It sounds obvious, but if you’re not different, then you’re the same. That goes for companies, products and marketers. One sign of a weak marketer is a reliance on mimicry. When I hear clients point to their competitors for inspiration and say things like, ““They just launched a weekly e-newsletter, so we have to launch a weekly e-newsletter,” I wonder how they’ve managed to stay in business this long.

Not every company can be a leader in everything, but every company can be a leader in something. If your competitor launched a weekly e-newsletter, maybe you should launch a daily blog, a weekly podcast or a monthly magazine. Maybe the last thing you should do is exactly what they’re doing.

This is the basis of positioning. Look at what your competitors are doing, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, then find areas where you can capitalize and bring more value to bear. Solve the problems your customers have that your competitor isn’t solving or can’t solve. Unless you are the company with the deepest pockets, most resources, or the most to lose, it’s foolish and inefficient to compete head-to-head.

A good communications consultant will help you build a strategy based on positioning. One of the first questions she is going to ask is “Who are your competitors?” Beware of the consultant who just wants to perform an internal audit or lead strategic planning without any reference to your competitors. That’s the first step toward failure.

Why is it so important to survey the competition? Consider how many communications your customers and prospects receive every day. They are inundated with phone calls, mail, email, magazines, TV, blogs, press releases, etc. , and not just from you. It’s hard enough to get noticed. When you are, the last thing you want is to be confused with your competition. (Note: In reverse, offering communications similar to your competitors can deflate their strategy, if you think it’s worthwhile).

No matter what communications vehicles you choose, the most prominent and effective way to differentiate your company is by the content you communicate. A low-cost strategy might be to aggregrate headlines from news sources in your industry, but there’s nothing to prevent competitors from doing the same thing. On the other hand, if you offer proprietary, original content, you will always be able to attract an audience for your communications. To put it another way, if you are generating the content from scratch, you can be reasonably sure it doesn’t exist anywhere else. And exclusivity is a powerful advantage.