For businesses wanting to get ahead, understanding market intelligence is critical.
There are multiple ways market intelligence can push a business from good to great, such as establishing customer needs, revealing current industry trends and unlocking competitor insights. Using this information, businesses gain access to quality information about the inner workings of their organizations.
In this blog post, we'll dive into what market intelligence is, how to collect it, and how to best use it.
What Exactly Is Market Intelligence?
Market intelligence provides businesses with data about the current space they operate in. This data commonly covers competitor insights, information on products/offerings, customer insights, and functions an overall market assessment.
Once this data is in the hands of decision-makers, they can begin to make positive changes within their business.
This can look like:
- Improving customer experience
- Bettering current products/offerings
- Gaining a competitive edge
- Targeted messaging
While the list goes on, these are popular ways market intelligence research can aid a business. In making these data-driven changes, businesses are likely to see increased success across all areas of their organization.
Most Common Types of Market Intelligence
The broad range of data that market intelligence provides makes it essential for any business, regardless of its industry.
However, the most common types of market intelligence can be divided into three groups.
Product Intelligence
Product intelligence focuses on gathering data around the offerings a business has. This data often includes insights on competitor products, consumer purchasing patterns, product tracking, and even market positioning.
The data shows businesses where there are gaps in their product offerings, what's performing well, and can promote new product development.
Customer Intelligence
Analyzing data about consumer behavior, customer intelligence measures their interactions with a business. This is critical, as the data can reveal everything from customer feedback to their current engagement levels. These data points can then inform businesses on how they should adjust their customer outreach strategies.
As a result, businesses are more likely to see increased customer loyalty rates and higher levels of satisfaction overall. And measuring customer satisfaction is critical (so much so, in fact, that 80% of current businesses are measuring it to stay on top of their game).
Competitor Intelligence
Gathering data on competitors is a massive benefit of conducting market intelligence research.
Competitor intelligence gives businesses an insider's view into what their rivals are up to, gathering data on pricing strategies, offerings, and key strengths/weaknesses.
This knowledge is critical for companies that want success in their market, and can also help generate new business ideas based on what competitors aren't offering.
What Market Intelligence vs. Market Research Looks Like
Think of it this way: market intelligence gathers data on a broader scale, while market research provides a more targeted approach to data collection.
Market intelligence is the process of collecting data on various topics over a longer period of time. This is purposeful, as it's a way for businesses to continuously track various aspects of their company, along with tracking competitors.
Market research, on the other hand, refers to solving a need with targeted data. Specific methods like online surveys, focus groups, interviews, and more are used in market research to provide businesses with actionable insights about their organization.
But market research and market intelligence both have a major goal in common: to provide companies with quality data that will enhance their business.
Why Your Business Might Need Market Intelligence
In our experience, no business will ever lose out by running marketing intelligence!
Market intelligence can help businesses in many ways and is a highly customizable method of research.
Conducting market intelligence can help a business in the following ways:
- Reveal customer preferences
- Provide key competitor data
- Enhance market positioning
- Product development
Truthfully, this list can go on - but these are some of the pillars of why market intelligence is essential for businesses with an appetite for success.
How to Collect Market Intelligence Data Yourself
Collecting market intelligence data yourself is completely doable, especially with the help of market research tools. Below, we'll discuss some of our favorite market intelligence collection methods.
Online Surveys
Arguably one of the most common methods of market research, online surveys gather data by asking questions of a target audience. Using online surveys, businesses can ask customers about their preferences, needs, concerns, and any other relevant data.
Social Media & Website Data
Gathering market intelligence data via social media and other websites is a fantastic way to gather fresh information. This type of real-time data is especially key for businesses wanting to keep tabs on customer trends as they evolve.
Focus Groups
A popular form of qualitative research, focus groups provide detailed information from a selection of people that fall within a brand's target audience.
Led by a moderator, focus groups can be conducted online or in-person with around 8 to 12 participants. This method is conversational in nature, which is ideal for picking up those smaller details. Often, the "small" details can be very informative for business leaders.
In-Depth Interviews
In-depth interviews, or IDIs, involve an interviewer asking a participant from a target audience detailed questions.
Another form of qualitative research, IDIs follow a conversational format (much like focus groups) and mimic a real-life back-and-forth between two people. This naturally allows for smaller details to be picked up, and interviewers can guide the conversation by asking relevant follow-up questions.
How to Use Market Intelligence Data the Right Way
Market intelligence is no good if it isn't used properly! To avoid this, we have a few suggestions on how to put it into action.
Product Development
Market intelligence can be applied to enhance current products, and even spark an idea for new ones.
This data will inform companies of what customers like and dislike about their current offerings, opportunities for improvement, suggestions, and more. As a result, this paves the way for businesses to create a wave of better-performing products and services.
Concept Testing
Concept testing is essential for businesses wanting to make sure their new product or service is a hit with consumers. Testing a concept also ensures brands don’t overspend on a product that will be a flop.
Market intelligence comes in to help inform businesses when it comes to measuring the interest their audience has in these potential offerings.
Take this example: a health food company wants to launch a new snack, and conducts market intelligence to see if consumers would purchase it. After reviewing the data, the company finds that consumers are not likely to purchase the new snack based on a number of factors.
As a result, they shift gears and create a new snack concept that would appeal to their consumers based on the data.
Marketing Campaigns
Better marketing campaigns can be designed due to market intelligence data.
Businesses can leverage the data obtained to make sure their messaging is on point, along with other content associated with the campaign. That way, the business can be sure they're putting money into a campaign that will be successful.
Offerings
Market intelligence will enable businesses to tweak their existing offerings, based on the data obtained. This data will reveal what consumers would prefer and what they dislike about current offerings, helping businesses ensure they remain popular with their base.
Pricing
Gathering data around product pricing is a major benefit of conducting market intelligence.
The data gathered will reveal if consumers think a business' pricing is too high, which could be a major deterrent. In response, businesses can adjust their pricing to ensure it aligns with their current audience.
Contact Our Full-Service Market Research Firm Today
With over 80 years of combined experience in the field, our team is ready to partner with you to ensure your needs are met. We'll work with you to establish key goals based on the specific needs of your company, ultimately providing you with high-quality data.
Want to learn more about our market research services? Get in touch with us today.
- Message us on our website
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Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
