The 5 W’s of Competitive Intelligence

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Admin

Who:

Who are your Competitors? – discovering who your competitors are (as if you didn’t already know) is very important to ensure that you are offering the best product in your industry. Being able to identify your competitors can help you to find out more about what they are doing better or worse than your brand, and also can help you to listen to what their customers are saying about them.

Who are the Customers of Your Competition? – again this is important so that you can listen to their conversation about your competitor’s brand and see what they do/do not like about that company, and rework your product/service accordingly.

What:

What are the Customers of Your Competition Unhappy About? – are you repeating the same mistake that your competitor is doing? Well by monitoring what your competitor’s clients are complaining about can help your brand to not mimic whatever made these consumers unhappy. You can also take that one step further by advertising the anti-“whatever they didn’t like about competitor’s product/service.” For example if they are complaining about the slow and poor customer service, advertise your GREAT customer service and provide incentives to these people to switch over to your brand.

What Has Your Competition Been Successful With and What Have They Failed At? – as illustrated above, the opposite can also occur. Your competitor is has just created a great product that is very user-friendly and reliable. Your consumers have been complaining about the complicity of your product, and for that reason, your clients are switching over. In monitoring what your competition is doing well, you can do your best to replicate (in a lawful manner), and perhaps even surpass the user-experience of your product/service.

When:

When Did Your Competition Start Gaining/Losing Followers/Customers? (spotting trends) – this is a very important aspect of competitive intelligence to consider especially because in looking at time periods, you can then track it back to an event or experience that could have caused the gain or loss. For example, your competition started losing customers/followers around the same time that its well-respected and mature CEO retired—people may have lost faith and trust in the company enough so that they felt they didn’t want to give them the business anymore (this is your chance to swoop in, and ensure them that your brand will take care of them in the way that your competitor’s brand used to).

When and How Often Does Your Competition Engage With Customers? – engaging is such an important aspect in gaining a loyal and faithful brand following. If your clients know that you value their input, and respond to their questions/concerns/comments quickly and effectively, they will be more apt to return again for further product purchases/services.

Where:

Where Does Your Competition Put Most of Their Marketing Efforts? (what media types) – knowing this information is helpful when gathering competitive intelligence because we can start to understand their business strategies and plans. If we know they are putting most of their marketing efforts into their website, then we know that perhaps they are lacking in the social media marketing area, and we can zero in and capitalize on this hole. It’s also good to know where the unsaturated areas of your market lie in the online marketplace, so that you can take advantage of the lack of usage in this area and be one of the first to set up stake with little to no competition.

Where Do Most Customers Share Their Opinions About Your Competition? (what media types) – this is a great place to camp out because obviously if the majority of the competition’s clients are gathering and sharing thoughts in one specific area, then you will get the most insight in that specific area. Gaining customer insight is crucial to the success of your company for your own brand and for your competitor’s brand because there is always room for improvement, and customers will tell you which areas are lacking.

Why:

Why Are Customers Choosing Your Competition Over Your Brand? (what do customers value) – again listening to what customers are looking for in a product or service will help you to mold into the company that your customers dream of. Look to see what your competitor’s customers like about their brand and cross-reference it to that of your own…do you have similar programs, or are they lacking in comparison to your competition?

Why is Your Competition Making Certain Business Decisions? – Predictive Analytics allow you to be better prepared for future changes in the competitive landscape .

How B2B Brands are Taking Advantage of Social Media

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Admin

5 Steps to Creating a Competitive Advantage for your Business

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Admin

Is Intelligence a form of Espionage?

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Admin

Intelligence professionals are often misrepresented as “corporate spies,” or untrustworthy/secretive professionals. What many don’t realize is that all Intelligence professionals are bound by a code of ethics, which was written by the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). The code mandates all Intelligence professionals to abide by all laws both domestic and international, be honest about their identity when gathering information, and to maintain the honest reputation of the Intelligence field. This is vastly different from espionage, which implies that something illegal or unethical is being performed.

