What is competitive advantage?

Competitive advantage is used to describe the factors that a company can use to produce goods or services cheaper or better than its rivals. The factors used to compromise competitive advantage allow the generation of more sales or superior margins in comparison to its market rivals. Competitive advantages can generate a greater value for the company due its strengths. It is the capacity or attribute that enables a brand to outperform its competitors. 

A company’s competitive advantage sets them apart from not only the competition but also differentiates them in the minds of their target audience. Competitive advantage should be defined and communicated to convince customers to choose your brand over another. A key component of competitive advantage is brand strategy. 

How branding and marketing create a competitive advantage 

Branding and marketing are very advantageous for brands to evoke desire, value, and loyalty from customers. Determining a brand strategy can help the company differentiate itself from competitors and reach the most valuable customers. 

How to create a brand that can provide competitive advantage

In order to create a brand that can provide competitive advantage a business should build a foundation with a brand strategy to identify what you can differentiate. This allows you to be able to identify, leverage and profit from the aspects of what makes your business or product unique. Within the branding mission, vision, brand values, brand voice, brand promise, positioning and messaging for target audiences should be included. In addition to this your business should also understand your higher value and create alignment within the marketing touchpoints. A brand can also create competitive advantage by creating a consistent brand experience where customers always have good experiences to create brand loyalty. A brand can also delight customers by implementing strategies such as offering freebies or tests. By maximising ambassador marketing as happy customers will sell more than salespeople where they can share the product to friends and family. 

Brand differentiators

There are different methods that can be used to make your brand and business stand apart from competitors. These are product or service superiority, company size, distributions methods, technological benefits, production efficiency, and market responsiveness. Methods of differentiating your business aids in building competitive advantages by commanding the marketplace and focusing on the company’s resources.  

It is beneficial to have a product or service that sets the standard for the industry in order to achieve marketplace domination. This means ensuring to continuously improve what your business is offering to meet the demands of the consumer. In addition to this a brand differentiator is the company size in which the size of your business in relation to the field can show customers the influence the company has in its location or industry. The distribution methods that are available to the customers can affect brand differentiation. Different distribution methods include wholesale, direct, consultant, retail, dealer, and manufacturer representative. The decisions made within distribution can impact the pricing, marketing budgets, and product margins and profits. Technological benefits can be used to improve efficiency and effectiveness to increase reach for the company. Methods of standing out from technology include building content strategy, creating funnels for customer feedback valuing quality over quantity. Production efficiency ensures the business investing in methods of production, distribution and inventory to create opportunity for more business. Market responsiveness acts as a brand differentiator by having the ability to anticipate what your customers need and from this having the capability to quickly respond to the customer demands that are changing. 

Sources

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/competitive_advantage.asp 

https://station8branding.com/how-branding-provides-a-competitive-advantage/#:~:text=Powerful%20branding%20evokes%20desire%2C%20value,create%20a%20strong%20competitive%20advantage. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/henrydevries/2019/04/16/how-branding-provides-a-competitive-advantage/ 

https://www.ignytebrands.com/competitive-advantage-brand/