The Art of Competitive Intelligence
I started to work with a new client recently and they asked me to prepare a marketing plan for how to take their new software product into the UK small business space. It was particularly pleased with this project and certainly because the product seemed strong and relevant – it was all about increasing efficiencies, managing finances and essentially creating a smarter back office for your small business.
One of the first tasks I advised the client to work on was to look at the competition. It seemed to me the product was good, but it would be entering a hectic market place and therefore the positioning had to be spot on. By positioning I essentially mean which market segment, at which price point and selling what benefits.
Like most small businesses, the client had not even looked at this area, but instead had focused on developing a strong product and some solid client credentials.
So what is competitor intelligence and what should you do about it?
Well, first of all, it’s not spying on your competitors, it is gathering information you can use to make informed decisions. From a quick web search I found this great quote from Cipher :
“Competitive Intelligence is the ethical gathering and analysis of competitor and market information from open sources. This analysis is used by organizations to make better strategic decisions.”
I like another quote too, this time from oft quoted Chinese Philosopher Sun Tzu:
“If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”
Ok so this is from the Art of War, but none-the-less it is interesting to think about.
So as a small business owner / marketer, what should I do?
Well I’ll tell you. You could employ a professional and the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals has a useful directory.
Alternatively If you would prefer to have a go at this yourself, you might want to have a think about these core steps:
1. Set your objectives – what information do you want to find out?
You could easily spend a lot of time looking at every possible sphere of competition to your business. Be realistic, define your market first, for example if you are a dry cleaner in London, you can probably focus largely on the surrounding area without having to review every dry cleaner in the UK.
What is your unique selling point and how do you compete? If you are largely focused on price, this might be one factor you absolutely must learn about your competitors.
Could you learn from a related field? If you are a dry cleaner, could you consider another service business to get some insights and ideas, for example hairdressing, or vehicle valet services?
2. Define what you already know.
Simple enough, start by listing out the companies you already know about. Create a table and list as many of the following details as you can:
Name
Location
Website
Turnover
Age
Product range
Pricing
Key customers
Core strengths and weaknesses
3. Develop the Profile.
Once you have the basics listed, start to think about what other information you could or should gather and from where. For example, have you employed a sales manager that used to work for the competition? Could they provide some real insight into pricing and sales strategies which you may find useful?
You could also consider:
- Try to find their latest set of accounts (try Companies House in the UK) to help you understand their financial position
- Look in the trade press to identify if they have received any grants recently which you may also benefit from, or whether they have received any investor funding - this may give you a clue as to the money they have to spend on developing the product and marketing communications
- Look for any advertising or promotions they are running to identify their unique selling points, for example are they running Payperclick advertising? If so, which keywords are they bidding on?
- Talking to industry commentators and journalists. These are people paid to understand the market place you are competing in and will have an excellent knowledge of what is working and how the market is developing.
- Suppliers – who are they using and can you get a better price by using the same suppliers?
4. Translating information into knowledge
Once you have spent some time gathering this information and it probably won’t be a quick task, you need to translate that information into useable knowledge.
A good example is looking at price points and how this matches to your customer segments. Continuing with the dry cleaning example, a market which is probably fairly price inelastic (small changes in price will have little impact on demand), you might find your competitors are all more expensive than you.
What action could you take?
In this case you could probably consider increasing your prices a little without impacting sales volumes. This would have a direct impact on your bottom line.
Once you have taken this action, you of course need to monitor the impact and take additional corrective action as necessary. If your price increase does reduce sales volumes, you may wish to revise your stretegy.
5. A regular approach.
Competitive intelligence is not a one off activity. Keep a regular check on the core criteria and ensure this is something all of your team, especially customer facing staff, are involved in.
And that’s it. You don’t have to be a James Bond type to get to grips with competitive intelligence, but you do have to get to grips with it!
I’d love to hear what your experiences are of trying to keep tabs on the competition.
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Marketing nowadays comes in so many ways having it online or in the real world. Competitive intelligence and marketing strategy is a must for business. Thanks a lot for sharing this article I have learned something new.
I agree with you that it is important that we know more about competitors as much as we know the product that we are promoting. This way, we could have a better vision of what to do and what not to do. thanks for sharing.
Really succinct way of describing a complex process.