Ethical Competitive Intelligence Practices

• Using social media monitoring tools to uncover public conversations about your company and its competitors. This is all legal and ethical as long conversations on the social web from private profiles are not tapped into.
• Contacting market research firms to gather public statistical data on your competition/industry.
• Setting email alerts letting you know of real-time changes to your competitor’s websites, press releases, and social media pages.
Unethical Competitive Intelligence Practices
• Pretending to be a job applicant for your competition and using the job interview to gain information about your competition’s agenda or upcoming projects.
• Setting up a rogue social media account representing your competition and either using it to try to damper their reputation, or trick their employees by interacting with them online and gathering information in that manner.
• Hacking into your competition’s social media accounts, website, or even their internal server in order to gain access to their private information. This not only breaks the code of ethics, but it is also illegal.

As a general rule of thumb, you should always refer questions to your company’s legal department if there is even the slightest doubt regarding the ethicality or legality of your work. Intelligence is like a game of chess; When you cheat you lose your credibility, but when you strategically and ethically plan your next move, you’ll end up ahead of your competition.

Viral Technologies is a credible and honest intelligence agency, and we can help you gain vast amounts of information available on the Web. Contact us today at 1-207-899-0346 or email info@viraltechnologies.com, for a free consultation with one of our Intelligence specialists and start to strategize your online business attack.

Winter X Games 2012 (Aspen)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Admin

Every winter, the most elite of the world’s winter action sports professionals travel to the X Games hoping to earn top honors in their respective events. Some of the annual events include skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, and this year they are set to begin tonight, January 26th in Aspen, Colorado.

So what does this have to do with intelligence and Viral Technologies? Some of our team is there now looking to meet prospective athletes and sponsors who may benefit from our services. From experience, we know that we can help these athletes to capitalize on their success by implementing a strong social media presence, helping them to connect with their fans using monitoring and engagement tools, and by learning more about their competition to ultimately break into competing markets.

One of our main goals in targeting this demographic is to help them create affiliate revenue streams allowing for passive income; we want to make the money for them, so they can focus on their training. We are so excited to be a part of this special event. Periodically throughout the week, we will be reporting from the games, keeping you posted on all of the events. Make sure you tweet us if you are in the area, and would like to chat about any of our services!

Do you need help engaging with your client-base, or monitoring your competition/brand? We can help with that. Give us a call today 1-855-718-4725 or email info@viraltechnologies.com, and we’ll set you up with a FREE consultation for any of our services.

Common Misconceptions about Social Media Consumers

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Admin

Over the past ten years or so, using social media to promote, interact and monitor one’s brand has become a best practice for businesses everywhere. Companies have been taking advantage of the many business opportunities that can be obtained through social media. While it is still a relatively new concept, the idea of providing information and updates about your brand directly to the consumer in real time, has opened up doors that many companies did not know existed.

A few of the most common misconceptions about the usage of social media for businesses:

Myth: The majority of consumers prefer to receive customer support by telephone
Fact: According to a recent study, 62% of consumers use social media to get customer support.

Myth: Businesses create profiles for their company solely to promote their brand.
Fact: While social media is a great place to promote your brand, your main goal should be becoming a thought leader in your industry and gaining the trust of your consumers.

Myth: Brands that target a more mature audience do not profit from social media.
Fact: According to a recent study, 57% of Social Media users are over the age of 35!

There hasn’t been a better time to join the social web, so don’t let your competition beat you to the punch. Take advantage of all that the social media has to offer and contact Viral Technologies for a FREE social media consultation and let us help your brand to speak to millions of potential clients around the world. Call us toll-free at 1-855-718-4725 or email info@viraltechnologies.com!

War Gaming in the Intelligence World

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Admin

War gaming isn’t just for decorated officers of the military anymore; this predictive strategy is helping businesses everywhere stay a step ahead of their competition and the demands of their consumers. The purpose of using the war gaming strategy is to identify the future needs of your customers and then cater to these needs in the shortest amount of time possible. This competitive intelligence strategy has been used effectively by militaries for hundreds of years since the days of Prussia. War gaming is about simulating a possible business scenario, then coming up with a better strategic solution than your competition.

