What is competitive marketing intelligence?

Competitive marketing intelligence is " the systematic collection & analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors & developments in the marketing environment".

The main purpose of this intelligence is to improve strategic decision. They do that through understanding the consumer environment, assessing & tracking competitors activities, taking  best use of opportunities & warning the early threats. This intelligence collect their necessary information through Internet; researching on internet,monitoring competitors & benchmarking competitors products.

They also help marketers gain customers insights into how they think about their products or brands.
Many companies have trained team observers for that, they come close to the customers, researching on how they talk,use, observe companies products; some companies routinely monitor consumers omline chatter.
Companies have appointed chief listening officers for their company. Companies also appointed intelligence who actively monitor competitors activities. Companies do that for early gaining of warning of competitors moves & strategies, new product launches, changing markets & potential strengths & weaknesses of competitors .
Competitor intelligence collect information from internal sources like - executives ,engineers, scientists, purchasing agents & sales force; other sources like - suppliers, resellers, & key customers. This intelligence also monitor competitors wed sites visits & search on specific competitors names ,brands, events, trends & tracking consumers conversations about competing brands .

Now - a- days ,companies appointed intelligence for protecting their own information. But maintaing this is a ethical. issues .Companies take advantages of publicly available information.

Define the marketing information system & discuss its parts.

Marketing information system has five steps.They are-


1. Assessing information needs;

2. Internal databases;

3. Marketing intelligence;

4. Marketing research;

5. Analyzing & using information.

 Here, I'll discuss first two steps . First one is-
Assessing Marketing Information Needs:

Marketing information system gives the right direction to the company & its manager . However, it also provide necessary information to external factors like partners, suppliers, resellers or marketing service  agencies.
 For example ,any retail shop can gives key information to it's suppliers  about customer's buying patterns & store inventory they purchased within 24 hours.

A good marketing information helps marketers to bring out for customers what they really need & what is feasible to offer. Sometimes ,managers carelessness affect the company . But it is true that too much information & too little information both are equally harmful.
  If marketers have enough micro & macro environmental information then they can launched a better product. They can easily find out what customers opinion about their brand . Through this, they can better understand customers & make key marketing decisions. Regarding this,marketers take neccessary steps.

Finishing all this,they determine their cost of obtaining, analyzing,storing & delivering information. Then they quickly decide whether this information add value for them or not.


Second one is-
Internal databases:


Internal databases are " electronic collections of consumer & market information obtained from data sources within the company network".
Databases are come from many sources like marketing  department collect information about customer characteristics, buying pattern & ability to pay ; customers care centers keep records about customers satisfaction or service problems;  accounting department provides sales records, costs & cash flows; Operational factors are production, shipments & inventories; sales department report on reseller reactions & competitors activities.


Internal databases can be collected more easily & cheaply than other information  sources. But internal information is use for another purpose ,it may be incompleted or may be wrong for using marketing decisions. That's why keeping information ,companies need highly sophisticated equipment & techniques.

The BCG Growth Share Matrix ( The Boston Consulting Group Approach)

This approach is use for classifing all SBUs of a company. In this approach, vertical axis of the matrix shows market growth rate that provides a measure of market attractiveness; & horizontal axis shows market share that serves as a measure of company strength in the market.This matrix defines four types of SBUs.They are:

1. Stars: It has high market growth rate & high market share of products. They need to huge investments to cooperate their rapid growth. If it is not possible to invest enough ,they will slow down & turn into cash cows.

2. Cash cows: It has high market share but  low market growth of products.They need less investments to hold their market share. Cash cows produce a lot of cash,through this company pay its bills & support other SBUs that need investment.

3. Question marks:   It has low market share but high market growth of products. Its need a lot of cash to hold their present market share .It is hard for  manager about which question marks  should keep or which one should phased out.

4. Dogs: It has low market growth & low market share of products but it generate enough cash to maintain themselves . It Can be  said that    dogs don't  promise to be large sources of cash.



The BCG growth share matix has 10 circles. That represents 10 SBUs of a company like company has two stars, two cash cows, tree question marks & three dogs. Circles define per  doller sales of SBUs. 2+2+3+3 = 10 circles also say, the company is in fair shape but not in good shape.Company wants to invest more on question marks to turn them into stars; they carefully maintain stars otherwise they will turn into cash cows; income from cash cows help finance the question marks,stars & dogs. Any company needs to take a single decisive action between question marks or dogs. 

Company carefully take their decision about what role each will play in the future. Investing money, it depends on management decision, whether they will invest a single SBUs or more to build their share. But they invest enough to keep their present market share. It can harvest the SBUs or divest the SBUs by selling it or phasing out.

