The world is vast, and true entrepreneurial innovation is rare. More business leaders are finding themselves in markets that feel oversaturated, where competition for consumer attention and loyalty is fierce. To succeed in many modern markets, business leaders need to work harder and smarter to rise above the competition and reach their consumer audiences in a meaningful way.

Finding success amidst dense competition is never easy, but it is possible. Here are a few strategies business leaders can use to achieve a competitive advantage today.

Commit to a Strategy

Some entrepreneurs struggle with sticking to a single competitive strategy. Perhaps they are uncertain about which strategy will be most effective, or perhaps they fear alienating fellow businesses or a portion of consumers with competitive corporate behavior. As a result, they opt for generic strategies, hop back and forth amongst different strategies or else maintain no competitive strategy whatsoever – and they become mired in the middle of their market.

It is essential that business leaders develop a coherent strategy of competition and that the organization adheres to this strategy for long enough to determine whether it is effective in achieving their market goals. When a strategy brings success, leaders should work to identify which aspects of the strategy were most effective, so the company can continue to benefit from these tactics into the future.

Prioritize Competitive Advantage

The strategic planning process is supposed to provide an organization with a list of action steps for achieving goals – but not every business engages with strategic planning in ways that bolster its competitive advantage. Too often, strategic plans are crafted without any market-related goals in mind. It is taken for granted that companies should strive for industry leadership, when in truth, striving for the top position in a market can be dangerous to a business’s current competitive position.

Entrepreneurs can and should build competitive advantage into their strategic planning, but it is imperative that the process focus on in-depth analysis of industry structure and be guided by practical and plausible goals.

Analyze the Target Industry

Every industry is affected by a handful of identical competitive forces: the entry of new competitors, the rivalry amongst competitors, the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers and the threat of substitutes. Entrepreneurs and business leaders need to thoroughly scrutinize these concepts within their target industry to better understand a firm’s ability to return their investment.

It might be necessary for entrepreneurs to gain more insight into influential market forces before developing a strategic competitive plan. For example, digital transformation courses can help business leaders understand reasons for and design strategies for adopting digital tools and techniques. With sufficient analysis and preparation, business leaders should gain insights into their competitive position within the industry.

Differentiate the Brand

Not every company has a unique selling proposition (USP), but every company that wants to be competitive in its market should have a USP. Businesses need to position themselves as valuable to their target audience, and in a saturated market, value comes from one or more dimensions of a brand that are significantly special and typically unavailable from other market competitors.

There are dozens of components of a brand that an entrepreneur might choose to highlight as a USP. In their market evaluations, leaders should identify what details are most important to their target audiences – like low cost, complexity, convenience, community connection and more – to ensure they can develop a USP that provides a competitive advantage.

Focus on a Niche

Industries are large, and companies have limited resources. Instead of trying to compete with established, powerful corporations, entrepreneurs should focus their strategy on a particular segment within the industry – ideally a segment that boasts less competition, making it easier for newer businesses to stand out. By adjusting business strategy to focus on a niche, business leaders are likely to avoid the cutthroat competition of the rest of the industry and gain greater loyalty from an audience that might have been underserved in the past.

Disrupting an established market with outstanding innovation is the exception; rising to the top of the market thanks to innovative competitive strategy tends to be the rule. Because competition is all but unavoidable in business, entrepreneurs need to consider their competitive advantage from the very beginning of their startup and engage in effective competitive strategies to find success.