Mastering the Market: How To Harness Marketing Intelligence Software Right

How do you succeed in marketing? Follow your instinct and do something that no one has tried before. We get it – the idea of going rogue is too enticing. Blame it on the movies and the dramas that have always romanticized trusting your intuition, instinct and impulse to deliver successful, out-of-the-box marketing campaigns. While it’s good not to follow the herd, it’s also good to trust the numbers. Modern-day marketers are shifting their focus from their gut to data. The adage “trust your gut” is replaced with “trust your data” and the new ‘I’s that experts are comfortable relying upon Intelligence and Insights. In fact, in the times, marketing is becoming intelligent and the new trick up every new-age marketer’s sleeve is Marketing Intelligence. 

Just to give you a little context, Marketing Intelligence is the compass that helps you chart the most effective strategies for your business, from understanding your audience to outmaneuvering competitors. By harnessing the power of data and insights, marketing intelligence lets you amplify marketing strategies, boost customer engagement and propel business growth. 

So, how do you get this “Intel”? No points for guessing here – you leverage a comprehensive Marketing Intelligence Software. Marketing Intelligence Software provides a range of functionalities based on the requirements to support data-driven marketing strategies. They offer features such as data integration, data cleansing, advanced analytics and data visualization, allowing you to track key performance indicators, monitor campaign effectiveness, identify market opportunities and optimize resource allocation.

Cutting to the chase, in this article, we'll explore all facets that you can use Marketing Intelligence Software to up your #MarketingGame. 

What Are Different Applications of Marketing Intelligence Software? 

While there’s no exhaustive set of applications or uses of Marketing Intelligence Software, here are the most crucial facets you can harness the tool for. 

Customer Understanding

Knowing and understanding your customers has been the key to success for ages and is an imperative part of Marketing Intelligence. In fact, your customers want you to know them well. Salesforce reveals that 66% of customers expect companies to understand their requirements and expectations. Invariably, understanding your customer becomes the first application of any Marketing Intelligence Software. 

You can leverage the software to find answers to critical questions about your customers. What are the challenges your product/services solve for your customers? What are the challenges your customers face while using your products/services that can be solved in the future? Answers to these will help you understand your customers well. 

Marketing Intelligence Software allows you to create polls and surveys and invite customers to participate in events for review, which can help you understand who your customers are and their challenges. This helps you determine why the customers will choose you amid tough markets, which will help you do better than the competitors and perform better eventually. 

Trend Intelligence 

Let’s face it – there’s no marketing without market trends. Trends change the narrative of the stories and you need to stay up to date with trends to stay relevant among customers. That’s where you can use the second facet of Marketing Intelligence - Trend Intelligence. 

Trend Intelligence lets you identify, analyze and understand emerging patterns, shifts and developments in various industries, markets and consumer behavior. It involves staying informed about the latest trends and cultural shifts influencing consumer preferences, purchasing decisions and market dynamics. It also helps businesses anticipate changes in the market, spot new opportunities and adapt their strategies accordingly. 

Marketing Intelligence Software lets you monitor trends in technology, fashion, consumer behavior, social movements and other areas to stay ahead of the curve and proactively respond to evolving customer needs. It also enables you to innovate, differentiate yourself from competitors and remain relevant in a rapidly changing business landscape. 

Market Analysis

Market Analysis is a thorough investigation of a market within a specific industry - understanding the market dynamics, volume and value, potential customer segments and other important factors. Market Analysis helps you project success while introducing the products and services within the market. The benefits of market analysis are manifold, including identifying industry trends and opportunities, reducing the risks associated with launching new products, optimizing marketing efforts to reach new segments, monitoring business performance and making necessary pivots when required. With Marketing Intelligence Software, this analysis becomes more precise and actionable.

Competitor Analysis

Another key aspect that 90% of Fortune 500 companies leverage Marketing Intelligence Software for is competitor analysis. Competitor analysis helps you understand where competitors and the whole industry are heading with the products and technologies. It enables you to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses against the competitors.

While we’re sure all brands have been doing manual competitor analysis for a long time, it isn't easy to keep track of the advances in your competitors with sole human effort. That’s where Marketing Intelligence Software comes into the picture. It acts as an alert tracking system analyzing your competitors’ products and campaigns so that you do not miss any major updates. Additionally, it offers tools that streamline this analysis, ensuring you stay ahead of the competition.

Product Evaluation

A thorough evaluation of the organization’s products and services with a comparison to the existing products or services from the market. The aim of conducting a product evaluation is to increase the value you can offer to the customer as a company. Be it a product or a service, evaluating the different components in the operation process helps you determine the strengths and weaknesses of the product/service. 

Marketing Intelligence Software aids in this evaluation, ensuring your products or services are top-notch. It works as a multi-step evaluator, which includes a financial review to determine costs and potential hurdles, a competitive assessment to gauge market competition, an early risk assessment to identify potential threats, legal research to understand intellectual property considerations and a regulatory investigation to ensure compliance. 

Social Listening

Customers talk about the companies and they speak across the internet. Companies need to monitor and analyze online conversations and discussions on social media platforms, forums, blogs and other online channels. It involves tracking mentions, comments and discussions about a brand, product, industry or specific topics.

That’s where the social listening component of various Marketing Intelligence tools comes in handy. It lets you gain valuable insights into customer opinions, sentiments and preferences. It enables businesses to engage with customers in real time, address their concerns and seize opportunities to enhance their reputation and customer experience. Marketing Intelligence Software enhances this listening capability, ensuring you're always connected to your audience's sentiments.

Now that we know the different applications of Marketing Intelligence, let’s talk a bit about the road ahead. 

Marketing Intelligence in Today’s Digital World & Future Trends

In today's digital world, marketing intelligence plays a crucial role in helping businesses navigate the complex and dynamic landscape of digital marketing. Insights derived from this intelligence empower businesses to tailor their marketing strategies. 

In the times to come, as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning take center stage, they will enhance the capabilities of Marketing Intelligence, allowing for more accurate data analysis, predictive modeling and automation of marketing processes. Moreover, the focus on personalization and customer-centricity will remain major trends in Marketing Intelligence. Businesses will leverage data-driven insights to create personalized marketing campaigns, product recommendations and user experiences. 

To Sum Up

Overall, Marketing Intelligence Software comes with various facilities and technologies. It is a comprehensive combination of tools that helps you market right by leveraging the power of data. While we’ve covered some of the most prominent facets you should target using Marketing Intelligence Software, you can leverage it for the ones that suit your business needs. For some companies, marketing intelligence is all about a healthy mix of competitor analysis and customer understanding. For others, it could be centered around social listening. The call is yours! 

In case you’re looking for Marketing Intelligence Software for your business, here are the top 5 Marketing Intelligence Software we at TechDogs recommend.