Day by day ,SBUs change their position in the matrix. Many units turn into question marks ; & many question marks turn into stars. If the market growth of cash cows falls, they turn into dogs the end of their life cycle or die off. Then company add new products & units; hoping that some are become stars & eventually cash cows help them to finance

Managing the Marketing Effort

Companies need to pay attention to the management .When a company goes to do that, they need to managing the four marketing management functions; analysis, planning, implementation & control.

Companies first developed a wide strategic plan then translates them into marketing ; also take other plan for each division ,products & brands. Through implementation , companies take the action & through control,companies measure  & evaluate the results of marketing activities; also take corrective action.Marketing analysis also helps providing necessary information.

Market Analysis:

Marketing analysis  begins with a complete analyze of overall company's situation. For this, marketer needs to analysis SWOT. Through this , company analysis  its strength, weakness,  opportunities,& threats. Here ,strength define all internal capabilities, resources & positive situational factors that a company have to serve the customers & achieve its objectives.
Weakness define all internal limitations & negatives situation that interrupt a company' s performance.
Opportunities are external favorable factors that helps the company to use its advantage. 
Threats are the unfavourable external factors that may create challenges to performance.

Companies analyze the marketing environment  to find out segments attractiveness  & identify threats. It also analyze strength & weakness  for determine which opportunities it can best pursue; also try to eliminate weakness & minimizing threats.
Market analysis provides necessary information to the management functions.



Marketing Planning:


Marketing planning is actually developed a strategic plans that helps to do each business unit what it wants. Also helps company to attain its objectives. Marketing plans consists of specific strategies for target markets ,positioning ,marketing mix & expenditure levels. Define how companies create value for target customers & capute value in return. Planners also plan how companies responds to the threats ,opportunities & critical issues.

Marketing Implementation:


 It is a implementation process where turning strategies & plans into actions to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.
It addresses the who ,where ,when & how ; whereas planning addeesses the what & why of marketing activities.

Marketing  Control:

After implementing the plan, sometimes companies needs to   take corrective actions.Then control hepls to do that through measuring & evacuating the results of marketing strategies & plans ; also helps to take corrective action to ensure ghat the objectives are achieved.

Control ensures that  the company achieves its goals making sales & profit

Describe the major trends & forces that are changing the marketing landscape in this age of relationships.

Everyday & everytime ,marketplace faces dramatic changes. According to Richard love of HP," The pace of change is so rapid that the ability to change has now become a competitive advantage". Marketers should adapt themself with this dramatic changes.
There are five  major trends & forces that are changing the marketing landscape & challenging marketing strategy. These five developments are:-

1. The Changing Economic Environment:

In the present time ,customers are so much tight about their purse strings & changes their buying attitudes & habits. Before making any purchasing decision,they rethink their spending priorities & cut back on their buying. Thats why marketers are emphasizing to create value proposition for customers. Marketer are mainly focusing on value for money ,practicality & durability in their product that offering in the marketplace.
Marketers always try to adjusting to the new economy. Now they cut  their costs & offers discounts; it can be important marketing tacties. Doing this they face challenges but the most challenging task is to balance the brand value proposition with the current time.

2. The Digital Age:

The rapid growth of technology has fundamentally changed the way we live.Its mean how we communicate, how we share information, how we learn,shop & access entertainment.
From this ,we can easily understand the impact on the ways companies create value to their customers. It is true that technology bring are a volutionary change in our life for better or worse.
To the modern technology, marketers can easily promote their product  ,tailored product according customer wants & tracking customer & add value for them.
 The most useful technology is the Internet. Through this ,marketer can communicate , advertise, build relationship with customers.
Now a days, online marketing is the fastest - growing form of marketing .

3. Rapid Globalization:


Marketers are always want to grow customer all over the world. Every large & small company faces global competition. So companies select their managers who can work for globally not locally for using opportunities & compete with competitors.

4+5 . Sustainable Marketing -( The call for more & social responsibility)

Companies have some responsibility to the society & society poeple. Company should maintained this & this is called sustainable marketing practises.
Every year companies  spend  particular percentage of profit for the wellfare of the society.  Companies do that because they know that every action can affect customer relationship. Customers obviously want environmental & social improvement.
Marketers also know that this activity will bring benefit in the future demand. Thats why they always ready to accept their responsibilities to the world because they view sustainable marketing as an opportunity to do well by doing well.

Pulling it all together,it can be said that in a single word that relationship; relationship is the major development  in marketing strategies. Marketers are not willing to leave any opportunities for building relationship with their  customers, their partners & the world around them.

Discuss customer relationship management & identify strategies for creating value for customers & capturing value from customers in return

Building customer relationship:

In the marketing process , building & managing profitable customer relationship is the fourth but most important step because first three steps are lead up through this step.
 obviously,  the most important concept of modern marketing is perhaps customer relationship management; in short CRM. Some marketers think that CRM is only related to consumers data management activity. But in reality ,CRM related to managing detailed information about their target customers & they always try to carefully managing the customer touchpoint  to maximize customer loyalty. Actually it is a process of building & maintaining profitable customer relationship. In this process ,they also deliver superior customer value & satisfaction. The main purpose of CRM is to acquiring ,keeping & growing customers.

