How do you obtain competitive intelligence on a competitor's product that has very little public-facing marketing around it?

We typically begin by looking at their financial information, social media channels, and forums like Reddit to get a sense of what their customers are saying. We sometimes call competitors directly, acting as a customer. We can also get some great insights from our own customers about why they left a competitor. Partners who know the ecosystem are also vital in providing additional benchmarks and insight into where the needs, gaps, and opportunities are. There are a variety of third-party servic ...Read More

I had one gut reaction when I read this question. "Why isn't there much public-facing marketing around it?" A few thoughts come to mind: 1. They discontinued the product (try checking publicly-facing knowledge centers, if they have any, to confirm) 2. They rebranded the product (this happens all the time) 3. The product was in beta, got a bad response from users, then went back into stealth 4. They're bad at marketing (in which case, you probably don't need to be too worried about this competito ...Read More

Be resourceful! Even when there's little public-facing marketing, there's always a ton of other public resources that you can look to. Here are a few: 1 - Audit their social media, press coverage, and press releases -- Companies like to talk about their products and the success they are having in market. This is a great resource for intel. Another great resource is LinkedIn. You'd be amazed about how much information you can glean by looking at the background of people who work for your competit ...Read More

I'll start with the assumption that this isn't a product you can personally go out and procure on your own. Hands-on is always great.  Review sites are good, and can often generate a list of targets to call for more qualitative research. My biggest piece of advice here is to always do compete research above board. Don't hide who you are or who you work for. Tell them you want to learn more, and be open about your goals. Honesty is truly the best policy.  The other thing that can work (though it ...Read More

This is a tricky one and there are definitely some more above and also below board answers. I've known people who have made up fake identities in order to get demos from competitors. If you're not a great actor, here are some other approaches: Ask your customers. You may have a customer you won over from that competitor. Maybe you have a customer who considered your competitor and remembers their pitch. Ask your partners. Your partners often have a pretty good idea of how your shared customers f ...Read More

The first source I would go for is your own customers. If you have a CAB (customer advisory board), that's a perfect forum for finding competitor intel. It is likely that your direct competitors are all still marketing to your own customers in hopes of winning them from you. Your customers could share which vendors they are hearing more from, and which ones have been quiet lately. Your customers can also share if they have seen competitor demos and what they liked or disliked about what the comp ...Read More

I'm all about being resourceful and creative. If you can call and ask directly do it. If you are at a tradeshow, stop by the booth and ask.1. Network within the Industry: Reach out to industry contacts, attend conferences, or participate in industry-specific forums and communities. Just asking around can net a ton of intell. 2. Leverage Online Sources: Explore alternative online sources beyond the competitor's official marketing channels. Look for industry publications, blogs, or forums where di ...Read More

That's definitely a challenge! There are a few things you could try to gain more insights: Utilize your sales team to ask about a competitor in discussions with prospects and customers.  Hire a third party to do win/loss interviews with prospects/customers. They may be able to get more information that a salesperson might not be able to obtain.  Hire a secret shopper. I realize this can be controversial, but there are firms out there that will do this for you. It can be a great way to uncover in ...Read More

I love this question as it puts competitiveness into context. If you can't find anything about a 'competitor' how is a prospect going to know anything about them? No information on review sites. No analyst overview. No social proof or testimonial. No website. No LI profile. No ads in support of key words. No financials. No incorporation records. No participation at industry events. How will a buyer buy from an entity that is hard to find. Answer: they were contacted by the competitor. An outboun ...Read More

I would say it's time to get scrappy! Calling them (or even having a consultant do so) can be tricky because most companies that are secretive or demo-shy screen for this. But it's amazing what you can find online. Look at YouTube, often there are past speaking gigs or presentations that can give you more information. Check out upcoming conferences in the industry - is anyone from their company speaking there? Follow their social media - often you can get product screenshots from that or blogs t ...Read More

Although @Mary (Shirley) Sheehan and @Mark Officer already posted great answers, I would like to add two other great sources. 1 ) A source of data is reading what their employeers are posting on LinkedIn (through posts, summary or job descriptions).From those descriptions, you can learn:- Projects: which projects are they prioritizing? What could be rationale behind it? - KPIs: which metrics are they reporting (or bragging about)? Usually, those are the metrics the leadership is pushing their em ...Read More

Capterra is another good review site.   Along with YouTube, check out SlideShare for the same reason, often times there are presentations from conferences etc. that have been posted.  And speakingof conferences, often time the presentations from a conference can be downloaded by attendees, so check out where they were conference sponsors or speakers. If you have LinkedIn Premium, you can view the employee count, employee distribution and new hiring breakout to give you an idea of how fast they a ...Read More

OOOOhhhh I love that question.  There are always tracks you just need to start looking for them. I call this operation Ghost Recon.   Play a Secret Shopper - all of us have some sort of email account for checking messaging levels. Opt-in to the product and check its positioning and messaging.   Online Fishing holes - While G2, Capterra and TrustPilot usually hold at least few reviews those might be gamified or there are just not that many. Better source? Reddit and private forums or channels lik ...Read More

The team here has covered the obvious sources well. Grant's field motion and Desiree's partner angle are both right. But the most reliable source I've found isn't in any of those answers. It's your own customer success team. At UiPath, when we're tracking a competitor who markets quietly, the richest intelligence doesn't come from their website. It comes from QBRs. From renewal conversations. From moments when a customer says "we're also evaluating X" or "our parent company standardized on Y." C ...Read More