Skip to content
Microfocus

Microfocus

Mad about business

Primary Menu Microfocus

Microfocus

  • Business Owner
  • Business Ideas
  • Business News
  • Business Law‎
  • Business
  • Real estate
  • About Us
    • Sitemap
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise Here
  • Business Owner

How to Establish a Clear Competitive Advantage (and Make Your Business an Attractive Acquisition Target)

Malik Runswick June 22, 2022

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If your exit strategy is to grow your business until it’s able to be acquired by a larger company, you can’t play it safe. A safe, conservative business with predictable revenue and slow growth isn’t attractive to most large organizations. They want to acquire companies that are distinct and set apart. You can position your business in this light by establishing a clear competitive advantage.

It’s impossible for someone outside of your organization to tell you exactly how to establish a competitive advantage (after all, if everyone could see the opportunity, your other competitors would already have done it by now). Instead, I’m going to give you some specific examples of different categorical ways you can create an advantage. Use them to begin thinking creatively about applications for your business:

1. Niche down

The first and most obvious option is to niche down to a specific part of the marketplace. By zooming in, you can make your business the go-to resource for XYZ, rather than just another option among a myriad of products and services.

Let’s say, for example, that your business manufactures and sells water bottles. If you try to go to market selling water bottles to anyone and everyone, you’ll find it difficult to stand out. However, if you market your water bottles as the go-to water bottles for construction workers who want something extremely durable that keeps water cold in hot temperatures, you stand a much better chance of creating a competitive advantage.

Related: How Niching Down Gives You the Power to Dominate Your Market

2. Develop a USP

Your business needs a USP, which stands for Unique Sales Proposition. This is a one-sentence phrase that explains exactly what makes your business unique and compelling.

There are dozens of different ways to come up with a USP, but here’s one good formula: “We help [NICHE] achieve [DESIRE] without [PAIN].” Using the water bottle example above, a good USP would be: “We design water bottles for construction workers that keep water ice-cold even in 90-100-degree weather so that you never run out of energy.”

As you can see, there’s plenty of room for flexibility. The key is to call out a specific niche, mention a desire that your product/service helps them achieve, and highlight a pain point that your product/service helps them avoid.

3. Establish a unique mechanism

One thing that can really help is identifying a unique mechanism that allows your technology or process to seem unique and proprietary.

This is something the Schlitz Brewing company did back in the 1920s. Legendary advertiser Claude Hopkins was touring the facility one time when he saw the extensive process they used to purify their beer. He was amazed — so much so that he asked the owners why they never shared this process in their marketing. Their response: “Every beer manufacturer in the industry does it this same way.” But Hopkins’ point was that nobody had ever told this story before, which meant customers in the marketplace had no idea how extensive the beer purification process was. After running a new marketing campaign emphasizing all of the steps of purification, Schlitz shot up from the fifth-ranked beer in the U.S. to the first-ranked beer company in a matter of 60 days.

What’s your unique mechanism? What process, technology or unique approach do you use? Even if everyone else is doing something similar, you can establish a competitive advantage by taking ownership over it.

Related: 3 Ways to Identify Your Company’s Unique Marketing Angle

4. Enhance customer service

Let’s say you have the same product serving the same market as everyone else. In this case, your best option may be to differentiate and establish a competitive advantage with superior customer service. If you can wow people with your customer service, you’ll create a loyal tribe of customers who will consistently choose you over the competition (even in situations where your prices are higher or your product options are more limited).

5. Make your business an attractive acquisition target

A competitive advantage alone will not guarantee acquisition offers. It does, however, set you up well for these conversations and give you much greater leverage in negotiations and due diligence. If you have something that no other companies in the industry have (or something they can’t easily replicate), it adds a certain intrinsic value to your organization.

With this in mind, it would be wise to spend the next several months focused on how you can create a competitive advantage or strengthen one that you already have. This is your ticket to success.

Related: How to Position Your Business for a Strategic Acquisition

Tags: Amazon Business Login, Amazon Business Prime, Bank Of America Business Account, Best Business Schools, Business Attorney Near Me, Business Bank Account, Business Card Holder, Business Card Maker, Business Card Template, Business Cards Near Me, Business Casual Attire, Business Casual Shoes, Business Casual Woman, Business Plan Examples, Ca Business Search, Ca Sos Business Search, Capital One Business Credit Card, Chase Business Checking, Chase Business Credit Cards, Chase Business Customer Service, Chase Business Login, Chase Business Phone Number, Cheap Business Cards, Citizens Business Bank, Cox Business Login, Digital Business Card, Facebook Business Suite, Finance In Business, Free Business Cards, Google Business Login, Harvard Business School, Lands End Business, Massage Parlor Business Near Me, Michigan Business Entity Search, Mind Your Business, Mind Your Own Business, Ohio Business Search, Risky Business Costume, Skype For Business, Small Business Loan, Small Business Saturday 2021, Starting A Business, Texas Business Entity Search, Triumph Business Capital, Vending Machine Business, Verizon Business Customer Service, Vonage Business Login, Wells Fargo Business Account, Yahoo Small Business, Yahoo Small Business Login

Continue Reading

Previous Primatologist Isabel Behncke on Play, Sexual Selection, and Lessons from Following Bonobos for 3,000 Kilometers in the Jungles of Congo (#598)
Next Supreme Court rules against DaVita and in favor of health plan

More Stories

  • Business Owner

Not All Marketing Consultants Are Created Equal

Malik Runswick May 24, 2023 0
  • Business Owner

Why CPA Accountant Marketing Programs Fail

Malik Runswick May 22, 2023 0
  • Business Owner

THe Difference Between Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing

Malik Runswick May 18, 2023 0
May 2023
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Apr    

Archives

  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017

Recent Posts

  • Persuasion in Advertising – How to Use Persuasion Techniques in Advertising
  • Five Conditions for Innovation
  • Car Magnets Advertising – The Pros and Cons and How to Do It
  • Real Estate Advertising Ideas – 5 Unique Advertising Options
  • Not All Marketing Consultants Are Created Equal

BL

Pawnbrokers Melbourne 

You may have missed

  • Business Economics

Persuasion in Advertising – How to Use Persuasion Techniques in Advertising

Malik Runswick May 27, 2023 0
  • Business News

Five Conditions for Innovation

Malik Runswick May 27, 2023 0
  • Business Economics

Car Magnets Advertising – The Pros and Cons and How to Do It

Malik Runswick May 25, 2023 0
  • Business Economics

Real Estate Advertising Ideas – 5 Unique Advertising Options

Malik Runswick May 24, 2023 0
  • Business Owner

Not All Marketing Consultants Are Created Equal

Malik Runswick May 24, 2023 0
microfocus-x-ray.com | CoverNews by AF themes.

WhatsApp us