What is competitive intelligence?

[shaownhasan]

Categories
Branding & Creative
Social Listening

Competitive intelligence can seem more like a to-do list item nurse database than a business function. You might read analyst reports, check some CRM data, and maybe do a once-over of your competitors’ social media presence and websites. From there, you might even create battle cards for the sales team and update them once a year. But strong competitive marketing intelligence—the kind that impacts marketing and communications strategy for years to come—is more than checking a box.

Competitive intelligence is one of the most crucial pieces of data you can use to inform your strategy. Keeping a close eye on your competitors’ messages, offerings and tactics will keep you one step ahead, no matter what happens in the market.

Table of contents:

Why competitive intelligence is important
Tips for conducting competitive intelligence research
The best sources for competitive intelligence
Tools for gathering competitive intelligence
What is competitive intelligence?
Competitive intelligence, sometimes called corporate intelligence or CI, is strategic data gathering on competitors and the market environment to gain an edge in decision-making and business performance. It can encompass your competitors’ social media presence, brand positioning, pricing strategy, product tiers or even their recent job postings. Competitive intelligence is the output of transforming these individual data points into a complete picture of your competitors’ strategies.