Sounds like you did a bang up job for your client, esp since most small biz don’t look at the competition or at marketing trends which will help them improve beyond pricing and good service. I notice that social media has added a whole new dimension to collection since you can connect with people you would never even know existed who can be great resources on how your company is doing, the competition, new technology–whatever it is you’re looking for.
I also like how you have included TALKING to people as part of CI. Many rely too heavily on Google and other on-line sources, which are great for some basic information, but not for decision-making!
All the best,
Ellen Naylor
yes i agree to you about the following points regarding the marketing strategy & the whole concept is very favorable !thanks for explaining all of theses stuffs i liked that!
Marketing provide you the right place and platform at right time.
You are right. I think Marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your business, and enhance branding of your company and products.
Thanks alot.
Marketing a product is like going into a battle. You need to prepare yourself with what your competitor will shoot you and be ready to shoot back and hit on his weakness. you can never sell something if you will only focus on what you can give, because you’ll never know if your competitors can actually offer something better than what you have. If you know your competitor, you can adapt yourself to be flexible to make sure that what you offer is still at par.
Competiton should not be an obstacle entering the market.
competition on your market segment is normal, your client will have to choose the correct channel of distribution
Thanks for the clear outline. The nice thing about the internet age is you can do so much research on the competition by checking out their website.
CI is the purposeful and coordinated monitoring of your competitor(s), wherever and whoever they may be, within a specific marketplace… Your “competitors” are those firms which you consider rivals in business, and with whom you compete for market share. CI also has to do with determining what your business rivals WILL DO before they do it. Strategically, to gain foreknowledge of your competitor’s plans and to plan your business strategy to countervail their plans.
competitive intelligence is the process of applying the discipline and ethics of competitive intelligence to the operations of a global supply chain.thanks.
According to me for different products different marketing policies.If you selling something. The profit margin should be less and the rotation should be there so that you can earn some profit.Yes it is important to know your competitors but if you are not aware of your products that will not do any good to you.Now a days consumers are comparing the prices after the checking the quality.
Ya i fully agree with above post. Marketing is best way to increase your business, it can be any type field , multimedia, door-to-door, and online marketing. But when going to make a successful plan you should check your competitor first and you can get idea from there, that what they performing for success.
i agree with you that competitive intelligence is important and i think it’s the most important aspect. how can you differentiate yourself if you don’t know about your competitor.
competitive intelligence is marketing but it’s also doing what the others aren’t. as an example, I worked in a jewelry store, the stores that are your competitors are not actually your competitors, it’s your coworkers, if you learn to manipulate and be ahead of your coworkers, thats competitive intelligence as snakey as it sounds, concepts? you’re looking for book terms and maybe for an answer for homework or something, but if you understand the definition of competitive intelligence, you can figure it out yourself, but not if you’re looking for the answer that your teacher gave in class, then you better find your book
Competitive Intelligence has to do with determining what your business rivals will do before they do it.thanks for sharing this informative post with us.
I agree with you that it is important that we know more about competitors as much as we know the product that we are promoting. This way, we could have a better vision of what to do and what not to do. thanks for sharing.
Regards
I’ve always done a good deal of SEO competitive analysis (search engine rankings, targeted keywords etc), but never really delved into the broader realm of “developing the profile” to see how you can benefit from emulating a competitors actual business practices beyond online marketing strategies.
competitive intelligence gathering information you can use to make informed decisions.
I think its often forgotten when developing a product that there is likely to be established competition in your market place - and these competitors will be both direct and indirect - you have to put yourself in the customers mindset and see what alternatives to your product they might consider - this may involve market research! Great post and something that is often over looked until its too late!
great you have said very right about the marketing steps i appreciate that theses all are very perfect in their own sense!
Great post, I think the unique selling point is the most critical…trying to compete on price alone is a sure recipe for disaster because there’s always someone who is willing to undersell you.
Great analysis break down. It’s something you can’t do enough of to find that wining formula.
Competitive intelligence is an integral part of bringing a product or service to market and it’s one of the key aspects of business highlighted throughout business school programs. Of course, it is easy to forget about it, but competitive intelligence and competitive strategy are topics that were highly stressed in my business school when I was getting my degree. Entering a market without any knowledge of the competition is like swimming in shark infested waters with steaks tied to your feet. (Lol weird metaphor but it works)
Marketing your business needs a good strategy and i am sure that if you market your business in an appropriate manner than it will result in great profit and great success. I am sure the post will be useful to many people and people will can get the benefit they want.
