There is fierce competition in the market and everyone wishes to beat the competitor to retain or increase their customer share. The aim is to widen the customer base. They want the buyers to think of their products first. It is here that competitor intelligence comes into the picture. The tool helps a business know about its competitor’s strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. With competitors’ intelligence, you get information that enables a company to sync its marketing and product strategies.

The main aim of a competitive intelligence program is to ensure that the business is aware of external forces in the market as and when they emerge. This allows the business to respond quickly to opportunities and risks.

What is Competitor Intelligence?

For any business, Competitor price intelligence plays a crucial role as it offers information on competitors which helps in developing marketing strategies, creating product roadmaps, product positioning, and messaging. Over time, businesses are hiring dedicated professionals for competitive intelligence roles. Experts say that competitor intelligence professionals should be one of the first roles a small business should play to fill the vacancy.

It is because the teams are performing competitive intelligence each day whether they know it or not and even if they don’t have a dedicated professional for it yet. For example, the sales team looks forward to increasing the sales numbers. This means they have to find information on who the buyers choose when they don’t choose you i.e. your competitors. It is here that you need a competitive intelligence program.

Example of Competitor Intelligence

The results of competitive intelligence affect us each day in the form of the prices we pay, the products we buy, and the marketing we consume. What most businesses want from competitive intelligence is higher win rates, strong road maps, and better product launches. But many people are not clear about how it happens. Here’s a look at some examples of competitor intelligence around us:

1. Marketing Teams

Wendy’s is known for their sarcastic tweets made at the expense of its competitors. The approach is not suitable for everyone but if one likes it or not, such tweets do make an impact. Wendy’s likely has full-time social media managers who monitor the competitor accounts so that not a single opportunity is missed to hit back with humor.

Even if you are not equipped well, it is important to keep an eye on what the competitors are sharing on social media to spot the trends. You must see how their messages and posts resonate with the audience. Social posts are primary indicators of changes in price, new features, etc.

2. Tech Startups

Startups make for a great competitor's price intelligence example because they use the information for disrupting markets. Traditional companies have a higher budget, superior technology, and the best resources along with data. Startups can outperform big companies in particular niche sectors.

Focusing on a specific field and reacting or adapting quickly to competitor intelligence insights helps in understanding the client’s pain points in a better way and delivering better solutions.

Airbnb is an example of how they leveraged technology, consumer insights, and socio-demographic changes to disrupt the hotel industry. When there is a need that is not met, it serves as an opportunity to capture that part of the market even if that means competing with big brands.

3. Sports Teams

The sports industry is known to be one of the most competitive fields across the globe. Billy Beane took the baseball team Oakland Athletics to an unparalleled level in the league despite working under the lowest budgets. Yet another example of competitive intelligence is the football world teams such as Southampton FC and Sevilla FC miracles each year, regardless of the budget.

The reason for them outperforming the budgets is that they excel in getting new data and insights and distributing the information among management teams. It enables them to attract as well as maintain top talent.

4. Airline Ticket Price

The airline industry is the right place to understand the competitor intelligence meaning and how to use it strategically. Airline companies change the prices of flight tickets based on external information. If an airline company increases its prices for a specific route, others will do it too quickly.

Customer information is used for making price adjustments on an individual level. Identifying and tracking particular users helps flight companies know when a potential passenger is repeatedly looking for the same flight details. Knowing that a customer is interested in flying on a specific date, the airline companies can increase the price for that customer.

It can be done by any business. Especially in times of recession and inflation, you can know what the competitors are doing with their pricing- have they increased it, decreased it, or offered a promotion? You can start with monitoring the competitor pricing making sure that the data is real-time and the sales team is informed of the changes.

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Comprehensive Guide to Competitor Intelligence