Market intelligence, also known as “strategic intelligence,” is the process of learning about a particular industry and its market. Once this research is done, it will help provide more direction for current and future marketing strategies. The process allows you to understand consumer behavior and trends better to decide how to target consumer groups. Data are collected through tools such as surveys, polls, and interviews with experts in the said industry.
Strategic intelligence can also help determine how aggressively you should market to consumers. For example, you may want to target consumers who are more likely to purchase a particular product. Strategic intelligence helps identify such consumers, and you can target them with marketing messages. If a consumer isn’t expected to buy certain products, then perhaps that consumer isn’t worth advertising to. Strategic intelligence may also highlight which competitors have the best products or services in the industry.
How Do Companies Use Strategic Intelligencee?
Strategic intelligence is an integral part of business strategy. It help companies identify potential opportunities or threats. It can also help companies improve existing products and services, especially competitor products and services. In fact, strategic intelligence is so crucial to businesses that some have entire departments dedicated to it. For example, NetBase Quid help enterprises to set up their strategic intelligence department to analyze their customers’ needs and desires, so they have a better understanding of what’s needed in terms of marketing strategies going forward.
In most cases, NetBase Quid uses these four criteria to help companies perform their market research.
1. Competitor Intelligence
A company will look at its competitors to see what they’re doing. For example, Coca-Cola might study competitors such as Pepsi or diet coke to determine the strengths and weaknesses of its products. The company might find that many of its competitors are using lower-cost plastic bottles while still using glass bottles. By looking at the shortcomings of companies in this area, Coca-Cola can develop a strategy to strengthen its product offering and improve profitability in this area.
2. Product Intelligence
A company will investigate how well its products or services meet its customers’ needs. A company might find that a new product is not performing up to expectations. In this case, it could look at why the product failed and identify ways to improve and market it more effectively.
3. Marketing Understanding
A company will use market intelligence to determine how it should market its products or services in the coming years. It can look at trends, behaviors, and preferences to determine what changes need to be made to current product offerings.
To drive your organization’s marketing strategies, NetBase Quid analyzed more than 3 million social media posts to help you better understand the sentiment of your customers.
4. Customer Understanding
Using strategic intelligence, a company can learn more about the specific needs of its customers and then use that to provide better customer service. For example, if many people complain about poor response times with your call center, you may need to hire more staff or improve processes.
How to Collect Market Intelligence
There are a variety of ways to collect this information. You can use questionnaires, interviews, and surveys to gather information and other methods like focus groups, content analysis, and observation. Then you can use this information in your business strategies going forward.
Companies may employ market research firms such as NetBase Quid to gather information about their market or competitors. Many companies also have internal strategic intelligence departments doing this work.
Importance of Market Intelligence
Companies need to use Multicultural strategic intelligence to stay competitive. Multicultural market intelligence allows them to understand different cultures while also understanding their customers’ habits and motivations. Strategic intelligence helps build different marketing strategies based on these factors.It also helps them gain additional information about their target markets’ current trends and social behavior. This helps in trying out new business strategies that can result in higher profits.
