What is CI (Competitive Intelligence), and how to do it
Over the past decade, businesses have made a dramatic shift to online mediums for marketing and selling their products/services. Traditional marketing strategies have become less potent. This has also enabled Competitive Intelligence to rely more heavily on the Internet, as digital marketing has become increasingly important.
Competitive Intelligence is usually not reliant on the internet. However, due to the massive scale at which online businesses have proliferated, it has no choice but to use internet sources to acquire such data. So what is CI?
What is competitive intelligence, and how can businesses conduct it effectively?
Answer: Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical process of gathering and analysing information about competitors to guide strategic decisions. Businesses conduct CI by identifying rivals, collecting data from online and offline sources, analysing trends, and sharing insights with decision-makers to improve their market position.
Competitive intelligence provides businesses with a clear understanding of their rivals’ strategies and performance. By tracking competitor actions through digital tools and primary research, companies can find gaps, improve their offerings, and stay ahead. CI is not spying—it’s smart, legal research that informs better decisions.
What is CI (Competitive Intelligence)?
Competitive intelligence involves collecting and analysing information to forecast what actions or strategies competitors may use. This forecast is then used to create future strategies and tactics for competing effectively.
In digital marketing, Competitive Intelligence helps online business owners evaluate the market and identify areas for improvement. It is essential to note that Competitive Intelligence is not to be confused with corporate espionage. It relies solely on legal and ethical methods to gather intelligence, whereas espionage often employs illegal methods, such as hacking a competitor’s device or bribing someone to obtain data. In other words, Competitive Intelligence is a wholly ethical and straightforward method. It is not considered wrong or frowned upon.
How to Conduct Competitive Intelligence?
Many research avenues can be used to conduct Competitive Intelligence. The research avenues can be divided into two main categories:
- Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources
Primary sources are those sources that are in some way directly related to the subject of your research. These sources provide unfiltered and unprocessed data that experts must later analyse to gain useful information from it. Primary sources include items such as interviews, speeches, and newspapers.
On the other hand, secondary sources provide published open information about primary sources. This information is “second-hand” because other researchers have already analysed it, and it now contains their thoughts on the matter as well. Secondary sources can include books, articles, and other written materials.
Mega corporations with dedicated Competitive Intelligence teams can easily collect and interpret primary data. Smaller businesses can do this, too. Some have a single person working on Competitive Intelligence, while others outsource to people like Octopus Intelligence. As a general rule, primary sources are generally considered superior to secondary sources, as they provide more accurate and timely information.
However, in the current landscape, where online businesses have become the norm, digital marketers can conduct research from both sources, as they are widely available on the Internet.
Steps in Conducting CI
There are some steps that any business owner can take when conducting CI. They are discussed below.
Identify Your Competitors
The first step is to identify your competitors. As mentioned, CI is all about learning about your competitors’ strategies and tactics. But you can’t really gather intelligence on your competitors if you don’t know who they are.
You can find your competitors using keyword research tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush. And you can see which sites directly compete with you for the keywords you rank for.
Similarly, you can use a DA checker to see which competitor has a higher threat level.
Competitors with a high DA will be more of a threat to your website as compared to those with a low DA.
These are your direct competitors in your market as well.
You can also identify your competitors by checking which brands sell products similar to yours and target the same buyer personas.
1. Find out Which Avenues You Can Explore to Gather Data
There are plenty of ways to gather data online. For example, you can monitor a competitor’s website and content channels, such as blogs or forums.
You can also check:
- The kind of offers and sales they have.
- The products they are selling.
- Their offerings are being sold at full price.
- Products that have a reduced price.
- Products which have already sold out.
- The kind of job openings they have.
These are just some things that can be checked to gather data.
2. Collect the Data from Selected Avenues
Once you have checked where to collect the data from, it’s time to actually gather it. This process can be time-consuming. To ensure the efficacy and accuracy of the collected data, it is recommended to collect it over a long period of time, allowing for the detection of any irregularities in the trend. You should also take care to collect detailed information so that the analysis is accurate.
3. Conduct the Analysis
This is the stage where the collected data is actually analysed. Big companies will typically leave it to their CI team at this point, while smaller companies must rely on online tools. There are numerous CI tools that can provide analysis, and digital marketers utilise them for market research. Some examples of these tools include:
- G2 crowd
- Feedly
- Market Explorer
For an online business, using SEO tools such as the ones listed below is very effective:
- Ahrefs
- SEMrush
- Surferseo
These tools track information such as traffic on a site and its various pages. Similarly, they can also track the keywords that the sites rank for and the kind of content that ranks high for each keyword. This information can provide a lot of insight into your competitors and their strategies.
The analysis provided by these tools can be used to determine your competitors’ weaknesses and strengths.
4. Share the results with the relevant People
The results of the analysis should be shared with stakeholders. The teams that will benefit from those results should also be given access to the results.
When the right people possess the right information, they can utilise it to formulate effective strategies and take the appropriate course of action. This is an important part of CI as, without this step, all that data collection and analysis is useless.
The stakeholders determine how the analysis results will be utilised. They have a better understanding of what is beneficial to both the company and themselves. At this point, the CI’s team or person in charge can consider their job done. Obviously, since the market is always changing, subsequent Competitive Intelligence will be required.
What is Competitive Intelligence? How can it be conducted?
Competitive intelligence is a vital part of doing market research. Obtaining information about your direct competitors can provide you with a competitive edge. You can find out their strengths and weaknesses. This can also result in learning about a technique or strategy you were not using before. And that’s what competitive intelligence is, how it is used and why it is important to conduct.
We are Octopus. The Global People-Powered Competitive Intelligence Agency.
Outsmart your competition. Make the unknown known. Octopus helps you gain clarity in complex markets. With clients and tentacles around the world, we deliver sharp, actionable competitive intelligence through a blend of deep primary (HUMINT) and secondary research. If you’re looking to make smarter decisions, beat the competition, and reduce uncertainty, we’re the partner you want on your side.
