What is your competitive advantage?

Think of a game of tennis....

One player's "competitive advantage" may be his or her strong serve. His serve is so strong it's almost impossible for the other person to return it. (For tennis fans, this certainly describes tennis players like Pete Sampras or Goran Ivanisevic.)

However, another player may have a completely different "competitive advantage" in that they have a great RETURN of serve, and they're willing to chase down any ball they can, they have great speed.... (This describes Andre Agassi very well.)

The key is, they all have SOMETHING they do exceptionally. If they were just "average" all around, they would have no competitive advantage....

I believe that in business, you also need one or more "competitive advantages" over your competitors, in the specific market you are targeting....

What are your competitive advantages? And the flip side of that is, what are your competitive weaknesses compared to what your competitors are offering?

I think everyone should make a list of these things for your products and services....

Your competitive advantages are defined for a SPECIFIC market. A competitive advantage for one specific market may not hold for another specific market. (This is why "niche marketing" works.)

Here are a couple examples from Sowpub's own products....

Although a lot of people may read books to help them write good advertising, only Gordon Alexander's Remote Influence uses a pictorial technique (through his "Pictogrigms"), which is why it is better understood by "pictorial thinkers" than any other product available about writing effective ads. Some people like to think in pictures, and it stands to reason that for such people, Remote Influence beats any other similar product, since pictures are an integral part of its technique....

Also, there is no other product out there like Writer's Friend V2, for helping to stimulate ideas and for "spicing up" your promotional writing. It is absolutely unique in its own niche.... There is no similar competing product specifically for those who write their own ads and sales letters.

Those were a couple short examples to illustrate the principle of "competitive advantage".... (These two products have other competitive advantages too, but I think that's enough to illustrate the point.)

So what are YOUR "competitive advantages" and "disadvantages"? Have you written them down? Think about what they are... It's time to get down to the nitty gritty.

- Dien Rice