Great that you have taken us back to basics - after all none of this stuff is hard and hasn’t changed for decades. Just provide something that people want/ need and away you go rather than thinking of a product you only want and then trying to sell it to the massses.
“One of the first tasks I advised the client to work on was to look at the competition.”
It seems that looking at one’s competition is a step some start-up companies forget to consider when establishing strategies. However, this is a very important part of the whole process.
“Well, first of all, it’s not spying on your competitors, it is gathering information you can use to make informed decisions.”
Competitor intelligence doesn’t mean you have to use illegal tactics just to get the upperhand. Doing legit research regarding your competitors is one way to position your product properly.
Competitive Intelligence should be a given in your plan to promote your business. It helps to know what your competition is doing. Keeps tabs on them. What techniques are they using that you can benefit from as well. Some may see it as stealing. I see it as strategizing. What mediums of marketing are your competitors using? Are you missing out on something that your competitors got a jump on?
Great points, gives you a lot to think about and new ways to look at marketing.
I totally agree with foraj apa, competition on its own cannot distruct you from entering the market but you need to understand it.
I agree with you. It is better to have a good strategy to be the one of the costumers top list. We see that there are lots of competitors out there around and if we don’t have a good strategy to be on top of them our business will be the last.
Competitor intelligence is the analytical process that transforms disaggregated competitor intelligence into relevant, accurate and usable strategic knowledge about competitors, position, performance, capabilities and intentions.
CI has opened our company up to a lot of ethical discussions. Getting all information possible gives you an advantage of having complete information but at some point you have to draw the line in what you would or how you would get the information.
Not knowing your competition is so shortsighted - unless you’re marketing in a vacuum, your competitors are a very real and vital part of the equation that need to be taken into account.
You have great you have said very right about the marketing steps i appreciate that theses all are very perfect in their own sense. indeed.
Timely post… I wrote an article on my blog called the #1 Rule of Website Marketing and it comes down to knowing yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, and where you fit in the market.
Think of the Blackberry Curve (RIM’s super popular phone). ATT and TMobile both offer the phone, but ATT’s version boasts 3G whereas T-Mobile’s has WiFi. It’s the same phone, but RIM gave each carrier a different version. The carriers in turn sell the strengths of their own phone to their customers. Major retailers do the same thing. They’ll carry a slightly different version of the same product. That’s why they can offer those “if you find the same item cheaper at our competitors, we’ll honor that price” deals.
Raza
The world today is a big pool of products; leading the way to your new product it’s a difficult job, but not impossible. The client must have a good strategy and a good understanding of his enemies - as you mentioned and also of the market segment he is entering. The post is very interesting! Thanks.
i think you are right, there is a lot of wisdom in the words you wrote. it´s perfect how you had described it, i see now things from a new point of view, i’ve learnt a lot! thanks for sharing, i’ll visit again!
is right about the marketing steps, marketing is step near to the succesfull
I like your point about Competitive Intelligence .Definitely this is going help to improve the marketing strategy.
i am sure that if you market your business in an appropriate manner than it will result in great profit and great success. I am sure the post will be useful to many people and people will can get the benefit they want.
Hi, I think its informative and useful for me. I have noted some points from
this article, good article for me. Thank you very much for sharing. Regards,
- Bizbamboo
I am in the field of marketing about a year so this is very useful information for me. Thanks for this post because I learned some new things and broadened my horizons.
I love the Sun Tzu quote. This is a very methodical approach to digging into your competition and a market analysis. I think a fringe benefit of this approach would be learning more about yourself and your product in examining it from these perspectives.
What resources does your company use to conduct competitive intelligence and how often is it done?
I like the emphasis of the word ethical in the description of competitive intelligence. It is important that while doing your best to outdo competitors, you put up a clean fight because it would reflect your business integrity.
Competitive intelligence is a requirement if you want to be successful in business. Without it, you wont have a long term succes rate. It is important to know the competition too. By doing so you can learn from them.. a lot.
Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the purposeful and coordinated monitoring of your competitors, wherever and whoever they may be, within a specific marketplace… Your “competitors” are those firms which you consider rivals in business, and with whom you compete for market share. CI also has to do with determining what your business rivals WILL DO before they do it. Strategically, to gain foreknowledge of your competitor’s plans and to plan your business strategy to countervail their plans. As you might expect, this will involve many methods at the tactical collection level, but it will also require integration into your existing information infrastructure, analysis and distribution of the information, and finally, the calculation of business decisions on the grounds of that information and the analysis of same. This is the “intelligence” part of the formula.
I think it is hard for small business sometimes, I know personally we feel like we barely have time enough to handle our own issues, let alone time to worry about competitors. We’re trying to change that part of the culture, but it is difficult.
Competitive Intelligence has to do with determining what your business rivals will do before they do it.thanks for sharing this informative post with us.
Understanding trends and doing regular reviews of competitor intelligence can really make a difference. ‘Putting yourself on the other person’s shoes’ also does help.
Reading this post reminded me of the saying: “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”; regarding marketing I would say: you should listen your friends, but you should learn from your competition.
Marketing nowadays comes in so many ways having it online or in the real world. Competitive intelligence and marketing strategy is a must for business. Thanks a lot for sharing this article I have learned something new. and this is very informative.
The competion should be in the market but not should be in their behaviour. It should be limit to only in the business not in their personal life. By the competition we have a great chace to get the higher ends in the market if we won.
In today’s highly competitive market, product marketing becomes very essential. Without doing product marketing using innovative techniques or strategies, it is not possible to survive in this market.
The basis funda for marketing is ” Make it simple , make it memorable Make it inviting to look at Make it fun to read.
The profit margin should be less and the rotation should be there so that you can earn some profit.Yes it is important to know your competitors but if you are not aware of your products that will not do any good to you. Nice stuff.
Thanks for the info about competitive intelligence and how to utilize it. But do you really think it is necessary? I’ve heard that Microsoft isn’t doing any type of market research, but it continues to gain success.
Many times we make the mistake going too much blogal with small internet business, so this kind of a proach is a must to attract targeted visitors and potential customers.
This is a very valuable framework to employ in putting your arms around your key competitors. It would seem prudent to make a habit of applying these same technique at least every 3-6 months to ensure you don’t lose sight of any market edge your products have.
Great analysis break down! I also belive that marketing provides you the right place and platform at right time.You can not be successfull without paying enough attention to the marketing essentials!Marketing is everywhere, no businees without it!
Thank you, you answered the question I have been searching for which was whether or not to place keywords when blog commenting.
Nicely done for a plan of attack. Thanks for the guidance.
I believe Knowledge is what you are after. Information is the raw material you use.Intelligence is what finds and processes information.The same is applied whether it is marketing or anything else.
Competitive Intelligence should be a given in your plan to promote your business. It helps to know what your competition is doing. Keeps tabs on them. What techniques are they using that you can benefit from as well. Gr8 post.
Competitive intelligence must for any business marketing strategy, I think it is key to success every organization. Thanks for sharing it I have learned something new.
Today it’s very easy to see what your competitors are up to by looking at their websites.
Nice posting. Marketers should have the right strategy at the right time. We should aim for competitiveness.
It should be limit to only in the business not in their personal life.
Marketing a product is like going into a battle. You need to prepare yourself with what your competitor will shoot you and be ready to shoot back and hit on his weakness. you can never sell something if you will only focus on what you can give, because you’ll never know if your competitors can actually offer something better than what you have. If you know your competitor, you can adapt yourself to be flexible to make sure that what you offer is still at par.
I didn’t know this. Great info. Competitive Intelligence has to do with determining what your business rivals will do before they do it.thanks for sharing this informative post with us.
Thanks for the clear outline.regular reviews of competitor intelligence can really make a difference,must to attract targeted visitors and potential customers.
Staying intelligent in competition with rivals is the most important goal you need to achieve in order to gain success.
I agree with you that competitive intelligence is important and i think it’s the most important aspect. how can you differentiate yourself if you don’t know about your competitor. That’s a gr8 article, i like it.
I try to work hard and use the holiday to get ahead instead of relax.
Keeping focused on and implement a SMART strategy, is important. First of all we need to know what competitors do.
In accordance to the Philosopher Sun Tzu “If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”
Sometimes we think that our strategies on marketing alone is the best there is without knowing how your enemies handle theirs. That feeling of security from your target market without ready made plans for your competitors can become your downfall.
