How can I build a competitive advantage?

Ultimately, building a better brand will be the most important competitive advantage for your venture ...

The "trick" to building a sustainable competitive advantage is to continually innovate in order to do the right thing for the right market. If your target market wants a comparable product at a lower price, focus your product on keeping costs low. If your target market is willing to pay more for a better product, focus on creating new and unique benefits at a competitive price.

To build your brand and competitive advantages, try following these steps ...
  1. Take your core competencies, capabilities, and available resources ...
  2. Add innovative products and services, operational efficiencies, high level of quality, strong customer relations, and favorable supply-chain relationships ...
  3. Add product and service differentiation through either superior benefits or lower price ...
  4. And the result should be a distinct competitive advantage upon which you can build your brand reputation.