Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of pages have been written about the boost that the need to adopt the measures of the "new normal" has given to the digital economy. Whether seen as a unique opportunity that allows economic activity to continue where it was destined to go anyway, or as a desirable consequence of an undesirable situation, the truth is that in just a few months we have seen advances that until now could only have been expected in the coming years, or even decades.
The correct term to describe this unprecedented momentum is "acceleration." In most cases, these are not technologies that were not previously available and have been discovered overnight, but rather options that were already within reach but were not part of "business plans" other than in the medium or long term. However, the experience of lockdowns, the persistence of atouchless economy and society, and the convenience and comfort of migrating the entire user experience to digital environments make this situation an unprecedented opportunity to push the boundaries further and further.
One of these increasingly broad limits is competitive intelligence, which relies precisely on tools that are a natural consequence of the changes in usage and consumption patterns introduced by a digital society. As with everything that accompanies this transformation process, technology alone would not be enough to understand the true scope of the phenomenon. Greater competitive intelligence is not about having better technology than others, but about knowing how to use it to find competitors' vulnerabilities.
Given the dizzying acceleration we are experiencing, we thought it would be a good idea to pause and take note of the main tools available to aid market research as one of the key points when analyzing positioning, channels, online behavior, and all kinds of dynamic market information in order to tackle competitive intelligence projects.
We turned to the specialized website G2. The decision to use this particular website was not random, as it is one of the leading aggregators of software reviews for all types of uses, perfectly in line with what defines the digital age: the knowledge of the crowds (not masses) as the best way to claim a differential value:crowdsourcing.
The undisputed leader in this field is the software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform SEMrush, whose main purpose is to generate "online visibility" by optimizing content marketing. In fact, its consolidated position is due to the consensus that it "enables companies to optimize their online presence across all key channels." And the data backs this up: five million marketing professionals and more than a thousand media outlets around the world rely on this solution, which incorporates more than 40 tools, data for more than 140 countries, integration with Google, and task management platforms. 828 reviews on G2 give it a not inconsiderable average rating of 4.5 out of 5. Among its reviews from companies with more than 1,000 employees, we find comprehensive lists of detailed advantages and emphatic expressions such as "it's the gold standard."
With a tenth more (4.6) but on the next rung because the score comes from a significantly lower number of reviews (128), we have the competitive and market intelligence software platform Crayon, which "enables companies to track, analyze, and act on the market movements of their competitors, customers, and partners." The software automatically captures and analyzes external messages and positioning, product and price changes, hiring plans, and marketing strategies, among other concepts, drawing knowledge from millions of sources. Among the reviews, also in environments with more than 1,000 employees, we can read that of an analyst who describes it as her "favorite" after having "researched dozens of tools."
The podium is rounded off by Klue, which receives an even higher score (4.7) but is also penalized by the relatively small number ofreviews (120 in this case). Based on Artificial Intelligence, this platform is designed to help product marketers and competitive intelligence teams "collect, select, and deliver useful information about the competition so that the sales department can win more business." A leader in providing dynamic information, its users in companies of the same caliber as the previous cases say things like "whenever people ask me where they should look or who they should talk to, Klue is the place to go," and highlight its integration with other leading software such as Salesforce and Slack.
Just one step away from this podium is SimilarWeb Pro, whose mission is to "empower" decision-makers so that their processes are informed by the greatest possible intelligence. It considers itself "the most reliable platform for measuring online behavior," used by "millions of people (...) to understand the digital world." It ranks fourth according to the G2 algorithm, despite having fewer reviews (67) and a lower average score (4.3) than its closest competitor. Among the reviews in large enterprise environments, we find statements that will sound like music to the ears of anyone involved in competitive intelligence: "it really helps us tell a story behind how we fit into our industry and how we are doing."
We close this top 5 with Brandwatch, a digital consumer intelligence suite used by "more than 2,000 of the world's most admired brands and agencies, including Unilever, Walmart, and Dell," according to corporate information. A company accustomed to making headlines for its mergers (Crimson Hexagon, 2018) and acquisitions (PeerIndex, 2013; BuzzSumo, 2017; Qrively, 2019), its 266 reviews give it an average score of 4.5. Among them, also for large companies, it is claimed that it "can uncover detailed information from social media data," and its "early warning" or real-time system is highlighted as a strong point.
If that seems like a small number, there are up to 40 more platforms in this compilation, 15 of which score above 4 out of 5. The pandemic may have made things very difficult for many people. But certainly not for those who are willing to work smart by taking advantage of the digital world. In other words, not only to compete, but to do so intelligently.
Original image: Photo by David Balev on Unsplash
Text APP/EKMB/BTCS
