What Are the Examples of Marketing Intelligence?

What Is marketing intelligence? Marketing intelligence refers to the process of collecting and analyzing data on industry trends and customer behavior, as well as monitoring customers and competitors. You can use internal and external sources of marketing intelligence, such as customer data from your CRM (internal source) or market research information (external source). Using SaaS marketing intelligence can help your SaaS marketing strategy become more effective, leading to transformational results. 

What Does Marketing Intelligence Include?

Marketing intelligence includes any and all data sets that are gathered and analyzed to help to make marketing or business decisions. It can include collecting data about your competitors, gathering information about similar products that are on the market, or even just examining the market itself. 

No matter what type of marketing intelligence you are gathering, it is important to collect and use the data ethically. In fact, the non-profit SCIP provides a code of ethics and best practices for companies to use while engaging in market intelligence activities. 

What are Marketing Intelligence Activities?

Activities that are encompassed in marketing intelligence include: 

• Collecting Data – Marketing intelligence data can be collected using surveys, questionnaires, polls, interviews, focus groups, field trials, or observation. You can use both internal and external sources for your marketing intelligence data sets, and in fact, it is good practice to incorporate both types of data for a more comprehensive analysis. 

• Analyzing And Presenting Data – Speaking of analysis, marketing intelligence activities include using analytical techniques like trend analysis, conjoint analysis, MaxDiff analysis, etc. to understand what the data means and how to apply it strategically. Advances in artificial intelligence have created software and techniques that harness the computing power to analyze marketing intelligence data accurately and efficiently. Creating reports and presentations to help marketers and business decision-makers are other marketing intelligence activities that often occur. 

• Making Decisions – Once the data is collected, analysis has been completed and presented, now comes the ultimate goal of marketing intelligence (and what sets apart marketing intelligence vs. marketing research): applying it strategically to business and marketing decisions for a competitive advantage. 

What Is an Example of Marketing Intelligence?

The two types of marketing intelligence are competitor intelligence and product intelligence. Let’s take a look at a marketing intelligence example for each of these categories. 

• Competitor Intelligence Example:

One example of competitor intelligence is how the Japanese automobile industry studied U.S. automobile manufacturers and found that they could produce more fuel-efficient cars, beating the U.S. manufacturers’ fuel efficiencies. Leveraging this advantage, Japanese automobile manufacturers were able to break into the U.S. market with high quality, fuel-efficient cars and beat out U.S. competitors. Competitor intelligence isn’t about sneakily figuring out what other companies are doing, rather it’s about uncovering publically-available data (like how fuel efficient a car is) and leveraging that information into strategic business decisions (like focusing on improving fuel efficiency in a market where fuel prices are rapidly rising). 

• Product Intelligence Example:

Product intelligence is about collecting information about competitors’ products and similar products on the market. For example, a company that creates cutting edge athletic shoes could gather important data by monitoring its competitors’ prices. A competitor putting their latest line of shoes on sale could mean that a new shoe model is being introduced, and then the athletic shoe company could launch their new shoe first, gaining a competitive advantage. 

How To Improve Quality of Marketing Intelligence

The best way to improve the quality of your marketing intelligence is to use the right marketing intelligence tools and techniques. Here at Statwax, we can help you get the most out of your data with cutting edge techniques like predictive modeling and customer data integration processes. Check out this case study where we helped a client use their existing data as an intelligence tool to more precisely guide ad efforts. You need the competitive advantage from marketing intelligence to stay relevant and innovative in today’s ever-changing market. 

Our data-driven approach helps you successfully scale customer growth and retention, producing the most successful, long-term results. Our results speak for us: in 2020, 100% of our clients hit their acquisition goals. If you’re looking for help with your marketing intelligence, we’re here to assist you. Let’s get started.