What is market Intelligence?
Market intelligence is the practice of collecting and analyzing commercial information to gain insight into customer needs. Market analysis can be used by manufacturers, resellers, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to help them achieve their goals.
Top 5 benefits of market intelligence s to your business:
1. Increase customer satisfaction:
One of the key benefits of market analysis is that it can be used to better understand your customers’ needs. This can be used to develop new products, improve existing services, and provide more effective customer service.
2. Enhance marketing campaigns:
Market intelligence can also help identify target markets for your product or services, which allows you to refine your marketing efforts. In addition, market analysis can help you to determine how successful your marketing campaign is and make adjustments as needed.
3. Improve operational strategies:
Operations strategies are closely tied to the information gathered from market analysis because it provides insight into where a business stands compared to competitors and other industry players. This can help a company identify areas of improvement, leading to more effective operational strategies.
4. Increase revenue:
Market analysis not only allows businesses to improve the products and services they offer but can also be used to make changes in price or investment targets to increase revenue. This includes understanding how your competitors are pricing their products, what level of investment is needed to stay competitive, and where to invest to maximize gains.
5. Improve procurement activities:
As procurement is all about maximizing value for money, market analysis allows businesses to use their resources best by increasing quality while reducing costs. This can be achieved by getting a clearer picture of product demand, future trends in the industry, and where and when resources should be allocated.
What tools are used to conduct market intelligence?
No doubt, you will need to use a range of tools when conducting market analysis. The most common tools are:
1) Market research reports
Market research reports are arguably the most important tool for market analysis because they enable a comprehensive overview of a particular industry or sector. You can then use this information to identify markets that are receptive to your products and services, pinpoint competitors’ strategies and tactics, establish pricing objectives, and determine areas where there is room for improvement.
2) Analysis software
Analysis software is essential for data analysis. You can use a software program to understand your findings and data better.
3) Internet research
Internet research provides businesses with unlimited information on their competitors, market conditions, and the industry. By conducting online searches for news articles, company reports/annual reports, magazines/journals on industry trends, or blogs related to the industry, you can get valuable information that can help with your market analysis.
4) Social media research tools
Social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube can provide businesses with up-to-date market analysis about their target markets. For instance, searching for key terms related to your company on social media websites can help you find out how customers feel about your products and services, what they want to change about your existing offerings and the challenges that may be hindering growth.
How to improve market analysis efforts?
There are numerous ways to achieve better market analysis. To start with, here are some ideas you can implement immediately:
1) Be transparent about your needs
To get the right information from suppliers, you must be clear about your business needs. This would allow them to recommend solutions that will meet those criteria as well as understand the challenges you are facing. The more open and honest you are during this process, the better their recommendations should be.
2) Conduct proper research
A market research report is beneficial for businesses to analyze the industry, their competitors, and the customers they are targeting.
3) Use social media tools
Social media tools allow businesses to gather information about industry trends, customer sentiments, general news, or any other topics related to the industry. For this method to be effective, it is essential that businesses check which networks or platforms their target customers use and focus on those.