Gain a Competitive Advantage with These Tips – Workd
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Gain a Competitive Advantage with These Tips

Chess piece

To stand out against the competition, you need to come in with a different angle. To gain a competitive advantage, your value proposition needs to be something that speaks to your target market.  

Above all, you need to convince your potential customer they’d be lost without your product. Compel them to jump ship from the company they’re currently loyal to.  

However, your value prop shouldn’t be easily copied. It’s what makes you uniquely you.  

01 / What’s This Competitive Advantage Thing About 

Chances are, there are a whole slew of companies out there with similar offerings. Starting out, you should be aware of what your competitors are doing and where they’re doing it.  

It’s crucial to be aware of what your competitors are doing on social media, ads, and websites. By having a sense of this, you’ll be more able to come up with a unique value prop that won’t be easily copycatted.  

Some methods companies can use are:  

  • Cost leadership means you might offer a similar product or service as your competition, but you’re at a lower price point.   
  • A differentiation strategy is important in an oversaturated market. Even though you have a similar product, you focus on one thing your competition isn’t focusing on. That’s what makes your product different from the rest.  
  • Strategic alliances with influencers, partner companies, and industry manufacturers will shape cost, marketing success, and price control.  

02 / Directly from the Professionals 

Instead of reframing information found through research articles, we took to LinkedIn and polled our network of marketing professionals.  

The question we asked was, “What words of wisdom do you want to share when it comes to gaining a competitive advantage?”  

Here’s what a few of the responders had to say about competitive advantage: 

Helene Cohn: Beauty Copywriter + Lifestyle Brand Storyteller  

I think the best competitive advantage comes through your brand’s values and reputation. Do your customers trust you? Do they feel valued and important? Are you helping them solve their problems? Are you listening to their needs and wants? Are you actually acting out and working toward your claimed values, or is it just talk?  

Competitive advantage means action in all of these things, especially in the world’s climate right now. It’s about trust and genuine care for your customers, employees, and the world. Companies can’t live in a bubble and not speak their sides on issues anymore. Customers expect a brand to fight for what’s right and to take real-world matters seriously. They’re looking to brands to take stands. And doing those things puts you ahead of your competitors tenfold. 

Kathleen Robida: Business Development at Finalsite | SaaS | EdTech | Building teams that generate scalable, predictable sales pipelines. 

The best way to give your business a competitive edge is to hire the best people and take care of them. If you have a team of MVPs that are dedicated to the goal and to each other, you have gold. 

John Faris: President @ Red Door Interactive | Marketing Effectiveness for Fortune 500 & Mid-Market 

You steal market share by increasing brand salience, being top of mind during purchase occasions.  

Salience is best accomplished through campaigns that stick with consistent messaging across channels and over time. That can be well-funded ad campaigns, but it can also be done via social/content. 

Terry Dickerson: Conviction to lead, Passion to connect, Vision to dream – VP, Service Delivery | IT Strategy | Program Management | Cloud Computing 

The only one I can add is one that someone told me long ago: 

“Your customer’s problem is not unique and neither is your solution. It is not a matter of showing a new shiny method, it is about showing how your method creates value that is unique to your customer”.  

It truly does not matter when it comes to technology – the solutions that people peddle are very seldom unique anymore (we can all thank Google and Amazon self-publishing for this one). The uniqueness comes from how you created value and the relationships you have built. 

Guy Thornbury-Phillips: Content Writer | Marketing Director @ FenaPay 

From a marketer’s perspective: Observe the competition, understand your customer, and commit to excellence. The observation is important and must not become a comparison. Comparison is the killer to advantage. 

03 / Focus On Your Most Important Asset 

The most important part of any business is its employees. Above all, they’re the ones who know best about what product or service you’re offering.  

They are also the people who can make or break your company.  

Therefore, the true secret to gaining that competitive advantage rests with your employees. Period.  

Your employees are your competitive advantage.  

They are the people dealing daily with your customers. The happier they are, the better represented your company is.  

  • Recognize the hard workers. A little appreciation goes a very long way.  
  • Don’t micromanage. Show the people that work for you a little trust.  
  • All an open and honest work culture. Let others share their thoughts and opinions in a safe space.  
  • Make sure the entire operation knows what the mission and values of the company are. It gives a common purpose and goal.  

Gaining competitive advantage when you’re in a niche or industry that is filled with rivals can sound intimidating. But, with the right strategy and tools in place, you’ll be the shining star in a space full of other brands wanting to imitate you.  

Finally, to paraphrase the immortal words of M.C Hammer, they can’t touch this. Even if they tried. 

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