As Kathy pointed out in her post a couple of weeks ago, if you're involved in starting or running a business, then you'd better prepare for a bumpy ride in the new decade. In times like these, your business needs to stand out from the pack even more than when business is booming. If it doesn't, then you may have a tough time attracting the attention (and dollars) of your prospective -- and even your current -- clients and customers.

Marketing guru Jack Trout has a new book out by the name of Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis. In this book, Jack provides readers with specific advice on how to conquer the “3 Cs” of business: Competition, Change, and Crisis . . .

1. BEAT THE COMPETITION: Challenge your rivals, differentiate your product, increase your value, and stand out in the crowd.
2. CHANGE WITH THE TIMES: Use the latest technologies, communications, and multimedia resources to connect with your consumers.
3. MANAGE A CRISIS: Cope with everything from profit losses and rising costs to bad press and PR nightmares.

Under the first category -- Beat the Competition -- Jack advises that companies avoid a competitor's strength, and exploit their weakness. Says Jack, "When a competitor is known for one thing, you have to be known for something else. Quite often, a competitor’s built-in weakness is the something else that you can exploit. If McDonald’s strength is that of being a little kid’s place, Burger King can exploit that by being a grown-up place. For years, Detroit’s automobiles were perceived as not being very reliable. Toyota was able to exploit these perceptions and take ownership of the attribute of “Reliability.”

What does YOUR company stand for? What do YOU stand for?