5 Steps to Competitive Intelligence Success

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5 Steps to Online Marketing Success Using Competitive IntelligenceA beginner’s guide to competitive intelligence

Presented by: Lindsey Mark

Client Relations compete.com

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Agenda•What is competitive intelligence?

•Introduction to Compete and Compete’s Data

•5 Steps to Online Marketing Success Using Competitive Intelligence

•Overview

•Brief Q&A

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The action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the external business environment needed to support executives and managers in making strategic decisions for an organization.

What’s Competitive Intelligence?

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EACH MONTH COMPETE’S ONLINE CONSUMER PANEL MEASURES 2 MILLION US ONLINE CONSUMERS

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Compete versus Local AnalyticsWhy the numbers aren’t exactly the same…

• Compete tracks actual users’ online behaviors.

• Local Analytics tracks individual pages of a website using a javascript tag.

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Competitive Opportunities, there

are...

Use local analytics & competitive intelligence,we will. Local analytics is a great way to understand your own website.

However,

Some questions can only be answered through competitive intelligence tools.

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STEP 1: IDENTIFY THE COMPETITIONUnderstanding the Competitive Landscape

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Benchmark

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Brainstorm

• List Competitors

• large & small

• direct & indirect

Identify Industry Leaders

• Who had success in site engagement & popularity

Look for the “Why”

• New product offerings

• Higher engagement

Identify competitors in your industry.

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Industry Timeline

Include

• Product Releases

• Industry News

• Events

Correlate

• Which events may have caused shifts in site performance

Identify

• Industry Trends

• Seasonality

• Stellar Performance

Identify industry events that may affect site traffic

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Metrics, what are they good for?

Popularity = Unique Visitors

Loyalty = Visits

Engagement = Average Stay

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Investigate

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• Analyze Domain & Subdomain Activity

• Search Activity

• Traffic Referrals

Identify the root of your competition's stellar performance using competitive intelligence tools.

Trend Analysis Deep-Dive For Top Performers

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STEP 2: SYNTHESIZE THE DATAAnalyze reports and identify areas of opportunity

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Gathering information is only the first step of the process.

Reporting vs. AnalysisWhat’s the difference? Synthesizing

information and applying insights to

your overall business objectives.

Reporting Analysis

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Search Strategy

Search Marketing

• Who also competes for these keywords?

• What is my position in the market?

• Who am I targeting?

Search Engine Optimization

• What kinds of content/keywords will attract the visitors I’m looking for?

• What keywords would I like to rank higher for?

Questions to Ask Before You Begin.

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Critical ThinkingIs paid search more or less important to Zappos.com this year versus 2010?

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Inbound & Outbound Traffic

Uncover where your competition

is getting traffic & where that traffic

leaves after visiting.

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Critical ThinkingIn the past month, the shopping category was Zappos’ 2nd largest referrer. In which segment can we see cross-shopping behavoirs?

Hint: the answer is highlighted

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Hypothesize

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Jump to conclusions about opportunities in…

• Search

• SEO

• SEM

• Traffic Data

• Partnerships

• Service Initiatives

• Product Offerings

• Retargeting

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STEP 3: TAKE ACTION Analysis & Implementation, an iterative process

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David M. Ogilvy

Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.

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Actionable Metrics

Hypothesize

Persuade

ImplementAnalyze

Tweak

Implementing competitive intelligence is iterative.

Creating buy-in is imperative.

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It’s important to remain objective.

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Things are not always as

they seem.

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Understanding Search Referrals

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Dig yourself out of a keyword rut.

Take advantage of search work

tested & implemented by

your competitors.

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Identify Opportunities in Search

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Hypothesize why your competition had stellar performance?

Ask yourself if this tactic is repeatable?

What would your company or brand do differently?

Strategy transparency in the search spend

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Copying is a form of flattery

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Use your successful competitors as a model for your own success.

Remain true to your core values.

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Relationship Building

Which websites are key to your competition's traffic acquisition strategy?

• Affiliates

• Advertisers

• Publishers

• Influencers

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Prospecting

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Find the right partners, publishers & clients using thorough qualification tactics.

Spend more time perusing and less

time qualifying.

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STEP 4: FIX YOUR LEAKY BUCKETIdentify lost opportunities through referral traffic reporting

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Create Conversion FunnelsWhat does our current funnel look like?

What does your future conversion funnel to look like?

Purchase

Checkout

Shoppers

Visitors

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Identify Where Customers Drop-Off

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Identify marketing opportunities in competitor's destinations.

Be aware of shifts in destination share.

Hypothesize why visitors leave to the

listed destination sites.

Using outbound traffic reports

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Critical ThinkingWhere can you find retargeting opportunities in this example report for Nordstrom.com?

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Creatively engage your current customer base.

Woo loyal customers with special offers

and referral bonuses.

Encourage your best customers to become

brand advocates.

Retarget and Incentivize

Nurture customers & ask for referrals

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STEP 5: STAY HUNGRY & INFORMEDDrive for knowledge, leverage tools, push your company forward

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Keep Tabs

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Frequent checkups help ensure your website stays healthy.

Monitor your benchmarks and KPI’s

regularly.

Integrate competitive intelligence data into

your marketing practice.

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Tune In

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Set-up Google Alerts

• Competition’s name

• Industry terms

• Techniques

Continuously Update

• Make the search results specific & pertinent

Review Daily or Weekly

• Alerts have no value if not reviewed

• Put the feed in your mail client or RSS reader

Automate Alerts to keep up with your industry.

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Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Like any online marketing strategy, there is no simple fix.

Arm yourself with the tools needed to succeed.

Commit to integrating competitive intelligence into your existing digital

marketing practice.

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Marketing without Competitive Intelligence is like hitting a target blindfolded

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Today we learned…

Identify the Competition

Synthesize the Data

Taking Action is an iterative process

Fix your Leaky Bucket

Stay Hungry & Informed

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Resources

Compete Resources

• Compete PROhttp://compete.com/

• Site Performance and Comparisons

• Demographic Information

• Search Tools• Keyword, Domain,

Comparisons & Industry Categories

• Referral Analytics Tools• Inbound & Outbound

Traffic Reporting

• Compete Bloghttp://blog.compete.com/

• Articles by topic and industry

• Ranked in the top of the AdAge Power 150

Google Alerts

• Google Alerts http://google.com/alerts/

• Industry terms• Domains• Competitors• Thought Leaders• Colleagues• Your Name

• Alert Search Tipshttp://bit.ly/qbmiMf

• Phrase search (“”)• Site search (site:)• Fill in the blanks (*)• Using the OR operator

Trends & Keywords

• Google Trendshttp://google.com/trends/

• Research websites via domain

• Research keywords• Understand trending

topics

• Google Keywordhttp://bit.ly/peCbqU

• Research keyword suggestions via domain/topic

• Filter by locality• Filter by device

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Thank you!

Presented by: Lindsey Mark

Client Relations compete.com

Linkedin.com/in/lmark

Twitter.com/linji