You are right. I think Marketing can attract more people to your website, increase customers for your business, and enhance branding of your company and products.
Thanks for the information. Everybody should be aware of this, To be able to succeed in whatever business.
There have been a lot of ways to market yourself, competition is going on increasing and i am confident that many people are talking this competition seriously. You need have a proper guide line to market yourself. I am sure that your post will definitely be of great help to many people around.
remember that old saying
“win first, fight later”
this is how you must build your strategy
According to me the basis for good competitive intelligence is a consistent probing and analysis of the competitive environment using primary and secondary data. Analysis, conclusions, feedback—and then ongoing refinement of those conclusions in the face of new information—are the key actions driving this process.
Marketing provide you the right place and platform at right time.
according to my experience If your company is larger or is growing, you can train at least one employee on the art of competitive intelligence. Select them to make sure they are efficient researchers and have the ability to perform detailed analysis on any data they find.
You can also form a committee or group where each member performs a specific task related to competitive intelligence. This method works bests for larger companies. You can meet with the group on a regular basis so they can update you on their findings. thanks for creation.
The basis for good competitive intelligence is a consistent probing and analysis of the competitive environment using primary and secondary data. Analysis, conclusions, feedback—and then ongoing refinement of those conclusions in the face of new information—are the key actions driving this process.
The return on investment (ROI) from implementing a competitive intelligence effort will, of course, vary from application to application. An analysis by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that companies incorporating CI as “critical knowledge” into their strategic thinking have a 20 percent faster growth rate than those that do not.² A specific example of the power of competitive intelligence is Merck & Co., the global pharmaceutical company.
I also like how you have included TALKING to people as part of CI. Many rely too heavily on Google and other on-line sources, which are great for some basic information, but not for decision-making
Thanks for providing a useful entry on competitive intelligence. I guess I could use it to improve my blogging.
You need have a proper guide line to market yourself. I am sure that your post will definitely be of great help to many people around.
There have been a lot of ways to market yourself, competition is going on increasing and i am confident that many people are talking this competition seriously.
The goal of a competitor analysis is to develop a profile of the nature of strategy changes each competitor might make, each competitor’s possible response to the range of likely strategic moves other firms could make, and each competitor’s likely reaction to industry changes and environmental shifts that might take place. Competitive intelligence should have a single-minded objective — to develop the strategies and tactics necessary to transfer market share profitably and consistently from specific competitors to the company.
Excellent post. Great article again. Ever since I read the first article in your blog I have been looking forward to reading more and more of your articles. Your articles are really informative and interesting. Thanks a bunch for sharing. Keep blogging.
Thanks for providing a useful entry on competitive and marketing information . I guess I could use it to improve my business
This method works bests for larger companies. You can meet with the group on a regular basis so they can update you on their findings. thanks for creation.
My passion is collecting Lego vintage sets. I am struggling to view the crowd as other than my competitor. I cannot call upon the crowd to manufacture Lego for me. And, the crowd doesn’t want to just give me their vintage sets.
So, I end up competing with the crowd for the vintage Lego sets available at ToysPeriod. So, how is the crowd a positive for me and my interest?
It is true that the crowd has old grubby incomplete sets full of dog do and tooth marks to sell. But, I don’t want those. What the crowd does is sell those grubbies to a place like ToysPeriod, and they have to buy four sets to make one complete set that is in mint condition, which is the only way I will purchase a set. So, if I want something decent (actually mint), the crowd is of no use to me at all.
Again, I ask, how can I view the crowd in a positive light here? They don’t have anything I want.
Stetson
There have been a lot of ways to market yourself, competition is going on increasing and i am confident that many people are talking this competition seriously. You need have a proper guide line to market yourself. I am sure that your post will definitely be of great help to many people around.
Marketing trends and products can seem like such a hassle, but your post was so informative and clear, thank you so much!
here have been a lot of ways to market yourself, competition is going on increasing and i am confident that many people are talking this competition seriously. You need have a proper guide line to market yourself. I am sure that your post will definitely be of great help to many people around.
i need have a proper guide line to market yourself. I am sure that your post will definitely be of great help to many people around.
Yes its very important to have up to date knowledge of your competitors actions and policies. And the other thing is continuous striving to maintain your position by continuous innovative strategies. A very informative article.
Thank you