6 market intelligence tips for your business
Market intelligence helps companies focus on serving the needs of their target market and develop a deeper understanding of competitors and the business environment. According to Economic Times, “marketing intelligence is the external data collected by a company about a specific market which it wishes to enter, to make decisions. It is the first set of data that the company analyses before making any investment decision.”
In digital marketing, Market Intelligence is a strategy that makes use of internal and external data to improve a brand’s performance. This involves aspects such as upgrading products according to consumers’ expectations and ensuring competitiveness in the market.
The data collected from market intelligence is the information about the targeted customer, market trends etc., relevant to the company’s decision-making.
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See market intelligence tips:
- Stay ahead of the competition
- Minimise investment risk
- Look for market opportunities
- Have a unique identity
- Your target should be specific
- Product intelligence
Stay ahead of the competition
Interestingly, you may already be a market leader. But we have seen companies drive to the corner because they taught they would remain leaders for whatever reason. Your position as market leader means you need to keep growing, so you maintain that prime position. That’s where a specific study focused on your competitors will help. You can perform a competitive marketing intelligence study to stay ahead of your competition and keep up with market trends. You may need to understand what your competitors plans are for the future. You could use industry experts, former employees, customers, financial reports, distributors, etc. to gather competitor intelligence and stay leading.
Minimise investment risk
Your organisation needs as much information about the market before investing in a new product or service or before upgrading an existing product. Market intelligence helps you make better decisions and not waste resources. You should gather data on competitors and see how they operate in the market – how they sell. You could look for trends through product transaction data that will improve customer experience and enhance brand loyalty. The tech electronics industry in Nigeria, for example, is known for using product intelligence data. Product managers focus on getting automatic data about the product’s quality and testing data so they can quickly improve products and add new features.
Look for market opportunities
You cannot sit back and watch the expansion of frontiers of your competition when you could be out there looking for new market opportunities, even if that means entering an entirely new market or expanding your presence in an existing market. Surveys and research mostly help you understand market opportunities. The surveys and market research will uncover who your competitors are, how they have remained successful, and how they may react to a new kid on the block. Don’t jump into expansion decisions and waste resources – it may not be time yet.
Have a unique identity
Your presence in the market means you need to have a distinctive identity, one that customers know and can trust. To get to that, you can perform market intelligence research to help you position your brand in the market. Like looking for market opportunities, take surveys that focus on brand positioning so you understand what unique features can set you apart from the competition. Your company should have its own brand positioning statement, and studying competitors’ brand positioning statements will provide insight into how they reach their target market.
Your target should be specific
Segment your market, dividing your target market into smaller, specific groups. When you use market research to identify specific market segments, you can tailor your marketing and business decisions appropriately. For instance, say a hotel’s target market is millennials you like to sleep out to enjoy the comfort of the outside world. You can design the interiors to appeal to young people, market this aesthetic, hours of operation, and other offerings with this market segment in mind. Creating unique features for that market segment differentiate you from the competition. Gaining market intelligence about target segments is critical to successful marketing and selling.
Product intelligence
After analysing the competition, it is pertinent you look into your product or service to optimise quality to meet customer’s expectations. For the production of the physical product, it is essential to look into the production process. Use the data gathered on the customer behaviour and preference to make the necessary changes in the product. Ensure your company’s product is giving an excellent experience.