By Norton E. Warner

A practical, dynamic, creative entrepreneurial vision is rare. Vision begets innovation and is a prerequisite to leadership. If you have a precise vision for your business, it can be your greatest competitive advantage.

Your competitors who have no vision will find themselves chasing yours. Running after your vision, your imagination, your innovations and your leadership, they will forever be in your dust, months, maybe years, behind you. They may imitate what they see as your success strategy, not because it is right for them, but because they're trying to catch and then overtake you. However, no one can copy your heartfelt commitment to serve your customers.

No one can occupy your mind, duplicate your thinking processes or experience your desire to win. No competitor can usurp your goal of customer satisfaction. Your competitor cannot be you. You are the competitive advantage. Only from your vision as the leader of your enterprise can a winning strategy emerge.

Author and corporate consultant Peter Drucker claims that business, "because its purpose is to create customers," has only two functions: "marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results. All the rest are costs."

The first function, marketing, was the subject of Chapter II, "The Battlefield" from my book, David Can Still Beat Goliath. The second, innovation, is the key to your strategy. Be innovative in ways that set you apart from your competition. Use innovation to establish a proprietary enterprise. If yours is perceived as a commodity enterprise, you could be fighting Goliath with an empty slingshot.

To create a winning strategy, you must learn everything you can about your competition, your own enterprise, and your most profitable customer. In marketing and advertising, the proper analysis of this knowledge is a source of power.

Norton is the author and creator of Marketing Firepower. Five decades helping businesses develop strategies, create campaigns, identify and target the most profitable customer and proper budgeting advice have all contributed to the Marketing Firepower information. Norton created Marketing Firepower to make his experience and success strategies available to businesses around the world.

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Tags: entrepreneur, marketing, advertising, small business

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