Data analysis and Big Data analytics

A primary source of marketing intelligence is from better analysis of internal data, building models and using machine learning techniques to uncover insights. Companies have large stores of information available from website behaviour, CRM and sales databases that can be mined for insights to identify customer segments, purchase drivers and sales opportunities. We use data science and statistical tools to investigating internal data and can combine this with in-person research (why...) and experiments (what if...).

External data - public source data gathering

Market intelligence from external data is normally gathered by looking at secondary information sources. Often this means sourcing and analysing published information to build a picture of a market and to try and answer some specific commercial questions such as what is the market potential, what are competitors future plans likely to be, what prices might customers be willing to pay, what's the best means of entering a market.

Central to successful desk research is the ability to track down sources of information and to provide a skilled analysis to read the data and identify not just the data, but the story behind the data, for instance the ability to interpret financial reports or understand web metrics. Analysts may use automated tools such as web-spiders or scrapers to set up alerts or monitors that can be delivered via a dashboard or into newsletters.

Competitor intelligence and competitor monitoring

A specific form of Market Intelligence is competitive intelligence. This is typically undertaken on an on-going basis, often on an automated or semi-automated basis, and involves the collection of news, materials and other information about competitors from a wide variety of open sources. Examples might include collecting price-check information, or details of promotional and advertising campaigns, or monitoring news channels for information about new products or new technologies (eg patents). Competitive intelligence can also use primary sources of data, such as feedback from sales teams, suppliers or distribution channels. In analysis, the aim is to paint a picture of competitor strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats.

For legal and ethical reasons, the competitor research we carry out relies on open public data and we will not carry out competitor research that misrepresents who we are, or is otherwise unethical.

Online opinions and sentiment and behaviour tracking

Social media monitoring is used to understand trending issues, to monitor customer sentiment and to provide an early warning system for issues affecting customers. Done well, it will also identify new opportunities and ideas - outliers and black swans - that also appear in social media feeds.

For help and advice on carrying out any market intelligence projects on-line or off-line contact info@dobney.com