Corporate marketing is undergoing a sea of change in the way it operates, thanks in large part to the role data is now playing. Data is becoming progressively important and is crucial to be able to understand, process and then to extract value from that. Market Intelligence is the capturing of information relevant to a company’s markets. To be precise, it is the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information that is relevant to the market segments your company participates, or wishes to participate in.
In simple terms, market intelligence is information that is gathered for the purpose of making business decisions. It is largely synonymic with market research / business research, the systematic gathering, recording, analysis and interpretation of information about a company’s markets, competitors and customers.
Gathering the data is not enough as without rigorous analysis and insightful reporting, the data remains simply data, and it never becomes useful information. In order for Market Intelligence to be useful, different types of data (market share, competitor product cost data, and so forth) must be merged together into information which is relevant to key decision makers and the decisions they are making.
The ultimate test of the data and the analysis is whether it provides the authentic information in order to let the decision makers make decisions with confidence- and it will only be impactful if it is presented in a concise and well-articulated report or presentation.
It is also very important to understand what Market Intelligence is not. It is not an astrologer. Market Intelligence / Competitive Intelligence definitely improves predictability, but there are several variables in the market place that affects the accuracy of Market intelligence to provide a sneak peek about the future actions of competitors or customers or markets. It is also important to understand that the Market Intelligence agency is not the decision making team, instead, they provide syndicated research reports, custom reserach, competitive intelligence and insights and advisory services, enabling their clients to make strategic business decisions.
One of the vital functions of a good Market Intelligence organization is the ability to monitor the firm’s progress versus the market after decisions are made in order to determine if mid-course corrections are needed. syndicated r
So how exactly does Market Intelligence help?
Market intelligence can be utilized as assistance for every decision faced by a company. The purpose of market intelligence is to help the company with many purposes – to increase revenue, profit, or market share. There is more information readily available to businesses than ever before. However, information can really help a business take a supreme decision and can require the services of an outsourced intelligence provider.
When entering a new market or expanding an existing market presence, Market entry and market expansion studies provide valuable intelligence. Intelligence can be gathered by having interactive sessions with buyers, intermediaries, competitors and industry experts
Acquisition studies form part of the due diligence of an acquisition target, with majority of the information being extracted through interviews with acquisition targets, their customers, their competitors, their suppliers, and industry experts.
When the sponsor already has a market presence and is seeking to create a differentiation for itself, other types of market intelligence like needs assessment, customer satisfaction, corporate positioning and segmentation studies becomes important.
When there is a query like which markets to enter? The decisions largely depend on the high level findings of market size, growth and also the barriers of entry. The distributor profiles and transport channels needs to be analyzed in order to understand how to enter the market.
So, to conclude, Market intelligence is a gateway to a well-structured business strategy. If derived properly, one can have a better control and foolproof delivery and execution of its strategies to grab the imagined vision.
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