The widespread reach of the internet, growing global markets, and an educated, entrepreneurial workforce mean competition is fierce and constantly on the rise. That requires companies to create a meaningful corporate differential and focus on how they deliver on that promise in the marketplace. Here is a list of nine essentials to help accomplish that goal.

Competition Tactics

1. Create and follow a documented strategy. Without a clearly documented plan, it’s impossible to understand and analyze growth. Design a strategy with benchmarks, measurable objectives and a consistent rate of contact. Consider this: 89 percent of B2B marketers use content, yet only 37 percent have documented content marketing strategies. To stay ahead of the competition, draft and follow a well-defined plan.
2. Stay relevant. Make sure your products and services messaging and communications resonate with your audiences. Provide value they can’t get elsewhere. Be in the forefront of industry leaders to better understand emerging and widespread trends. Talk with your peers, clients and prospects and solicit direct input about their needs, challenges and priorities.
3. Get social. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are vital to building, implementing and sustaining a solid distribution and communications strategy. Ensure your company has up-to-date social media profiles that enable prospects to interact with you and your company through the channels they use most.
4. Invest in the business. While it might seem cliché, in order to make money, you have to spend money. A marketing plan without a corresponding budget is useless. Make sure you have the funds needed as well as the resources of time and personnel to achieve your growth goals.
5. Embrace change and innovation. In a constantly evolving business environment, embracing change doesn’t mean simply staying on top of news and trends. Sometimes it means modifying your products and services to adapt to new and shifting priorities of your target markets. Embracing change and fostering innovation require strong leadership and a corporate culture that is flexible, adaptable, and pioneering in spirit and action.
6. Take good care of your customers. It’s easy to get caught up in lead generation and guiding new prospects through the sales funnel. However, recruiting new customers costs five times as much as retaining current customers. Not to mention, 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers. Be proactive. Maintain open and consistent communication with the customers you already have through surveys, email messaging or social media. Reach out personally and often. Anticipate customers’ needs. Create a loyalty strategy that rewards customers for staying with your brand.
7. Recruit and cultivate the right talent. A capable and well-informed workforce can make or break your company. Invest in talent at all levels, but even more importantly, cultivate growth from within. Provide employees with resources and opportunities to thoroughly understand your vision and mission. Invest in continuing education and encourage collaboration.
8. Find your niche. It’s impossible to be all things to all people. Hone in on your expertise and highlight the uniqueness and benefits of products and services that make your company stand out. Capitalize on those elements to “go deep” into the marketplace.
9. Analyze, revise, repeat. Hand in hand with creating a documented strategy, ongoing analysis and revision are vital to staying competitive. While open communication with your prospects and clients can greatly improve your strategy, actions often speak louder than words. Analytics software can help collect and analyze data about how your target market interacts with your website, thought leadership, advertising, email campaigns, social media and more. Use data to understand user engagement, customer satisfaction and common challenges. More importantly, act on those common trends to adjust, create or eliminate existing strategies to drive more sales.

Company Differentiators

When we talk about competition, it’s easy to look at what the other guys are doing and attempt to emulate their strategies. However, many factors play a part in how success is achieved. Use competitors as a resource, not a guidebook. Your company’s achievements are determined within a context and must be defined from within. Strive to identify values and goals of your company that align with the values and goals of your clients. From those defined principles, seek to improve and differentiate your company from others. By staying true to your beliefs and anticipating marketplace changes, you will remain a cut above the rest.