Preventing text labels from overlapping other markers in QGIS?

The best consistent solution I have so far is along the lines of what I have laid out above. Assuming a SHP file is used, the steps are:

1. Open the dbf file either with a spreadsheet application such as LibreOffice, Excel, or the QGIS Table Manager plugin.
2. Add a column to the table. If a data type is required, use string.
3. Fill the cells with a non-breaking space. Once complete, save the changes. (See this Wikipedia page for information on how to type a non-breaking space.)
4. Open the Layer Labeling Settings for the point layer. On the Advanced tab, set the Placement to Over Point and set the Priority such that it is higher than any other labeled layers.

I know this is old but you could add an "X Coordinate" and "Y Coordinate" (double precision) column to the table that holds that information and then go to the "Data Defined Settings" tab under Labels in the layer properties and change X coordinate and Y coordinate accordingly. Once you do that you can move the label by freehand using the move label button.