Market Research Report Delivered And You Think, Yeah, But What Else?

by Octopus Intelligence Octopus Competitive Intelligence

Market Research Report Delivered And You Think, Yeah, But What Else?

You know when you get access to a major database platform and think it looks impressive. So much data at your fingertips. And it’s easy to search for stuff, and you have every revenue figure at your fingertips. Even some of them outside the global 500. But then you think, yeah, but? There’s got to be more to competitive analysis than old reports and lots of data. You buy the latest global report on your industry sector. 140 pages of great information. You sit down and read it. And you feel more informed. Market research report delivered, but again, you think, yeah, but?

Yeah, but what about my company?
How is this information going to affect me?
What are my competitors going to do?
How can I use this information to grow?

Then you realise that your competitors have also bought the report. So where’s the advantage in that? All your competitors have the same, primarily nice-to-know information. But nothing that will make a difference. And nothing that will increase your competitive edge.

So you choose an excellent competitive intelligence software to track your competitors. Super until you start using it and realise you have a lot of work to do.

Warning: You Are Suffering From Hindsight Overload!

Guess what? You will not be surprised that the missing piece of the equation is insight. Insight brought to you by competitive intelligence. Understand what your competitors and markets are doing today. Not last week or last year.

Ask yourself a question. Looking back 12 months, are you still doing as well or as poorly? Are you doing and saying the same things? No? So why do so many think their competitors will be doing the same things?

Competitive intelligence finds & critical analyses information to make sense of what’s happening & why. Predict what’s going to happen & give the options to control the outcome. The insight to create more certainty & competitive advantage.

Competitive intelligence must be on a solid foundations. A base layer of bespoke, specific questions you need answering. That’s the questions you need to know. Not the generic (often wrong) questions in published reports. Of course, you may strike lucky, and the report answers the questions you need. And the report was just written the week before. Competitive intelligence is important because it offers insight into how competitors conduct business. It reveals all the industry assumptions and questions them. Helping you understand your competition and its strategies. Making decisions and actions based on foresight and insight. Rather than just gut feelings or industry experience.

Stay Ahead

This information can help you adjust your own strategy to stay ahead of the competition. Also, it can assist you in identifying new opportunities in the market. By understanding what your competitors are doing, you can identify areas where you may be able to gain a competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence is essential for all businesses by protecting them from competitor threats. Insight from competitive intelligence tells you how your competitors plan to do business. Based on recent, evidence-based insight rather than outdated assumptions. And then there are the options you have for you to be able to decide to do something or, indeed, nothing about it.

Competitive intelligence is powerful to assist your mergers and acquisitions. And if done correctly, know about any M&A activity in your markets before they happen. You can see and then shift strategies to counter the changing realities.

However, it’s not market research. Competitive intelligence is the ability to out-think, outmanoeuvre and outperform adversaries. And by seeing the big picture and creating long-range forecasts and predictions. You will experience less strategic surprise and see the signals of a competitor about to make a particular move. Shining a light into potential blind spots. You may not see everything, but if you are not using competitive intelligence, then you are not looking. So you have no chance.

Competitive intelligence provides a unique source of unbiased news and analysis. Encourages a competitive culture in the organisation using increased competitor awareness. Above all, Competitive intelligence helps minimise uncertainty and increase competitive advantage.

Would an army go into battle with old technology and three-year-old military intelligence? Well, other than Russia, of course, but that’s a different and sombre story.

Like what’s happening in Ukraine at the moment. Poor insight and lack of foresight and intelligence resulted in Russia’s terrible performance. More importantly, the guys in the trenches suffer from their leaders’ lack of insight. I doubt a modern army will order the latest country report. Written 18 months ago, two weeks before going into battle. And it doesn’t matter how prestigious the logo on the front of the report is. If it’s historical, it’s still outdated and not as good as fresh insight. So why is it acceptable for a business to do this?

Without insight from competitive intelligence, you will lose more than you win. And you won’t know when you have lost and why you have lost.

Market Research Report Delivered And You Think, Yeah, But What Else?

In conclusion, there must be more to competitive analysis than old reports and lots of data. And the is and its insight from using competitive intelligence. A database can be a powerful and useful tool. Published reports can also be useful. But without competitive insight, you are not going to enhance your competitive advantage anytime soon. You may pass an exam, but the others in the room are sitting it as well, and the real test is in the next classroom. In a classroom, you may not know it even exists.

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We are Octopus, the competitive intelligence company providing bespoke competitive intelligence, competitive analysis, competitor analysis, marketing intelligence, competitive strategy advisory. Or put simply, we create insight you go and do something with it.

Feel free to get in touch with us today to discuss your situation.