Customer Value :


Customer value means to create superior satisfaction .It is the key concept for building  a profitable relationship. In business, it is said  that if you satisfied your target customers; if customers get enough satisfaction ,they will purchased again & again ; it seems that they are more likely to be loyal customers. Companies get a larger share of profit from them.
But another thing we should keep in your mind that attracting & maintaining customers is not a easy task. In the market ,customet face a different types of product & services there. From there ,they choose their product. But a customer only purchased from whom who offers the highest customer- perceived value, in short CPV.
CPV actually is " the customers evaluation of the difference between all the benefits & all costs of a marketing offer relative to those of competing offers".
The most important thing is that customer  mostly act on  perceived value.
Some consumers define value means a sensible product at affordable price; another may define value might mean paying more to get more.

Customer Satisfaction:

When buyers expectation is related to product perceived performance then it is called customer satisfaction. If the product performance is low ,customer may dissatisfied; if product performance is equal to customer expectation,customer is satisfied. But if the product performance exceeds the buyers expectation, customer  may highly satisfied & delighted.
Most  successful companies try to keep their customers satisfied. Because if they create higher level of customers satisfaction that may lead to greater level of customer satisfaction.

Customer relationship levels & tools:

At many levels, companies can build customer relationships depending on the nature of target market through advertising, public relation, web sites visits etc.

Companies & firms try satisfied their customers more than competitors by lowering the price & increasing their services   .

Identify the key elements of a customer driven marketing strategy & discuss the marketing management orientations that guide marketing strategy

The first & foremost task in marketing strategy is to understand customers & the marketplace. After completing this task, marketing managers prescribe a customer-driven marketing strategy.
Actually, marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets & building profitable relationships with them &  his aim is to find, attract, keep & grow target customers. He also tries to create, deliver & communicate superior customer value.
After designing a perfect marketing strategy, the marketing manager must answer two important questions. They are-
1. What customers will we serve ( what's our target market )?
2. How can we serve these customers best ( whats our value proposition)?

let me describe this:

Selecting customers to serve:

Every company must first decide whom it will serve; its mean who is their target market. For this reason, the company dividing the market into many segments & select the most profitable segment to enter.
It is true that marketing managers can't serve all customers in every way. When they go to do that, they always fail. That's why they select their customers so that they can serve them well & profitably.
for example, arong generally select higher class people for their product & treat them well & profitably.

Choosing a value proposition:

Obviously, every company must also decide how they will serve their targeted customers; it's mean how differently from competitors & try to create a position in the marketplace.
Actually, a brands value proposition is the set of benefits or values it promises to deliver to customers to satisfy their needs.

 Have a look some examples: BMW promises the ultimate driving machine whereas smart car suggests opening your mind to the car that challenges the status quo; Youtube provides a place for people to connect, inform & inspire others across the globe whereas facebook helps connect & share with people.

Marketing management orientations:

Marketing management orientations are also called core concept & philosophy in marketing strategy.
It also designs strategies that help to build profitable relationships with target consumers.
There are five concepts under this orientation. They're-

1. The Production Concept: Production concept is an idea that customers will favor their products that are available & highly affordable. Based on this idea, the company should focus on improving production & distribution efficiently. Actually, it is an old concept. It is only helpful for leading brands.

2. The Product concept:  Product concept holds that product that are most quality, high performance & high features contain, customers will favor these types of product. Based on this idea, the company devotes its energy to making continues product improvements.

In every marketing strategy, product quality & improvement are the most important parts. But another question may arise that only quality improvement can't ensure the goals. That's why, it also needs better manufacturing designs, packagings & pricings it attractively; placing in the convenient place; try to bring it to the attention of people who need it & try to convince buyers that it will be better for them.

3. The Selling concept: It is an idea in which customers will not buy enough of the firm's products unless the firm takes necessary selling actions & promotion efforts. Like insurance & blood donations are an unsought product. Buyers may not actually think of this product to buy that's why industries should take selling & promotion efforts. They only selling their product not to build a long run customer relationship. So, it is clear that this concept states that sell what the company makes rather than what the market wants.

4. The marketing concept: This concept holds that achieve organizational goals based on knowing consumers needs, wants & demands & delivered the desired satisfaction that consumers want & fulfill it better than competitors do. This concept mainly focused on building profitable customers relationship by delivering superior value.

5. The societal marketing concept:  This concept is mainly based on companies overall marketing decisions should consider customers needs, wants & demands; companies goals;, customers long-run interest & society's long-run interests.

Describing the above five core philosophy in marketing strategy, it can be said that the marketing concept is the best for any business organization and company.