How to Use Market Intelligence to Expand a Business
By TRISOFT team
Business owners who want to grow and expand their companies should discover and use the benefits of market intelligence in order to identify new opportunities, get ahead of the competition and delve into domains which currently remain unexplored.
By collecting and analyzing data, they gain valuable insights, which subsequently translate into great strategies and competitive advantages.
What is market intelligence?
First of all, what is market intelligence? In the past, it was considered to be the act of keeping track of the competition and the state of affairs in a certain industry, but lately it has come to include analytics that can help us improve business models and plans, thus leading toward a better understanding of the market and more profitable commercial activities.
Essentially, market intelligence combines multiple sources of information in order to create a broad picture of the company’s existing market. This entails analyzing the company’s clients, challenges, competition and opportunities for developing new products and services, by resorting to sales logs, customer information, surveys and social media information.
Market intelligence vs. business intelligence
Although easily confused with business intelligence, the latter refers to specific data on a company, while the former looks at the general trends in the market. Whereas business intelligence comprises information about the internal performance of a company, such as the number of products that were delivered to clients and the total number of sales in a month, market intelligence focuses on external information, such as customer demographics, geographic information and what exactly consumers tend to be interested in and to buy, and most importantly, updates about the competition and growth opportunities.
Successful market intelligence answers concrete concerns, such as where exactly the company should invest more resources, what markets it should try to enter in the future, what the buying patterns of the most loyal customers are, what demographic segments could be approached with new and existing products, what are the steps and the purpose of a market analysis, what risks is the company facing and what opportunities there are for growth and development.
What is needed?
Four criteria are fundamental for this endeavor: competitor intelligence — which means gathering and analyzing data about rival companies, learning their strengths and weaknesses so that you will know why certain clients prefer your or their products and services, price differences, targeted audience and how they overcame obstacles. All these information can be used to create better products which fit the users’ needs, while avoiding problems and challenges that other companies might have faced and dealt with.
Secondly, product intelligence — which entails an in-depth analysis of the quality of your company’s products or services, as well as the efficiency of your manufacturing processes, data that can help in improving the value of your products.
Next on the list would be market understanding — which means understanding the different markets you are addressing, how well you are performing in this aspect and if there are any additional markets that you could explore.
And finally customer understanding — which means finding out as much as you can about the end user, their interests, preferences and complaints, in order to increase their loyalty and satisfaction, as well as build stronger marketing campaigns in the future.
How to do it right?
You can collect marketing intelligence by looking at current customers and requesting feedback, insights and suggestions, by conducting surveys online or in person, on a larger pool of people, by analyzing website data, including the number of visitors, buyers, patterns of behavior, etc. Or by hiring a specialist who can develop a more general picture of the situation.
Once all the information is processed, you can use it to determine profitable opportunities on the market.
Use it, don’t lose it!
At TRISOFT we advise you not to overlook market intelligence, since it can give you a better perspective on the industry and help in identifying new opportunities for growth.
If you find it too time-consuming, you can use online tools, apps or a hired professional to assist you. In any case, it is essential to understand your current market environment and make the most of the opportunities available for your business.
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