Effective Competitor Monitoring

June 2008

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Introduction

•Why monitor your competitors?

•Types of competitors

•Sources of information to monitor

•Monitoring tools

•Deliverables from competitor monitoring

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Why Monitor Your Competitors?

A) It just makes good business sense

B) You can learn a lot from competitors

C) You can pick up ‘weak signals’ from competitors

D) Everyone is doing it except YOU

ANSWER: All of the above!!!

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Types of Competitors

Before initiating the monitoring process, consider the following four types of competitors:

1. Stealth Competitors Undetected to industry players until the firms offer new or improved

products and services to consumers Born out of acquisitions in the industry

2. The WOW! Factor – Competitors Born out of merger and acquisitions that tend to shock existing firms to a

point that strategists scramble to rethink their short-term and long-term plans

3. Surprise Collaborators Competitors that are created from an alliance that seems to be odd to most

industry analysts The driving force behind the alliance is to seek the advantages in joining

forces to become a major competitor in a profitable industry

4. Emerging Challengers Originates from the creation of new industries within an established sector

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Sources of Information To Monitor

Consider:

• Competitors’ website• Competitors’ blog• Local press (i.e., radio, television, newspaper)• National press (i.e., radio, television, newspaper)• Industry publications and analysis reports• Trademark databases• Patent databases• Discussion groups• RSS feeds• Blogsphere• Podcasts and Videocasts

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Monitoring Tools

To have an effective and efficient competitor monitoring process, consider utilizing the following applications:

• For all online published content, use alert applications such as Google Alert, Copernic Tracker or any monitoring tool that comes along with content aggregators

• For website changes, use monitoring tools such as: WebSite Watcher, Digimind Website Agent

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Deliverables From Competitor MonitoringMain Deliverables:

• Competitor profiles

• Industry profiles

• Marketing plan adjustments (i.e., product mix, pricing strategy)

• Strategic plan adjustments

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About Intelegia

Intelegia, a subsidiary of E&B DATA, is a company that strives to assist individuals in understanding the changes in the business environment through internet intelligence. Via training, consulting and publications, Intelegia aims to provide the best approaches and tools to obtain the best information and utilize decision-making frameworks.

For training solutions to improve your competitive intelligence researching and analysis skills, contact Isabelle Poirier at +1 (514) 276-1700 Ext. 104 .