Choosing where you get your sources is a crucial part of competitive intelligence. While most of your competitive intelligence research can be done online, there’s also some merit in looking at other areas where you can gather more information. Some of these include:
Physical locations: If your competition has a brick-and-mortar establishment, taking a tour of their premises can be helpful for your data gathering. This is particularly useful if you’re researching events like activations or product launches.
Checking press releases: Larger companies will often publish press releases ahead of major events in their company, product launches, or anything else that they want their customers to know. Consulting these releases can give you ideas on the potential direction that your competitors may be moving toward.
Conferences and exhibitions: These events are some of the best opportunities you can have to gather data on both your competitors and your industry. Many of these events are forward-facing and showcase future trends, which can help you gauge your market’s potential and formulate your business strategy in response.
Job postings: Looking at the job postings of your competitors can also give you a clue about their potential plans or indicate incoming market shifts that they want to act on. This can be useful if you think your industry is growing or expanding in new directions since new talent will often be needed by your competitors to address any challenges.