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When it comes to the history of marketing intelligence, its ancestor commercial intelligence (at a time when the present notion of marketing did not yet exist) has deep roots, dating back to the early sixteenth century, when Florentine merchants conducted the first reconnaissance operations.
The goals and objectives of marketing intelligence can be simplified to labor that is always present in the company's activities for the acquisition of current marketing information. The marketing department and a number of other units in the company were involved in this type of work. The strategy in which such databases are merged into a single card file is the most optimal:
competition - all information about existing and potential competitors;
market - all the market information, tastes and demands of consumers, sales channels, etc.
Technology - production and use of the products;
Legislation - all information from the law that concerns the firm's business as well as information from the bodies that develop and pass new legal regulations;
resources - all the information about the material and technical resources needed for the normal operation of the firm;
general trends - political, economic, social, demographic and other;
Considering the problem of marketing intelligence, we should not forget that there is also marketing counterintelligence, aimed at protecting the information firm from competitors (methods of such protection of information are taught even in special college courses). An indispensable attribute of the counterintelligence activities of large corporations is the maintenance of the so-called "pirate dossiers", which record counterintelligence information related to the "borrowing" by competitors of the firm of technological, marketing and other "know-how" of the company, primarily - patented or protected by law. It is clear how important such information will be during disputes in arbitration courts, protection of own developments and in other situations.
In addition to "direct communication" there are other sources of information, as well as technologies for obtaining it:
details of the company, information on registration with the registration authorities, licenses;
company structure, co-owners, subsidiaries, branch network, management;
The financial statements of the companies, adapted for fundamental analysis;
Inanalyses and estimated ratios, including industry-specific ratios, information on audits;
scoring assessments, including credit risks and risk of insolvency of the company;
description of the company's operations and development plans;
Number of employees;
material events and announcements of corporate events;
information on securities issues, calendar of events on shares and bonds, quotations, information on the registrar;
database on bankruptcies and arbitration court decisions;
patents and trademarks;
media reports, public information;
Information about the company's liabilities;
information on participation in state tenders;
information about the company's domains.
However, one should be aware that official financial information does not always adequately reflect the true picture of the company, but as an object for analysis, especially in dynamics, is quite suitable.
Marketing intelligence tools (also known as marketing intelligence software) help businesses collect and summarize relevant information about companies and individuals in their market.
They can include:
firm information
financial and financing rounds
competitive information and analysis
geographic data.
Search engine and search marketing trends
Market intelligence platforms provide publicly available data from multiple sources and give organizations a database to browse. Third-party marketing intelligence platforms or internal data sources may include web analytics, business intelligence, SEO tools, contact center software and sales software. News agencies and press releases can also be a source of market intelligence. Data from these sources often comes in the form of separate reports that marketing intelligence software combines into a single environment. Most marketing intelligence tools have the ability to sync with CRM users and supplement existing contact and account records with new information.
For businesses using software for marketing intelligence purposes, the main goal is to gain a better understanding of the overall market picture and where they fit into it. For example, to understand how competitors differ, how search behavior has changed or evolved, and to see where growth potential lies.
Features of Market Intelligence Tools
Most marketing intelligence platforms act as aggregators of information and a database for companies to view, download and, sometimes, analyze the results of other intelligence.
The different types of information gathered through these tools include:
search intelligence
market trend research
contact and account information
competitor investigation data
product feedback and proprietary intelligence
customer experience analysis
Some market analysis tools will focus on one of the above areas, while others will provide information on several types of analytical data. For example, SEMrush is an organic search engine and marketing intelligence tool. Zoominfo, on the other hand, specializes in providing B2B business intelligence in the form of firm information, contact charts, geographic information and business news.
Comparing market intelligence tools
Before investing in a market intelligence tool or set of tools, let's pay attention to the following key points:
Purpose:
What are you trying to accomplish with the tool?
Are you looking to identify market trends and monitor search engine behavior, or are you looking for a database to help you populate your CRM contacts and possibly add new contact information?
Different tools specialize in different types of market information. Make sure you match the type of tool you're considering with your end goals for using the platform.
Data hygiene:
Think about how regularly you need to update and update the data in the platform. Especially for more traditional marketing intelligence platforms that provide contact and hard data, it's important to have clean and accurate data.
Traditional marketing intelligence software tools update their data more often than others. By comparison, SEO and SEM analytics tools often report real-time or slightly lagging search data.
Pricing Information.
Prices for market intelligence tools can vary depending on a number of factors. For example, traditional market intelligence tools tend to have a different price range than SEO and SEM analytics tools. Costs can also vary depending on the number of users, the number of features, and the amount of data included.
Most vendors offering market intelligence databases do not disclose pricing information on their site. Interested buyers can request pricing information directly from the vendor. SEO and SEM analytics tools typically cost around $100/month for a basic feature set and can go up to $500+/month for more advanced cofigures that allow for multiple users.
