How do you stay on top of competitors when it's a crowded market and things are changing every day?

Here are some ways I've tackled this with my teams: It is important to establish a cadence for your competitive research. How often is actually achievable based on your resources/bandwidth? Do you have a dedicated CI person on the team or is your team smaller where this is part of your overall scope? and how often is good enough? This will vary based on your internal structure and org needs. Do some passive research. Use Alerts and RSS feeds. Sign up for competitors’ marketing newsletters or blo ...Read More

This is going to sound like a product management (not marketing) answer, but if things are truly moving that quickly -- new competitors, new use cases, new feature requirements -- the best way to stay on top of competitors is listen to your customers first. Many times, companies are too focused on what the competition is doing and forget what's most important: solving your customers' problems as effectively as possible. We had this problem at Box early on. On the surface, the market we were in h ...Read More

Similar to an earlier question: (1) define and tier your competitors, (2) determine the competitive assets you need, (3) set your cadence, (4) invest in a Competitive Intelligence platform, and (5) block off an hour or so weekly to review competitive updates. For competitive intelligence to be fresh, relevant, actionable, and accessible you need the right tools. PMM has too much on their plate to stay on top of all the competitive moves. If competitive intelligence is important to winning deals, ...Read More

There's no silver bullet here because this really does involve setting aside time, especially when CI is not the only part of your job. You can set aside 1-2 hours once a week to do deep dives into your competitors website, PR/news, social media, etc.  There are a few automated ways to do this leveraging sophisticated tools like Klue and Crayon that will track your competitors every move (from news, PR, website changes, social media) and alert you to those changes. They can integrate with slack ...Read More

There are many ways to stay on top of competitive intel. If you have the budget and a clear use case, use a tool like Klue to help gather intel, and disperse it in your existing channels. Other ways I always used are the following: Use your frontline teams - open up communication channels with your sales and customer success teams. They can gather invaluable information every single day from direct conversations. Use gong - we live in unprecedented times of access to data and insights. Set alert ...Read More

Oftentimes the day-to-day of changes can be "noisy", so try to not get too caught-up in the everyday changes. If a competitor is having a major product launch, or doing a complete rebrand -- then absolutely spend time digging in and processing the news and how it impacts your company/position.  But overall, I'd carve out regular time weekly and monthly to digest the noise -- and ensure you earmark time in your calendar for any of those high-profile announcements. That way you don't get pulled in ...Read More

Depending on the outcomes desired (360* view of competition, product knowledge, pricing, positioning, etc.) there are a lot of different way to stay on top of a lot of different data points. In addition to using Google/ RSS Alerts: 1. Integrate as much intel into your current processes as possible- If your customers have to provide a cancellation notice, set a default checkbox to select if leaving to a competitor, and provide a text box to elaborate - Track migrations or transitions from another ...Read More

1. Automate as much of the research / data collection as possible. Honestly, this should be "outsourced" to technology because it can do a better job at a fraction of the cost (think of your time) and time (enabling real-time analysis and action). 2. Prioritize what you find. Not everything will be critical, so take a tiered approach - by groups of competitors (tier 1, tier 2, indirect competitors, emerging competitors) and by type of update (acquisition vs. new ebook). This will keep you sane a ...Read More

Something like Talkwalker Alerts is free like Google Alerts and much more flexible. If you are ready to get serious, something like Crayon from Ellie (above) or Kompyte can be helpful.  That said, I've found that in tech it's often a problem of too much information and a noise over signal problem. There is something inherent to tech that requires a lot of information sharing in order to run the business. The near constant self promotion often requires sharing roadmaps, updating documentation, co ...Read More

Google Alerts are a great way to keep up on content that your competitors are posting. I have a weekly digest email that's delivered to my inbox with my top 6-7 competitors.  If you have the resources, the big three analyst research firms are also a great way to stay on top of it. A big part of Forrester, IDC, and Gartner's offering is compettive intelligence. Just be aware, these engagements typically cost anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 per year.  Depending on your space, G2Crowd or Capterra ...Read More