Competitive intelligence is a broad term that is used in the business world to describe the gathering of data for the purpose of understanding the competition. Competitive intelligence is so much more than gathering information about your competition. In order to employ the principles of competitive intelligence, the first thing you need to do is understand your reasons for studying the activities of your competitors.

Defining your purpose is a great way to narrow down your information search efforts. This is especially important if you're planning on using the Internet to research your competition. Searching the Internet without a specific goal is a sure-fire way to get thousands of useless results pages.

Learning from the Best in the Business

Another key element in competitive intelligence is identifying the competition. In addition, it's also important to track the latest trends in your industry if you want to stay one step ahead of the competition. When you identify these key factors, you can gain insight into the market as a whole.

Many companies rely on clipping services to track down articles about the competition. Reading these articles often leads to insight and inspiration. You can also read things like press kits, white papers, annual reports, and transcripts of speeches. Some clipping services even provide links to news groups and message boards where consumers speak candidly about the competition. These information sources are invaluable tools for developing new products, responding to customer concerns, and developing new marketing efforts that ultimately help you to edge out the competition.