Banish your competition to the Island of Misfit Toys

The iPhone - the Charlie-in-a-box of the gift-giving season. Seems hard to imagine that this too-cool-for-school gadget could ever possibly be equated with the mistakes from Santa's workshop, but Verizon is working hard to position the iPhone as just that.

Verizon's argument is oversimple: Sure it's shiny and cool and does a million things, but when you look at the chink in the armor that is the comparably poor coverage AT&T offers nationwide, the iPhone might not be quite so automatic for the people. (Unless, of course, your city's covered just fine, in which case why wouldn't you go for the gadget of the millenium?)



What can you learn from this? Well, maybe, just maybe, that first-to-market competitor of yours has a functional oversight. Maybe that best-thing-since-sliced-bread service of theirs lacks the meat to be worth the hefty price tag.

So don't bury your head in the sand. Cross-examine the competition. Exploit their weaknesses. Find a hole in their story and find out how your product fills it in. Cast a shadow of a doubt on the competition in strategic ways to slow down their momentum. You'll give customers pause and cause to consider you as a smart alternative.