Competitive and Market Intelligence
Discover the true value and edge ...
When we embark on a new path or into a saturated market landscape, we want to carve out our own differentiation to stand out in the market. To discover our unique value that answers the million $ question:
Why do our customers choose us over the competition?
Here are some questions to consider:
Q1. CI - Competitive / Market Intelligence is different in each company. How do you define CI in your Product Marketing team?
As a product marketing influencer, I am in awe with the shifts and trends in the market. As competition picks up, it’s easy for us to get into the react and respond mode. I believe that new competition is healthy if it is guiding the market in the right direction. No company or product wants to be complacent and this keeps us relevant and on our toes at all times.
At the same time, we should not react to every wind change in the market. Having a clear vision on who we are and how we are perceived sets the stage for who is our competition and our true worthy rivals. CI for me is who do we look up to and who do we want to grow up to be in the market landscape. I value Market Intelligence more than competitive intel.
I struggle with the words Competition and battlecard - feels like we are in a war.. Weird to be honest, but I prefer peace and harmony. At times even at cross roads, when we move from one company to another when they are our friends and family.
Q2. What was the one thing you wish to change or guide the leadership team on how to think about CI & PMM value? Which stakeholders are key to our CI and PMM team’s success?
I love what Simon Sinek shared about the book: Infinite Game.
In an infinite game, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game; there is only ahead and behind. Many of the struggles that organizations face exist simply because their leaders were playing with a finite mindset in an infinite game.
The leaders who embrace an infinite mindset have the resilience to thrive in an ever-changing world, while their competitors fall by the wayside. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead us into the future.
5 principles for the infinite mindset:
exist to further a just cause
build trust in teams
find worthy rivals
display existential flexibility to make extreme strategic shifts
find the courage to lead with an infinite mindset
Often times, we think its our product/company vs competition or the do nothing state which is to stay with status quo. I wish leadership is more intentional about the competition and that the knowledge is available to understand why we chose a competitor. Most often it is driven by the win/loss deal/opportunity analysis. But have we asked if these are the right opportunities in the first place? We should not be reactive but focused on the CI path to success. We define success not the competition.
As PMM, we have a pulse on the market and the value we offer with the insights and analytics to focus on the top 5 industries and use cases to establish our value proposition. This means understanding why we win and why we lose. Both aspects are key to guide the conversation. And to be honest with ourselves if this is the path ahead for the product and the company to be who we want to be.
Stakeholders across product, sales and marketing are crucial to make the informed decisions and bring collective intelligence into the conversation with an infinite mindset to shape the future of the market category.
Q3. What untapped opportunities are we missing by getting sucked into limiting PMM potential with only battlecard creation and curation?
Sometimes, we can get very tactical and heads down to create battlecards with objection handling and FAQ assets. But at times, that will not move the needle. We need to explore paths to increase the collaboration for battlecards creation and curation with CI tools, so we can stay on top of the competition and have a pulse on the market trends.
Leveraging CI tools will give us the space and encourage team collaboration for knowledge sharing and validation in the field. This feedback loop will make our value stronger and relevant to the ICP and buyer persona.
Q4. Folks who are just getting started, what is your advice for CI? That you wished someone told you when you began this journey.
If you are supporting CI for over 5 direct competitors, then your team really needs to revisit why these are the 5 competitors. In a global organization, you may have regional and industry specific competition as well. Tap into your internal SMEs in the region to build the Competitive Intel and facilitate curation.
Often times, you may not the power to pause and think if you are in constant react and go mode. Take the time to ask Why and get a better handle on the requests from the sales team as it is never ending and can be quickly exhausting if we don’t have a good process to prioritize what is important at this moment in time.
Q5. What do we anticipate as the future for CI and Product Marketing? Any shifts or trends to pay attention to from your perspective.
I believe that more than CI, market intelligence will be more prevalent and shift the conversation on just competition - either direct or indirect to market trends and patterns. Even co-opetition is becoming more common as partners and other players in the market can be friendly to start and competition over time.
Join us on May 28th with amazing panelists at the PMM Talks | Bringing CI into your organisation.
