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In today’s saturated and extremely competitive market, every business strives to gain an advantage over the competition. In today’s business world, your primary concern about your business should be how to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. Today’s customers are smarter when it comes to buying. A study states that 86% of buyers are likely checking out your competitors. People want to gain maximum value for their money. Customers are also keeping tabs on your business. They are reading consumers’ reviews, studying your customer service and studying your quality assurance. 
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What can your business do to achieve a competitive advantage, and maintain it?  Here are a few strategies that will distinguish your business as well as retain your customers throughout their entire buying lifecycle.
  1. Create A Corporate Culture That Attracts The Best Talent.
Hiring the right talents is very important for productivity and cost reduction. However, it takes a healthy company culture to attract the right team. A company that trains, retrains, and give incentives to its workforce would in turn have happy employees who would offer top-notch customer service that retains customers, which increases profit and reduce cost. When workers are motivated, it reflects on the company’s customer service, and customers love to hang around companies with good customer service. This can be a competitive edge.
  1. Define Niches That Are Underserviced.
If you are going to thrive in today’s business world, it is advisable not to fish in red (oversaturated service areas) rather fish in the blue ocean (underserved areas). For example, as an agritech, you can build your service centre in zones where you can collaborate with farmers of unpopular grains. For instance, in Nigeria, while many are focused on tubers, you can focus on cereal farming. Looking for niches where customers are underserved can furnish you with a market advantage, because there are often few competitors, which is an avenue for you to seize a market and establish brand recognition early.
  1. Understand The DNA Footprint Of Your Ideal Customer.
Buyers aren’t all the same. The big fact is that simply because someone is willing to buy from you, doesn’t make them the best customer.  Targeting the right customer, being aware of the buying process, who is involved in decision-making, what information is needed and at what time, and so forth can help your sales team (and post-sales support teams) triumph in the marketplace and retain lifelong customers.  When customers realize that you understand them and that you are in tune with their needs, it is advisable to serve them exactly what they need at the very time that they need it. This will make customers place you far above the competition.
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  1. Clarify Your Strengths.
Understanding your strengths and using them to your advantage can attract the attention of investors and customers. The idea is that your business, just as any other, has core strengths and competencies. These strengths and competencies could be your business processes, technology, or knowledge/expertise/experience.  Whatever they are, these offer value to your customers and are what customers what to buy from you.  Evaluate how you can use these strengths in innovative and creative ways to attain new heights in the marketplace, use it as a medium of campaign and marketing strategy and tap into new markets, etc.  Additionally, use your core competencies to create value for your customers.  These are crucial aspects you should examine to establish a clear market advantage.
  1. Establish Your Unique Value Proposition.
Creating a value proposition means using what customers can benefit from buying your product as a medium of marketing strategy and competitive advantage. Many corporations often use common value propositions such as pricing, service levels, quality, brand recognition, and so on to create a competitive advantage. This can be a good way to start, but the question is how long can this story last? Propositions such as the above-mentioned ones are common among the competition, so what unique proposition are you bringing to the table. You have to keep asking yourself, how can I make my proposition more valuable? For example, when others are talking about quality products, you can divert the attention of customers towards guiding them to maximise any product they buy from you. You can use the “warranty” strategy or replacement and refund to boost their confidence in your brand.
  1. Reward Behaviors That Support Corporate Mission And Value.
The reward is a strategy in the marketplace. Whether it is within the organization where you are rewarding a top performer or you are acknowledging the best buyer, this reward system goes a long way in giving you a competitive edge. There are various ways you can reward good performance. You can choose to reward customers with a vacation trip, a gift card on their birthday or Christmas hampers. This goes a long way in cementing your brand in their minds. Featured image source: OnDeck
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This article was first published on 28th February 2022

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

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