🚀 How to find competitive advantages?

3 tactics to find competitive advantages

🔍 Identify who and what

• Track competitors and understand where they stand in the market:

  • Who are the leaders, and why?

  • Which companies are growing or losing ground?

  • Are they direct (offer similar products or services to the same target audience) or indirect competitors (provide alternative solutions that meet similar customer needs)? 

• Analyze competitors’ product and service offerings:

  • What features and benefits do they emphasize?

  • How do they differentiate themselves?

  • Are there gaps in their offerings that your product can fill?

📝 Understand the how

• Evaluate competitors’ go-to-market strategies and how they attract and engage their audiences:

  • Which channels do they prioritize (e.g., social media, email, SEO)?

  • What’s their messaging style, and what resonates with their audience?

  • Are there opportunities to stand out with bold, unique messaging or untapped channels?

• Compare competitors’ pricing strategies:

  • Are they using freemium, subscription, or pay-as-you-go models?

  • How do they structure discounts, loyalty programs, or enterprise pricing?

  • Use these insights to position your pricing strategically, whether by offering a premium product, undercutting competitors, or delivering unparalleled value

• Look into competitors’ sales strategies and customer success:

  • How do they generate leads?

  • What distribution channels do they use?

  • Are they offering unique incentives to close deals?

  • What’s their onboarding process like?

  • Do they offer 24/7 support or personalized services?

• Spot trends on how the market is shifting:

  • Track how incumbents or other startups are responding to emerging trends (e.g. generative AI or decentralization etc)

  • Watch for any changes in consumers preferences (e.g. leaning toward subscription-based offerings, eco-friendly production, localized manufacturing, etc)

🎯 Exploit competitor weaknesses

• Assess strengths and weaknesses by conducting SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for each competitor. Ask:

  • Where do they excel?

  • What are their vulnerabilities?

  • How can you position your startup to exploit gaps or improve on their weaknesses?

• Analyze customer experiences by studying how customers talk about competitors in reviews, forums, and customer calls: 

  • Where do these competitors excel or drop the ball?

  • Are there pain points customers frequently mention in reviews?

• Identify where you outperform competitors:

  • Product Differentiation: Exclusive capabilities (e.g. advanced AI, intangible brand value, intellectual property, etc) you alone can offer

  • Cost Leadership: Operating lean with minimal overhead, supply chain advantages, or economics of scale, allowing you to underprice competitors

  • Network Effect: Flywheel effects on growth, making it more valuable as more people use your product

  • Speed of Innovation: Rapid iteration or agile development cycles that let you introduce new features faster than rivals

• Translate each advantage into a clear outcome that solves a significant problem better than anyone else (e.g. “Our AI-driven scheduling ensures 50% fewer no-shows than any competitor”)

2 traps to avoid

🚨 Doing analysis without turning it into action

• A clear competitive advantage, differentiators and value proposition must be translated into loud, consistent messaging across the channels customers are paying attention to

• Align pricing with the advantage (e.g. premium for unique value, low for cost leadership)

• Refine customer experience to deliver a better, more personalized customer journey

🚨 Running competitive analyses too infrequently

• The landscape of competitors changes rapidly; maintaining competitive advantage requires constant vigilance and proactively adjusting your strategy

• Track signals continuously:

  • New product launches or features

  • Shifts in go-to-market strategies

  • Changes in customer sentiment or behavior

1 tool to leverage

📖 Best practice on finding competitive advantages

• Startups can build enduring businesses without high gross margins, but need multiple areas of competitive advantages to achieve high valuations and meaningful cash flow

• Leverage Miro’s competitive analysis templates to compare market trends, competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and refine your strategy

Bonus: 1 trend to spark startup ideas

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