone already knows the category, this is incredibly powerful.

You’re not educating.

You’re converting.

But the mistake most brands make happens after the click.

They send traffic to a generic homepage.

That kills conversions.

Instead, continue the story on the landing page.

→ repeat the comparison

→ highlight the differences

→ reinforce your advantages

→ show real customer proof

Three to five differentiators is usually enough.

Any more and people get overwhelmed.

Here’s the bigger lesson.

Small brands don’t win by having the biggest budgets.

They win by being:

→ more specific

→ more creative

→ more targeted

→ more authentic

The giants build the category.

You build the loyalty.

Talk soon,

Patrick O’Driscoll

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