Competitive intelligence (CI), is the collection and evaluation of information about your competition. It can be used in virtually any industry and by any business.
Effective competitive intelligence requires the legal and ethical collection of information, careful analysis, and controlled dissemination of actionable intelligence. Using this data can help you take advantage of new opportunities and avoid unwelcome surprises.
1. Analyze Your Competitors
The goal of competitive intelligence is to understand what competitors are doing so that you can make smarter business decisions. When it comes to competitor analyses, not all information will be the same. To gather actionable and relevant competitive intelligence, it is important to first identify your goals. This will determine the types of data that you seek and how you order it. If you want to refine your marketing strategies, for example, focus on sources which support your goals, such your competitors’ websites or social media profiles.
You can use many tools and techniques to analyze competitors, but it is important to establish a system for collecting and reviewing data regularly. By setting up a system for monitoring your competitors, you can be sure that you’re getting the latest and most valuable competitive intelligence available.
SWOT analysis is a great way to evaluate your competition. This powerful tool allows you identify your competitor’s strengths, weakness, opportunities, and risks. You can easily keep track of the activities of your competitors by performing a SWOT Analysis regularly.
Another important aspect of competitor analysis is to monitor industry trends. This is important for many reasons, including identifying new opportunities and preparing for future market shifts. If you notice that your competitors focus more on the customer experience than on product features, it may be time for your business to do the same.
2. Monitor Industry Trends
Staying informed about the latest trends is important if you’re looking to gain an advantage over your competition. This way, you can anticipate market shifts and create strategies that capitalize on opportunities. There are many ways to monitor trends in your industry, such as reading industry publications and conducting interviews with experts.
Keep an eye on the activities of your competitors, such as their product launches, campaigns and pricing changes. This information can help you better understand your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. You can also identify potential threats in the future.
You can find competitive data on many different platforms, such as online news articles, social networks, and customer reviews sites. By using the right tools, you can quickly and efficiently sift through vast amounts of data. AlphaSense offers trend analysis on specific topics and companies. This allows you to determine how often a company or topic is mentioned and can give you an insight into the general sentiment of a market.
There are essentially two types of competitive Intelligence – tactical, and strategic. Tactical CI focuses primarily in the short term, on aspects of business such as capturing market shares or increasing revenue. Strategic CI aims to improve business performance over the long term. This type of CI is often conducted by senior leaders, and it involves developing a framework that defines goals and KPIs. It also involves creating a pressure-testing process to test new business plans against the market response. This information is used to develop effective strategies that ultimately lead to sustainable business growth and success.
3. Analyze Your Customers
Understanding your customers’ responses to different types messaging is a big part of competitive Intelligence. Customer analysis is crucial because it allows for you to stay ahead of the game and develop marketing campaigns and product developments that will increase your growth. You can find out what type of message your audience responds to the best and why they make their purchasing decisions by conducting a customer study.
Depending on the needs of your business and the type of data that you want to collect, there are several ways to analyze customer data. One of the most common methods is through social media monitoring, which involves analyzing different channels for questions asked, relevant content posted and discussions taking place. You can also conduct customer analysis through surveys and interviews. You can also ask your customers about their experience and compare it to feedback from your competitors to get a better understanding of what your market wants.
Lastly, you can also use customer feedback to identify trends in your industry. For example, if you notice that your customers are complaining about the same thing over and over again, it may be time to change up your products or training materials to improve the overall customer experience.
It is important to remember that all data and information are not created equal. Incorrect analysis can lead to poor business decisions. For this reason, it’s important to follow a logical process when collecting and analyzing competitive intelligence, as outlined in a number of publications by the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). The SCIP literature also outlines various models that you can use to conduct competitor analysis and other forms of research and analysis.
4. Track Your Competitors’ Marketing Campaigns
Every marketing campaign your competitors run can influence the buying decisions of your customers. There’s always new information to learn about the marketing strategy of your competitors, from product updates and launches to promotions and changes in staff.
However, the act of gathering competitive intelligence can be one of the most time-consuming parts of the process. In fact, according to The State of Competitive Intelligence Report, 33% of the time dedicated to CI/MI goes toward this research phase. While the process may seem daunting, there are many valuable tips to keep in mind to help your team effectively track competitor marketing activity.
The first step in monitoring competitors is to identify them. This requires a thorough understanding of your industry, including direct competitors (companies that compete for customers with you), indirect competitors (companies that offer similar products or services) and perceived competitors (companies that appear during the sales discovery process but don’t directly compete for business).
After you have identified your main competitors, you should analyze their marketing campaigns based on the information you have collected. Remember that not all information is created equal. Prioritize the data you collect based on your goals. If you’re looking to refine your advertising, for example, avoid gathering information from competitors who do not share your ideal client profile or foundational materials like your messaging or value statements.
Once you have the right data, you need to analyze it and organize it in a way that makes sense for your company. By organizing your data into a model of competitive intelligence, you can quickly and easily communicate your insights to stakeholders within your organization. Telling a story using your data is one of the best ways to engage your stakeholders and encourage them to take action.
