Competitive intelligence conjures up images of spies, secret agents, moles…covert operatives.
While I’m sure some of this is true, it’s far from the norm. You need to think of competitive intelligence as a business strategy, one that you can implement to help gather the information you need to make better short and long term strategic decisions.
A competitive intelligence program can be used to gather insights on a consistent basis in areas such as:
Understanding the dynamics of the market in which your competing. (See earlier article “The impact of market dynamics on your brand”)
Target audiences
Size of market
Shifts in competitive messaging
Competitive pricing, as well as new or current product/service offerings
New or emerging market opportunities
Messaging strategy and overall communication plan development
Sales strategies
Win/loss analysis
The list above is certainly not an exhaustive one, but it’s a start to get you thinking.
Your specific list will be driven by your needs. Also, keep in mind, you can learn from your competitors’ successes, just like they learn from yours. But, you can also learn from their failures too. So collect and analyze both.
Maybe at this point you’re thinking, great idea, we should have a program, but we just don’t have the resources to have an ongoing program. If you are, then think again. Can you afford not to have some level of a competitive intelligence program in place?
Depending on the type of program you implement, you may need to make an investment. However, to get started, you only need to look inside your own company and use the many free resources available.
First, identify someone in your company to be in charge of the program (or of course, there are outsource companies and consultants) to identify your specific intelligence needs and develop a process for collecting the information. However, collecting the information is only the first step and probably the easiest. The hardest part is analyzing it to identify and develop meaningful and actionable recommendations.
A few areas you can focus on to develop competitive insights include Google alerts, Google searches, RSS, LinkedIn, Twitter, news releases, publication articles, competitive reviews, advertising campaigns – advertising/communication, as well as their media buy, literature, white papers, case studies. Website reviews, social media monitoring and trade shows/conference for example. For the most part, many of these resources or tools are free.
There are also a variety of tools you can subscribe to. For example, LexisNexis, Factiva, Business Monitor, Hoovers and InsideView, as well as the use of proprietary qualitative and quantitative market research.
Before you start building your program, I suggest the following. Meet with key stakeholders, especially those that are directly or indirectly interacting with competitors and ask what competitive information they would like to have and believe is important.
Then establish your plan to identify and collect the information. I would suggest a timeframe to establish a benchmark of the data you collect. After all, the market is constantly evolving, so at some point you’ll need to establish a base of knowledge. Establish a methodology for organizing the data you collect as well, that will help later in its analysis.
Also, don’t forget, while you’re looking outside of your company for information, don’t forget to look inside. Typically, a large amount of competitive intelligence already exists within the walls of your organization.
I’ve only begun to scratch the surface on developing a competitive intelligence program. So over the next few weeks, I’ll continue to write about this topic, focusing on the various steps.
If you can’t wait, give me a call at 949-858-9095 and we can discuss how you can implement a program.
In the meantime, if you don’t have a Competitive Intelligence program in place, think about starting one. As you’ve read, there are plenty of free tools you can use to get you started. And, if you do have one, take a moment to make sure it’s as efficient and effective as possible.
Understanding your competitors and the market in which you compete is not just nice to know, but is essential to the long term success of your business.
"We do not deal with certainties. The world of intelligence is the world of probabilities. Getting the information is not usually the most difficult task. What is difficult is putting upon it the right interpretation. Analysis is everything. James Bond is not the real world". (Issur Harel)