Competitive Intelligence: 4 Benefits of Competitive Intelligence

Competitive intelligence (CI), also known as corporate intelligence, is a business strategy companies use to ethically gather information about consumer trends, product pricing, and market gaps. CI is a form of strategic planning that gives brands a competitive edge via actionable insights from market research, and stakeholders put a great amount of emphasis on and resources into this form of benchmarking. Companies use this data to inform decision-making about sales efforts and marketing campaigns for new products.

Competitive intelligence tools may include the following variables and criteria:

1. 1. Competitor analysis: Understanding a competitor’s website, offerings, and strengths and weaknesses can help entrepreneurs trying to break into the market form a competitive strategy. Competitor intelligence can help brands differentiate products and services from competitors.
2. 2. Product evaluations: Gathering competitive intelligence requires brands to look inward and outward. Test your own products and those of your competitors to understand what specific customer needs each address. Testing can also help your company learn how to effectively communicate products and services to target groups.
3. 3. Market analysis: Market analysis encompasses pricing, locations, demographic trends, and other variables that dictate how, when, and at what value a company releases and distributes its products.
4. 4. Customer understanding: Brands must understand their target audience and know when and where they shop, what age groups engage with similar products, and what amount is generally spent. This information guides the marketing messaging for particular demographics.

In a competitive environment, CI is necessary for growth and staying ahead of look-alike brands. Data collection can improve a company’s marketing in several ways:

1. 1. Gain clearer metrics. Setting clear key performance indicators (KPIs) streamlines research and provides clear benchmarks for product launches. KPIs can also determine how sales will go over time when comparing them to competitors’ goods and services, helping to manage expectations.
2. 2. Make stronger messaging. Competitive analysis lets businesses understand target demographics. Communications and marketing teams can craft language, emails, and social media ads using search engine optimization (SEO) preferences to better entice a sale.
3. 3. Find recognizable patterns. A deep dive into consumer behavior will illuminate trending habits. In a competitive landscape, the CI process shows brands how to adapt to trends, improve strategic decision-making, and more directly reach potential customers.
4. 4. Discover market needs. Analyzing competitor products allows companies to better understand what their product offers or what new products can establish their part of the market share.

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