Today’s markets are continuously changing. Listed below are some common changes in the consumer climate where this strategy would be most efficient and applicable:

Change in consumer values (green products, Gluten-free foods, etc.)
Change in technology (social networks, apps for phones, going paperless etc.)
Change in economy (50/50 deal sites, fuel rewards cards, buying in bulk etc.)

Today’s business leaders have to think about every possible outcome of these changes and adapt accordingly. Here’s an example:

You are a cell phone manufacturer and your competition’s customers are complaining about a camera malfunction in the social space. If you monitor this interaction using the war gaming competitive intelligence strategy, you could then predict that other consumers feel the same way, and start directing your business’ efforts toward resolving their camera phone malfunction. If your business can get the issue fixed before your competition has had a chance to address it, then there is a great probability that customers will begin switching to your company.

The Future in the business battlefield is intelligence. Never has there been a better time to develop a successful online strategy for your brand. Don’t let your business go to battle unarmed! Call Viral Technologies today to help your business win the war. 1-207-899-0346 or email info@viraltechnologies.com

Our Services: Intelligence

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Admin

Do you know how your company is perceived on the Web? We can uncover the conversations going on about your brand, employees, competitors and your products across the social web. Once these discussions have been found, you can then begin to engage in real time with any Web user.

What we’re listening for:

Your Employees/Applicants

Learn what your employees are saying about their experience working for your company. Once you understand your employee’s concerns, you can focus your attention on addressing these issues to encourage the most productive work environment possible. We can also pre-screen potential new-hires back to three years, to survey their online reputation.

Your Competitors’ Employees

We can gather public conversation going on across the web in order to discover what your competitor’s employees are saying about their management, working conditions, pay, and even the future of their company.

Sentiment about your brand

This is where we can help to engage in real time with your customers. People are talking about your brand right now and in order to properly meet the demands of your consumer, you need to know what they are thinking.

Sentiment about your competitor’s brand

Stay ahead of your competitors by listening and engaging with their displeased customers, and give them what your competitor has been neglecting to do.

Sentiment about your product

Hear honest feedback about your product from your consumers, and respond quickly to concerns or praise. Answering individual’s comments will increase customer faithfulness and help your company to find loyal brand ambassadors.

Become aware. Contact Viral Technologies today for a free intelligence consultation from one of our experts! (207-899-0346) or email info@viraltechnologies.com

We Can Help You Win $500,000 Too!

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Admin

So you’ve heard about what we do, let us now present to you a representation of what we at Viral Technologies like to call, “Our Corporate DNA.” From Dec. 1^st through Dec. 8^th, the team here at Viral Technologies worked very hard in assisting the charitable organization Let’s Get Ready (LGR), to place second in Chase’s first American Giving Awards, a Facebook contest which offered up to one million dollars in grant money.

On December 10^th the Chase American Giving Awards, hosted by the Emmy Award-Winning Bob Costas, was broadcasted on NBC. Out of the five finalists, LGR received the second highest amount of votes, on the Chase Community Giving Facebook page, and won $500,000 in grant money! I did the math—we are an agency full of talent—and with this amount of money, LGR can help 1,000 students get to college!

In one week’s time, we were able to help LGR grow their Twitter following 10.3%, as compared to their competition, whose next-highest Twitter growth was 2.9%. We more than doubled the amount of Facebook “likes” on their page, and increased their mentions across the social web by 80% (the winner of the contest, To Write Love On Her Arms, increased their mentions by 66%).

“We want to thank Viral Technologies for helping us to grow our presence in the social space, and for their persistence in expanding our awareness across the Web,” said Brian Dever, Development Director for LGR. “With their hard work and dedication, we have gotten a huge response from the public.”

This past week was a testament to how powerful social media can be, and our team’s ability to use it to grow and spread the awareness of great organizations like LGR.