A competitive intelligence program needs to be scalable enough to arm every employee with the correct intel and processes for their role.
We’re not talking only about C-level executives but also sales reps, marketers, and engineers that can benefit from these insights to better fight objections, reach new audiences, and optimize product launches.
The good news is that CI programs are now more affordable than ever—even for SMBs with small budgets—given how easy it is to find information online.
So without further ado, here are the most important steps that go into building an effective CI program:
1. Identify your direct competitors
You may think you don’t have any competitors. But if you’re solving a problem, chances are someone else has already thought about solving it.
In fact, Crayon’s 2022 survey has shown that companies of all sizes experience an 18% increase in competitors every year. The average number of new competitors is 29 in 2020.
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Knowing which competitors to keep tabs on is critical for the success of a CI program, but that’s not so obvious. Hence, we need to kick things off with some terminology:
Direct competitors act in the same market as yours and sell similar products. It’s usually a zero-sum game: If customers don’t buy from you, they buy from them. Think Burger King vs. McDonald’s.
Indirect competitors act in the same market but sell different products that satisfy the same need. Think Burger King vs. KFC. They are both fast-food restaurants that curb hunger differently.
Replacement competitors don’t act in the same market, but they can replace your product to satisfy the same need. Think Burger King vs. Beyond Meat (vegan) burgers.
Now that competitor types are clear, gather a list of 5-10 direct competitors and five indirect competitors.
Replacement competitors shouldn’t be your concern unless there are various ways to solve the problem your product is trying to solve.
A reliable way to find your competition is to check if you’re targeting the same keywords. Here’s a quick method using Ahrefs (with Asana as the example):
Plug your website into Site Explorer.
Go to Organic search and choose Competing Domains
Check the Common keywords column
It looks like Asana has the most overlapping keywords with Monday