Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Jonah Berger featured by LinkedIn Pulse. To read the complete article and check out others, please click here.

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Fifty to 80 percent of all small businesses fail. The marketplace is crowded, competition is tough, and resources are thin. To succeed, you need to turn weakness into opportunity. Here are [two of] five keys to success.

1. Don’t Compete — Differentiate

The biggest mistake small businesses make is trying to directly compete with bigger businesses. Matching prices, offering the same depth of selection, etc. But that’s a losing battle. It’s like bringing a knife to a gun fight. Big businesses work on a scale that makes direct competition tough.

So don’t compete — differentiate. Find dimensions you can excel on and focus on those. Maybe it’s better customer service or a more personal touch. Maybe it’s a niche that the big guys/gals have skipped because it’s not profitable enough. Figure out a unique place where you can succeed and they can’t.

2. Be Nimble

When we think about David versus Goliath, the advantages of the big guy (Goliath) are clear. He has size, strength, and power on his side. But if we look a little closer, the little guy (David) actually has a lot going for him as well. He’s quick, agile, and not encumbered by the heavy armor, shield, and weaponry that slows Goliath down. And David wins in the end because he uses that nimbleness to outmaneuver Goliath.

You might not have big business scale, but use that to your advantage. Be nimble. Be flexible. Try things. Stick with them if they work and try new things if they don’t. As a small business you have the opportunity to be agile. Use it.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Jonah Berger Is a professor at the Wharton School and author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On.