Real tactics from Netflix, Costco, and Amazon that you can use—today
Look—You Don’t Need a 300-Person Marketing Team to Win
Let’s just get this out of the way: Big brands don’t win because they’re big.
They win because they execute with clarity, build culture, and stay obsessed with the customer—even when they’re scaling like crazy.
Now here’s the mistake most small teams make:
They look at big brands and think,
“We need more money. We need more people. We need more infrastructure.”
No. You need more self-awareness. More humility. More practicality.
You need to study what works—and steal the right stuff without bringing in all the red tape, meetings, and middle management that slows everything down.
This article is your blueprint. Real moves, straight from giants like Netflix, Costco, Amazon—and how to use them when you’ve got 3 people and a laptop.
Let’s go.
1. Netflix: Culture Is Strategy. Period.
Netflix has one of the most famous internal documents in Silicon Valley: the Netflix Culture Deck.
It’s been viewed over 25 million times. And here’s the kicker: it’s not just fluff. They live it.
They operate on freedom and responsibility. No micromanaging. No “fake work.” Just real ownership, real feedback, and elite performance.
What you can do:
- Stop writing a “team values” page you don’t believe in. Write what actually matters to you.
- Talk about expectations openly—early and often.
- Let go of B-players quickly. Don’t create emotional debt.
You don’t need a 20-page policy doc. You need clarity + accountability.
2. Costco: Obsess Over Delivering Value
Costco doesn’t run Super Bowl ads. They don’t have sexy branding.
But people will drive across town and stand in line for $1.50 hot dogs and 60-packs of toilet paper.
Why? Because they deliver massive value to their customers—consistently.
What you can do:
- Stop trying to be “premium” if your product doesn’t warrant it. Win on value and trust.
- Give more than you take. Surprise people. Bonus them. Be generous.
- Make your offer so obvious, so valuable, so damn good that people feel dumb saying no.
You’re not small—you’re nimble. Use it. Add value without adding layers.
3. Amazon: Customer Obsession Is a Mindset
Jeff Bezos said it best:
“We’re not competitor-obsessed. We’re customer-obsessed.”
Amazon wins because they’re not trying to beat Walmart or Target. They’re trying to make buying feel effortless for the customer. And they iterate like maniacs.
What you can do:
- Read every email from your customers. Reply to DMs. Watch what they complain about.
- Create a system for customer feedback loops: simple surveys, DMs, interviews, call recordings.
- Don’t just fix what’s broken—make what’s good even better.
Speed wins. Caring wins harder. Build faster by giving a damn.
4. Nike: Brand Is the Long Game
Nike doesn’t sell shoes. They sell identity. They sell confidence.
Their marketing is built on emotion, storytelling, and belief.
But here’s the secret: they didn’t build that brand with billion-dollar budgets. They started with deep understanding of athletes’ hearts and pain points.
What you can do:
- Tell your story. Tell your founder’s story. Share what you believe.
- Make content every day. Post. Test. Engage. Repeat.
- Be authentic AF. No corporate-speak. No trying to “look big.” Be you. Loudly.
Brand isn’t your logo. It’s the emotion people feel when they think of you. Own that.
5. Google: Prioritize Like a Killer
You know what makes Google so powerful? Their ability to focus.
They’ve got a framework called OKRs—Objectives and Key Results. Every team has 3–5 things that matter. That’s it.
And every person aligns with those things like it’s a religion.
What you can do:
- Write your #1 objective for the quarter on a whiteboard or in your Slack status.
- Break that into 3 key results. Assign ownership. Review weekly.
- Say “no” to everything that doesn’t move that goal forward.
Small teams win by doing less, better.
6. Apple: Simplicity Scales
Apple doesn’t ship features—they ship clarity.
Every product solves a problem in the cleanest, most beautiful way possible.
They don’t overload you with options. They create one perfect thing and obsess over it.
What you can do:
- Clean up your homepage. Remove 80% of the words. Focus on the one thing your customer needs to know.
- Kill the complicated onboarding flow. Make it frictionless.
- Simplify your offer. One product. One promise. One click to buy.
Simplicity creates confidence. Complexity kills sales.
7. VaynerMedia: Content Is the Asset
You didn’t think I’d skip this, did you?
At VaynerMedia, they don’t just talk about content—they live it. It’s second nature for them to repurpose, remix, and redistribute content.
VaynerMedia makes volume at scale without sacrificing authenticity.
Because attention is the asset. And content is the vehicle.
What you can do:
- Record one video a week. Turn it into 10 pieces of content.
- Turn customer questions into blog posts, tweets, Reels, and carousels.
- Document. Don’t create. Be a practitioner.
You don’t need more ads. You need more attention. And content gets it.
The Small Team Advantage
Let’s not romanticize big companies. You don’t want their overhead, politics, or 14-person meeting invites.
But you can borrow their best thinking:
- Netflix: culture is the foundation
- Costco: value wins trust
- Amazon: obsess over experience
- Nike: sell emotion, not products
- Google: focus like a sniper
- Apple: simplify everything
- Vayner: content drives brand
And guess what?
You can implement these TODAY. With 2 people and a Google Doc.
Strategy isn’t just for corporations. It’s about executing like a pro with what you’ve got.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Copy—Translate
If there’s one thing I want you to take away, it’s this:
Model principles. Not tactics.
Don’t copy Nike’s slogan. Don’t mimic Amazon’s homepage. Don’t try to sound like Apple.
Think like them.
Care like them.
Execute like them.
But show up as YOU.
Because small teams don’t win by acting big. They win by being clearer, faster, and more human than anyone else.
You already have everything you need.
Now go do something with it.