Competitive advantage is something many organizations of all sizes and industries would point to as important in order for them to be successful. Having competitive advantage can be about having services, products or processes that separate your organization from the others who are trying to reach your target customers.

For marketing and sales professionals, having competitive advantage is only one important piece of the equation. Being able to effectively tell a story and promote the advantages that your organization delivers is just as important. A great book entitled Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors (by Jaynie L. Smith, with William G. Flanagan) outlines ways to identify and exploit competitive advantage for an organization. The book indicates that the biggest marketing flaw in most organizations is the failure to reap the full benefits of their competitive advantages.

It’s important to identify, build, deliver and promote the competitive advantages for your organization.

Identify
The authors of Competitive Advantage indicate that to begin identifying competitive advantages you need to answer the question, “Why should I buy from you?” They also describe a competitive advantage as something that must be objective, quantifiable, distinctive, credible and true.

Build
If no competitive advantages come to mind, or if more are needed, then it’s likely time for an organization to strategize about what distinctions could be employed or developed to better attract and retain target customers.

Deliver
A recent BusinessWeek article outlined how the large supermarket chain Safeway Inc. developed and delivered upon competitive advantages (see Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is). A key point the article makes is that an organization must deliver first, then promise. The article states “A brand is a promise. When you tell consumers your brand stands for something, you had better be ready to deliver that special something. Safeway spent three years improving food quality before it rebranded the company.”

Promote
Finally, once competitive advantages have been identified, built and are being delivered consistently, it’s then time to promote them and develop a compelling story around those advantages.

What is your company or organization doing around competitive advantage? Do any specific companies in Maine come to mind when you think of an organization that is executing on their competitive advantages extremely well?

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