Market intelligence is a term that is widely used, widely misunderstood, and often mistaken for a mysterious art requiring high-level detective work. Before providing advice on how market intelligence can potentially benefit your business, it is therefore essential that we begin this paper by agreeing on a definition.
It is defined by Wikipedia as follows:
“Market Intelligence is the information relevant to a company’s markets, gathered and analyzed specifically for the purpose of accurate and confident decision-making in determining market opportunity, market penetration strategy, and market development metrics.”
In simple terms, market intelligence is information that is gathered for the purpose of making business decisions. It is largely synonymous with market research, the systematic gathering, recording, analysis and interpretation of information about a company’s markets, competitors and customers. * Types of Intelligence Sources
Intelligence can be described as the summary of internal and external data and information, paired with expertise and experience in any given environment and brought into context with the own doing and goals.
Primarily though, market & competitive intelligence is based on sources providing the critical mass and substance to deal with as it comes to knowledge of any type. External Market & Competitive Intelligence Sources
External market & competitive intelligence sources can and should provide a rich and realistic view of the external environment any business is operating in. Market & competitive intelligence has become a major marketing discipline and industry supplying much needed insights into business figures and trends.
Desk Research for Intelligence Desk research might be the most common intelligence discipline regardless how advanced the organizations intelligence programs and systems are. Published information and data, pushed by partners, consultants and MI specialists