When it comes to the online reputation management expert getting their competitive priorities straight is important in order to be able to differentiate themselves from their competitors. There are different types of competitive priorities and these all fall under broader categories such as cost, quality, time, flexibility, customer experience and innovation.

When it comes to cost, some companies like to differentiate themselves based on low-cost operations which would mean delivering a service or product at the lowest possible cost to the satisfaction of external or internal customers of the process or supply chain. When it comes to quality, there is high performance design which means that you are delivering an outstanding service or good which would be something seen as more luxurious. Consistent quality involves being able to produce services or products that meet design specifications on a consistent basis. The next competitive priority for time includes the delivery speed, which is being able to quickly fill a customers order. There is also on-time delivery, which is being able to meet delivery-time promises. For flexibility, it is important for certain products to be customizable and having variety for your customers. This involves being able to satisfy the unique needs of each customer by changing service or product designs or handling a wide assortment of services or products efficiently. There is also volume flexibility, which is being able to accelerate or decelerate the rate of production of services or goods to quickly handle large fluctuations in demand. The customer experience involves customer participation, which would range from passive, in which customers are observers, to active, in which customers play key roles in creating the service. The customer connection is the extent to which a customer is immersed or absorbed in a service or good. Innovation involves the last three competitive priorities which include the product innovation which is being able to develop a novel service or good, followed by the process innovation which is to develop a novel process or supply chain and the development speed which is being able to quickly introduce a new service or good.

All of these competitive priorities become a competitive advantage for a company since they can differentiate themselves.