Competitive Intelligence Analysis, Essay Sample for Everyone

There are various tools available while carrying out competitive analysis. As usual, competitors act as a goldmine for a wide range of information that helps in strategizing and designing every aspect of the company as well as rapidly increase the website's traffic. Competitive enterprises use a detailed and well-tailored webpage to use the available marketing methods fully. Corporations use competitive intelligence analysis tools to generate information as well as identify the competitor (Yufeng, 2009). Professional use all the available tools to search for a competitor. There are many tools, but the best and the most appropriate include the SEM Rush, Stat, SpyFu, and Google, Google Maps, Industry Directories, Boozsumo, Search Metrics, Advanced Web Rankings and lastly meltwater (Leymann Roller and Schmidt, 2002). Any business with an online platform can employ the use of this tool. All these devices are encompassed in the field of search engine optimization which involves the process of acquiring traffic from fee editorial, organic and the natural result obtained by the use of search engines (Jones, 2008). The tools are better-termed ad technical and creative elements needed to improve rankings and traffic thus building up online awareness.

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Tools give a company a higher competitive edge as they rank high in the results obtained using search engines such as Google. The tools help browse through a competitors information including their product prices, the creation of an email list, value propositions, product photography and descriptions and many more (Zhonglu, 2012). After acquiring such information involving the competitors, the company goes ahead and use the tools to compound all the available data for analysis. These devices are at the disposal of any business. Some need some subscription fees to use them while others do not.

By using these tools, a company such as Apple realized that its toughest competitor was and still is Samsung. Samsung is always fast to respond to any business move made by Apple by studying their marketing techniques, product promotion methods, target markets and also target segments. Based on the findings made above, each of the above tools contributed to the identification of the competitor (Quoniam, 2013). Apple used the tools to learn which competitors ranked above it in Google. The analysis team applied the use of keywords and terminologies only related to the specific industry. Similarly, before Apple launched their integrated e-commerce store and pre-launching research, the first used the relevant words to search and observed the competitors they would face in the industry. Google makes it possible to carry out searches even on international companies by providing an extension designed for each country and region. Just like Google, most of the other tools give the same information.

Nevertheless, the SEM Rush tool has the edge over the others as it provides information for both the organic and paid competitors. The SEM Rush tool falls into the category of search keywords and the brand name. However, these devices limit the information accessible to the company through the provision of packages which dictate the free options available (Casanovas, 2014). The company also used Stat to carry out competitive intelligence analysis. The Stat tool allows the user to create a competitive landscape by using keywords that encompass the key competitors. Industry Directories provided a section of comprehensive directories featuring the company and the competitors as they all appear on the same page. A user can filter the results by using location keywords to narrow down on the exact competitor.

Digital Analysis Metrics

We can see continuity in the field of measuring digital campaign performance as compared to the past. Nowadays, digital tools and metrics exist and provide the required information needed for campaigns optimization. Currently, worldwide users have vast amounts of data at their disposal and thus need awareness and selectivity skills when filtering (Banker, 2004). People will only pay for the information that is intrinsically valuable to them. Metrics come into play as they help the company management decide on what works for them and what needs restructuring and development.

There are various mobile, social and video metrics that apply to the marketing campaigns conducted by Apple.inc. The first parameters employed in this analysis are social metrics. They revolve around the exposure of the company and its products. Additionally, they get measured by checking the interactivity and mentions over a specific duration. Social metrics include existing and new followers like for a particular campaign, retweets, bounces and subscribers and all other elements relevant elements related to the specific social media platform (Webster and Ksiazek, 2012). For example, Apple employs high-level campaigns which contribute to the generation of more than a million new followers. If few people are not sharing the information through Twitter, Facebook, and other online platforms and well as starting rapports and interactions, that means that the campaign has failed. It is essential to understand that the most important metric when it comes to social is the growth rate metric.

Every marketing channel has its specific and appropriate set of metrics for measuring the success of the campaigns, and the mobile channel is no different. Nevertheless, mobile apps are different from web interactions. Thus many marketers never know what to look for and where to look (Farris, 2008). Apple has an advantage over its competitors as it has been in the mobile and technology industries for an extended period. Resultantly, it understands the required metrics and how to apply them. Some metrics matter most in this field. The user metric involves knowing the average number of users for a specified period. It is clear that it is the active users who dictate the value created. Session length and in-app time metrics revolve around the time, and duration users spend actively in the tool. Other mobile parameters include the acquisition metric, the user retention metric and lastly the lifetime value metric. Here, Apple was able to determine the expected revenue from a retained user over the course of using the specific app. The success of the business video campaign to is measurable using video relate metrics (Winkler, 2005). These metrics source their information from key performance indicators. The indicators include checking the primary goal and purpose of the campaign video, selection of appropriate key performance indicators for the set goals, and application of the correct tools while measuring these signs.

References

Banker, R.D., Chang, H., Janakiraman, S.N. and Konstans, C., 2004. A balanced scorecard analysis of performance metrics. European journal of operational research, 154(2),pp.423-436.

Casanovas, P., 2014, November. Open Source Intelligence, Open Social Intelligence, and privacy by Design. In ECSI (pp. 174-185).

Farris, P.W., 2008. Marketing metrics. Pearson Education India.

Jones, K.B., 2008. Search engine optimization. Your visual blueprint for effective Internet marketing," Proc. of the Indianapolis.

Leymann, F., Roller, D. and Schmidt, M.T., 2002. Web services and business process management. IBM Systems Journal, 41(2), pp.198-211.

Quoniam, L. ed., 2013. Competitive Intelligence 2.0: Organization, Innovation, and Territory.John Wiley & Sons.

Webster, J.G., and Ksiazek, T.B., 2012. The dynamics of audience fragmentation: Public attention in an age of digital media. Journal of communication, 62(1), pp.39-56.

Winkler, S., 2005. Digital video quality: vision models and metrics. John Wiley & Sons.

Yufeng, Q.J.Z., 2009. Research on the Mechanism of Human Network in Enterprise Competitive Intelligence Activities. Document, Information & Knowledge, 3, p.014.

Zhonglu, Z., 2012. A Model of Competitive Intelligence Demand Based on the Theory of economics [J]. Information Studies: Theory & Application, 10, p.001.