Competitive intelligence is a strategic device that allows you to indicate a demarcation tactic for your company. It consists of monitoring several elements that concern competition. This initiative allows us to stay one step ahead and offer better. In this article, we will focus on this subject. What does competitive intelligence consist of? What are the steps to follow to set up an effective system?
What does competitive intelligence consist of?
Competitive monitoring refers to all the methods used to monitor the competitive environment on an ongoing basis. This approach allows you to have a global view of your sector of expertise. The objective is, initially, to acquire information on the actions of the competition in terms of marketing practices and strategic processes. Then adopt an effective marketing maneuver to stand out .
Several elements are to be considered in a competitive monitoring: communication strategy, product news or services, financial results, evolution of the structure, reputation in the Internet, customer relations management, etc. There are many areas to be monitored. This is why the approach must be intelligent. There are also various tools that help with the collection and then the data analysis.
Competitive intelligence is an essential component in the company's marketing strategy It makes it possible competition actions to identify strategic points to develop your market, and to analyze the competitiveness of your offer .
What are the benefits for your digital strategy?
As part of a web marketing strategy, competitive intelligence helps define a digital marketing strategy . By having a global vision of the market, and anticipating the actions of competitors, you will be able to increase the performance of your business .
Steps to setting up competitive intelligence
Identification of competitors
There are three types of competitors: direct competitors who offer the same products and who target the same audience as those of your company; indirect competitors with different products but meeting the same needs as your company; and tertiary competitors who target the same audience with different products.
Identifying them gives you the opportunity to define the path to follow in your strategic choices and in your overall functioning. The list must be regularly updated . This information serves as the basis for your analyses.
Collection of information
It is an important step. It consists of collecting relevant information concerning the competition through different channels: company newsletters , social networks, the website, influential employees in the company, the press.
To optimize this essential work, there are free, easy-to-use tools:
- Google Alerts : notifies you in real time of all publications that have a link to your competitors .
- SEMRUSH : is a complete tool for competitive monitoring in web marketing . It helps you analyze the trends and websites of your competitors . In addition, he performs a social media analysis , SEO, SEM, etc.
- Netvibes : is a harvesting and organizational organization . With a dashboard, he organizes and sorts information from blogs , social media, and selected websites.
Sorting and using data
It is a step which consists of classifying the information according to its relevance in view of the analysis objectives. It must be implemented continuously to be effective. Email alerts or RSS feeds help you with this task.
The data is distributed over several sections , then it is synthesized . Thus, they overlap to establish a clear pattern.
The competitive monitoring table is made up of the following elements: the various sources of information, the collection dates, the names of the direct and indirect competitors, the location area, the rates applied by the competitors, the key performance indicators, the financial data.
Dissemination of results
It is a question of sharing the information internally so that each department receives the information which is useful to it. The information is essential to understand the issues and serve as a guide for strategic decisions . The analyzes can be disseminated in the form of a white paper to the teams.
What tools for your competitive intelligence?
For competitor monitoring to be effective, the analysis must be carried out regularly and in real time . The work is carried out in three stages: first the search for information, then the interpretation of the results, and finally the exploitation of the data. To help you, several tools are available:
- Social networks
- Directories
Social networks are considerable sources of information on competition. Among other things, they allow to perceive the audience's commitment rate . This tray gives the opportunity to follow the news of the competitors . Each social network affects different segments. Linkedin is a more professional tray, while Facebook is more popular.
- RSS Feeds
To save time , the collection of information can be done automatically . RSS feed aggregators are functional tools to accomplish this task.
- Strategic keywords
Several software programs available for free and in paid versions to alert and save content based on strategic keywords .
- Competitive intelligence tables
It is the tool that allows you to manage competitive intelligence . It is built around a defined development objective. Monitoring is done on an Excel table or a collaborative spreadsheet like Google Sheets . However, more efficient tables are available online.
- Field investigation
To complete the information , a field survey is necessary . The type of information collected is of a different order than that on the Internet. The means implemented are also different. The sales teams are mobilized because they are in direct contact with prospects , suppliers, but also with competitors.
Competitive monitoring is a strategic area still little mobilized, but which is nevertheless major. It helps to consolidate the notoriety of your brand .
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