4 Steps to Profitable Competitor Intelligence

Step 1 – Knowledge

“Knowledge is power”
Francis Bacon

A simple information gathering process is something that’s often ignored by companies. Think about how much you and your colleagues know about your competitors – but do you have a formal way of gathering this information and sharing it effectively around the business?

Here are a few ideas:

Debrief new staff – what do they know about your competitors? How about people who have worked for your competitors? They’ll have a real insight into the culture and sometimes the decision making process. It’s important to collect this information in a structured way so that you can interpret it alongside other data.
Sales force feedback – often they know more than you could imagine. The secret of success is finding a useable way to capture and share such knowledge.
Quarterly Competitor Meeting – invite key people from around the business to a sandwich lunch in a room decorated with information you’ve gathered about your competitor. Prepare an agenda of the main areas where you’d like to gather additional information and task individuals with trying to find that information.
Literature – make sure you’re on your competitor’s mailing lists and that you keep copies of any of their advertising and press coverage. It’ll provide useful insights into their product range, pricing and for the initiated enable you to second-guess their marketing strategy.
Web watch – as part of your regular tracking activity review their website and any links you’ve found to their site. Web technology allows companies to test out ideas and change products, services, pricing and promotions frequently and quickly. You may be able to spot a new product launch on-line before they have time to launch off-line – buying valuable time for you to develop an appropriate response.

Step 2 – Research

If you can’t find out everything you’d like to know about a competitor from information gathering alone you may need to commission a specialist firm to research your competitor for you.

But don’t forget when you conduct your own research surveys you can include questions which might provide a better understanding of your competitors, without overtly mentioning them.

Some independent research, which may even be available from published sources, can help address the fact that the information you’ve gathered in stage 1 is not completely objective.

You might also choose to mystery shop your competitors, to experience a ‘customer’s eye’ view of their business.

Step 3 – Understanding

It’s all very well gathering information but interpretation is all. It’s important to spend time and get advice from the right people within your business to interpret the information you’ve gathered. You might for example wish to consider the areas of their marketing mix: product range, pricing, distribution methods and promotional activities.

Setting up some simple systems and using empirical techniques can help.

Step 4 – Strategy development

Having followed steps 1 – 3 you should have a very detailed understanding of your competitor – even a view of their business and marketing strategy. Using a SWOT analysis you can compare their strengths with your own and spot opportunities they may not be in a position to take advantage of.

With this knowledge you can develop your own strategy. This should certainly not be the only influencing factor on your strategy but it might determine some of the tactics used, the timing for example of a product launch or pricing increase, or messages you use in your advertising campaigns, brochures and PR.

To find out how Second Opinion Marketing can develop competitor intelligence systems and work with you to develop strategies and tactics to respond the competitor threats contact us now.

Sources of Competitor Information

Fact Sheet written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant specialising in communication solutions and the customer experience. To contact Second Opinion Marketing call 01789 740396 or email tah@secondopinionmarketing.co.uk.

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