Millennium Marketing Research®

Tom Schori DBA Millennium Marketing Research®, 808 Ironwood, Normal IL 61761, 309-532-8466

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Competitive Analysis

Our approach to competitive analysis led us to also develop a terrorist model (that we published in The Journal of Homeland Security), to which this television clip alludes, that permits us to predict how and where terrorists are likely to strike. 

interview

Some time ago, we were invited by a prospective client to come to Detroit (at their expense) to discuss the possibility of our undertaking a Competitive Analysis for them. When we do undertake a Competitive Analysis, we systematically gather publicly available information about the company's competitors (and the company itself). Then, we work with knowledgeable company staff, in a decision analytic framework, to use the publicly available intelligence (and other company held intelligence) to predict what marketing initiatives their competitors are most like to undertake (as well as what would be the most likely initiatives for the company itself to undertake).

But, when we started the discussion about undertaking a Competitive Analysis with the prospective client in Detroit, it quickly became apparent that the prospective client wanted to know, in advance,  exactly what one of the main competitors was going to do about price, not what marketing initiative they were likely to undertake in the relatively near future. In other words, they thought we would provide covert intelligence (which we absolutely will not!), rather than simply drawing inferences, from publicly available information, as to what competitors were likely to do. Thank you, we said, but no thanks!

In one Competitive Analysis within an industry in which they were five major players, we spent about a week, in total, working directly with a group of insightful, knowledgeable employees of one of the industry's firms. For each of their competitors, we identified four or five marketing initiatives that we believed were likely to be implemented within the next 2-3 years. We were hesitant to include a few of the marketing initiatives within our predictions, since they seemed so unusual, but we included them nevertheless. You see, in all things, we report the truth, and just the truth. And the "unusual" predictions were part of the truth. For the company staff members participating in the Competitive Analysis effort, the very hardest part was looking at their own company, as outsiders might do.

When the day came to make the presentation, it took place in a lavish board room. Before starting the presentation, the company's president commented that he couldn't imagine how we would have any idea whatsoever what marketing initiatives their competitors were likely to implement over the next few years.

Those in the board room paid close attention to the presentation, and asked many questions about the predictions, especially to those which even the Competitive Analysis project team thought were very much out of the ordinary. However, within 2 years, 80% of the marketing initiatives which we had predicted had come about.

To get an edge on your competitors, you might want to consider having Millennium Marketing Research^® work with your staff in conducting a Competitive Analysis.