The term competitive advantage largely refers to the unique selling proposition that your business’ product or services can offer in comparison to others. Having a robust competitive advantage can greatly help to propel a business’ chances of generating higher sales volumes and attracting more customers. However, it can be agreed by many that your unique selling proposition isn’t the only factor that you need to succeed in the business world. If you are a startup business eager to become more proactive in your ways to stay on top, here is a short step by step guide to help you stay competitive in the ever-evolving business landscape.
Make a Competitive Advantage List for your Business
Try to step into the shoes of your customers and compile a list of what you think sells your product or service. This means including the recurring claims you make through your marketing messages, advertisements, and sales pitches. Having a clear and in-depth understanding of your business’ competitive advantages will allow you to begin comparing them to your competitors.
Research What Your Competitors Offer
Competitive advantage within business is a dynamic process that demands constant attention and refinement. To differentiate yourself from the business competition out there, you must understand both the strengths and weaknesses of similar companies. Thoroughly review your competitors and make a list of all of the factors and characteristics which have made them successful. As you build the list, you may notice some commonality in claims. From here, you can begin to create a separate comparison list and identify any advantages to your business that are exclusive and therefore unique from your competitors.
Luckily, the technology that is available to us today has made the process of monitoring your competitors easier than ever. With the use of the correct digital tools, you can closely observe your competitor’s marketing strategies, potential steps, as well as keep track of their success and failures to help underpin your own entrepreneurial decision making.
Understand Your Target Audience
Now that you’ve successfully researched your competitors and acquired a well-rounded knowledge of what you’re up against, it’s time to conduct thorough research about your target audience Start by analyzing their needs, expectations, and their behavior in relation to particular products in certain economic situations – this is because the demands of customers evolve depending on the economic condition. More specifically, you’ll need to understand what impresses customers the most about similar products or services that your business offers, and what you need to do to deliver this expectation and more.
Seek Out Customer Feedback
Once you’ve made a fresh list of the competitive aspects that are exclusive to your business and researched your target audience, ensure to interact with your customers through questionnaires or surveys to find out exactly why they choose you over others. Conducting consumer feedback is extremely invaluable to any business. It can communicate your commitment to improving your customer’s experience, act as a source of reliable information for other potential customers, and can even lead to big revelations that can help further improve your competitive edge.
Alongside gaining feedback from customers, you’ll need to start establishing brand loyalty with your customers. This is because customers will often stay with a brand that they feel loyal towards and personally connected with. Build and maintain strong relationships with your customers by offering loyalty programmes that provide discounts, free gifts where applicable, and uphold exceptional customer service at all times by being both responsive and enthusiastic. To further encourage brand loyalty, remember to keep your customer experience as personal and as individual as possible.
Build a Memorable Brand Image
To stay ahead of your competitors, you’ll also need to ensure that your brand is visually appealing to others. From effective product packaging solutions to an attractive website, your business’ appearance is at the forefront of keeping consumers interested and committed to your brand. To help encourage great first impressions from others, it’s also important to enhance your business’ office space. Simple ideas such as painting your premises can immediately make your business appear modern, inviting, and professional, which can contribute to the overall reputation of your brand from an outsider point of view.
Express your Expertise to Customers
Your business will no doubt have to go above and beyond in order to be remembered. One excellent way of doing this is positioning your business to others as the leading expert in your industry. Ensure to utilize effective content marketing strategies such as mailing lists, blogs, videos, social media, as well as advertisements to convey your expertise to potential customers. Sharing your knowledge and being seen as an educator means you’ll be able to open up the conversation of your brand with consumers, and help them engage in information that will hopefully be useful to them.
Embrace New Technology
As an entrepreneur, you’ll know just how quickly the business landscape accelerates in terms of it’s usage with technology. New technology designed in mind for business has made it possible for startups to achieve competitive edge, for example the opportunity to work remotely from virtual offices, quickly communicating with other businesses, as well as managing important projects on cloud-based tools. For a competitive boost that will reap rewards for your business, ensure to stay in the loop with the latest technology and industry trends.
Invest in Impactful Marketing
Marketing in the digital age has completely transformed how brand awareness can be achieved. If you’re serious about the growth of your business and staying ahead of your competition, investing in impactful marketing that works is another way forward. Armed with smart marketing tools, you’ll be able to target your consumers, reach out to new audiences, and even save your money in certain circumstances. Remember, it doesn’t have to drain your funds – effective marketing can be as simple and inexpensive as running engaging social media campaigns, circulating posters and leaflets, or handing out professional business cards to others.
Expand your Product or Service
Consumer behavior is constantly changing. As a business owner, your primary goal is to enrich the lives of your consumers. Ask yourself the question: are there any new products or services I can add to my brand that my customers may be interested in? If the answer is yes, don’t be afraid to take a calculated risk and expand the scope of your business to meet your consumer’s demands. Expanding your product or services can also mean that you can sell more to your existing customers without the cost and effort of acquiring new ones.
Keep your Employees Satisfied
It can be argued that your employees are one of your top competitive advantages. Above all, healthy, engaged, and motivated employees are pivotal in designing, building, improving, selling, and servicing what your business has to offer to your customers. To cultivate a productive and thriving working atmosphere and keep your employees satisfied, ensure to offer an array of benefits to your team, including the likes of flexible working, progression opportunities, as well as well-being programs.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you should ideally be left with two to three major competitive advantages for your business.
Consider these following last top tips in choosing your focal competitive advantage:
- Avoid advantages that can be easily copied by competitors or a new entry to the industry.
- Avoid advantages that cannot be easily marketed or advertised.
- Choose advantages that can’t be used against you by a competitor
- Innovate an advantage that many businesses have and strive to improve it
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