• by Gavin Finn , Op-Ed Contributor, March 23, 2010

Marketers today are tasked with myriad expectations, from developing unique sustainable brands, to building cross-channel communications strategies ... to helping combat global competitive threats. Prioritizing these marketing imperatives may present a near-impossible challenge, but one thing is clear: developing, communicating, and supporting consistent market perception of a competitive advantage is essential to succeeding in all marketing functions.

Competitive advantage can be derived from one of three primary sources: Cost Leadership, Market Focus, and Differentiation. For those companies with a Cost Leadership strategy, the marketer's messaging challenge is fairly straightforward: "We deliver the same solutions at lower cost."

For those companies with clear Market Focus strategies, the marketer's message says: "We know your business as well as you do -- and our solutions are tailored to solve your specific problems." For those companies whose competitive advantage is derived from Differentiation, the marketer's challenge is much more complex.

In today's global competitive marketplace, rising above the clutter of "me-too" messaging has become increasingly difficult, as it is no longer obvious what the critical differences among competitors are, and the marketer's primary mission is to make that differentiation clear. We need to know not only what is different about our solution, but why the customer should care.

In order to build a well-understood brand, message, and market positioning, it is necessary to clearly understand: industry pain points; what your company brings to the table to address these pains; and how your solution is better than competitors' at alleviating the pain.

In order to articulate this differentiation message, it is necessary to understand the competitive landscape and to be able to honestly evaluate the company's solutions in light of your competitors' offerings. In today's global market, this task has become much more complicated because the prolific merger and acquisition trends of recent years have blurred the lines between partners and competitors, so the lines of competitive delineation are no longer as clear.

Moreover, the wide array of products and solutions offered by many companies has resulted in different competitive positioning depending on the products/markets/solutions. This added complexity means that in many cases, the marketer must perform these tasks individually for every segment.

A key success factor in building persuasive and effective differentiation is to be mindful of market perception, as opposed to the company's view of its own features and their benefits. As technology has become more and more complex, developing a well-understood feature/advantage/benefit story has, accordingly, become increasingly difficult.

Marketers do well when they start with the market's needs, the perception of benefits (from the customer's standpoint) and then work backwards to figure out how to position their solutions in light of those customer expectations.

Once clear and unique benefits have been identified, they must be conveyed to target audiences as must-haves. Marketers can then build rational and emotional arguments supporting them. Rather than simply employing the "only our solution has these capabilities" message, it is far more effective to proclaim that "any solution must absolutely include the following capabilities because... ." This kind of marketing is most successful when done in a non-partisan manner; that is to say, as an industry thought-leadership thread, rather than a product sales pitch.

By creating a well-understood, repetitive message that reinforces the need for these unique features/capabilities (through white papers, byline articles, speaking opportunities, etc.) the market soon adopts the desired message. Building this kind of air cover for sales can be the difference between winning and losing in the market.

Prospects have access to unlimited information regarding products, competitors and pricing. As a result, it is vital that marketers control their company's message in the marketplace, rather than let prospects and the market draw their own conclusions.

The best way to accomplish this is to have consistent, articulate, and compelling differentiation messaging that resonates with the needs in the marketplace. Everything else that marketers do (such as brochures, web content, e-mail campaigns, advertising, sales support materials, promotions, sponsorships, etc.) flows from this unequivocal and universally understood differentiation.

Winning does not depend only on being better; it also depends on ensuring that your customers understand why your solutions are better for them!