Business Intelligence remains a hot topic among chief executive officers and other high-ranking corporate officials, yet many fail to discuss Competitive Intel when speaking on this subject. Competitive intelligence works to gather and analyze information about the industry environment, including information on the target audience and competition in the market. The gathering of this information involves mundane tasks, such as reading annual reports, to the more complex, like Reverse Engineering of business practices and products. Companies able to fully carry out this task find they gain an edge over their rivals, and there are numerous tools that can be of assistance in this chore.

Market Research

As the Internet reaches consumers across the globe, it may be difficult for a company to determine their real online competition, and market research becomes of great help in this area. The research focuses not only on identifying this competition but also determining how well an organization is doing in comparison to their rivals. The strengths and weaknesses of competitors must be identified, along with any online strategies they are successfully using, so a company can build on their success while avoiding their mistakes. Many companies mistakenly identify companies they believe they are competing with when they aren’t and overlook organizations that are overtaking them. Market research helps to avoid this.

Keyword Research

Keyword research remains critical to ensure clients are finding the business. Companies must know exactly what keywords are being used to find their products and services, yet it goes much further than this. They need to have a way to determine which keywords they can realistically benefit from based on the level of competition for that word or phrase. In addition, a company has to filter out those keywords that won’t actually generate income for the business. Quality needs to take precedence over quantity in this situation, and key metrics must be identified before proceeding.

Full Online Sales Funnels

Monitoring of sales funnels continues to be a task every business must complete. A business has to know where their traffic is coming from and how they can best turn a visitor into a buyer, yet many companies don’t understand how to go about doing so. For example, a company must determine the bounce rate for various pages on the site to determine which pages engage viewers and which lose them. They must also know how many pages are being viewed in a session and goal completions. Intelligence such as this helps to turn leads into paying customers.

New Market Forecast Trend Data

Although a company can never say what their clients will do in the future, market trend forecasting can give a business a better idea of what they should expect from consumers. Making use of past market growth and sales data allows an organization to predict what customers might do in the future. With the information gained, a business may be able to detect a linear or constant pattern or they may find an exponential pattern. With this information, they can make changes to account for these patterns, regardless of what they show.

These are only a few of the many competitive intelligence services a company may benefit from. There are numerous others, such as paid ad monitoring and search engine optimization. Each company needs to determine where their organization is lacking and focus on improving those areas. A business intelligence consultant will be of great help for those struggling in this area and can be a valuable resource for any company. Consider seeking outside help today for great results.