Marketing Intelligence Systems (Marketing Intelligence SystemIs a set of procedures and sources of information used by managers to obtain day-to-day information about changes in the marketing environment.

The internal reporting system provides managers with results dataMarketing intelligence systems provide managers with data that happens instantly.Marketing executives collect marketing intelligence by reading books, newspapers, and commercial publications, talking to customers, suppliers, distributors, and other company executives, and by monitoring online social media.

Before the invention of the Internet, marketers sometimes had to be there to learn about competitors.

Describing how he learned about rival drilling activities, the oil and gas entrepreneur recalls: "We sent people to look at them with field telescopes half a mile from their rigs. Our competitors are unhappy but have no way. The people we sent to squat count the number of joint box drill pipes they saw. Each drill pipe structure has30Feet long, add up all the connectors and you can figure out how deep the wells they're drilling. "

Marketing intelligence must be collected legally and ethically.

Private intelligence companiesDiligenceThe use of illegal infiltration to obtain confidential documents from a Bermuda investment company for a Russian consortium.DiligenceThe co-founder, who is falsely known as a British intelligence officer, gained the trust of a member of the audit team and persuaded the member to disclose confidential documents to him. To this endDiligencePayment to KPMG170A fine of tens of thousands of dollars.

Companies can take the following8speciesways to improve the quantity and quality of marketing intelligence.

1、  Train and encourage sales staff to observe and keep up-to-date on-site.A company must "sell" to salespeopeoes the idea that salespeopeoes can play an important role in intelligence gathering.W.R.GraceThe company's marketers observed some customer useGraceWaterproof materials to make car soundproofing materials, repair boots and tents. This information was later7New products offer ideas that bring millions of dollars in sales to the company.

2、  Motivate distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries to provide important information.Middlemen tend to have a close relationship with customers and competitors, so they can provide some useful insights. Food producersConAgraCombining retailersSafeway、KrogerAnd Wal-Mart's data, as well as the results of its own qualitative studies, recognize that many mothers often buy time-saving meals and snacks when they start school. Their Four Seasons Moms campaign helps grocery stores adjust inventory to seasonal changes in family needs.

3、  Hire outside professionals to gather intelligence.Many companies hire professionals to gather marketing intelligence.SavOnThe convenience store is a business of the Oneida Indian tribe in the United States, which it employs52bit of a "mystery customer" in it13A month-long visit was conducted to rate store staff for customer reception, product quality, food freshness, bathroom cleanliness and inventory levels, and to reward winning stores.

4、  Internal and external networks.Companies can obtain information by purchasing competitors' products, attending open day tours and trade shows, reading reports published by competitors, attending shareholder meetings, talking to competitors' employees, collecting competitors' advertisements, consulting suppliers, and checking news reports about competitors.

5、  Establish a customer advisory group.Advisory panellists should include the company's largest, most honest, shrewd, or most representative customers. GlaxoSmithKline, for example, sponsors an online community dedicated to weight loss. Marketers claim to get far more information from the online community than from focus group interviews on topics from the packaging of weight-loss pills to the choice of in-store marketing locations.

6、  Leverage government data resources.The U.S. Census Bureau provides as much as311591917Details of population changes, demographics, regional migrations, and changes in family structure. Provide online reports for population survey servicesNielsen Charitas SiteReportsIt combines census statistics, consumer surveys, and basic surveys they do for clients such as Weather Channel, BMW and Sovereign Bank. That's itSiteReportsprovided more than50reports and charts to help companies effectively analyze markets, select market positioning, and target customers.

7、  Purchase information from external research firms and suppliers。 Well-known information providers includeACNelson (Nielsen)AC Neilsen） And.Information ResourcesCompanies collect product sales information and information disclosed by consumers in various media. They also collect data from consumer fixed sample groups. These companies clearly offer a range of products that monitor customer conversations through a variety of social, online, and in-house resources. Market research companyNPDConduct a kitchen retail survey every three years to determine what food materials U.S. households have, what appliances, cookware and cutlery they have, how they are evaluated, and where the recipes come from.

8、  Collect marketing intelligence online.Information disclosed in online customer review communities, forums, chat rooms, and blogs can spread customer experiences or reviews to other potential buyers and, of course, to marketers searching for information. Marketers can use the following five channels to gain online advantages and disadvantages of competitors' products.

-          Independent customer product and service evaluation forum。 The independent forum includes many well-known websites.Bizrate.com The site collects millions of consumer reviews of stores and products each year through two sources of information: one is13010,000 volunteers; the other is feedback from the store.

-          Feedback website for distributors and sales agents.Feedback sites provide positive and negative reviews of products or services, and some stores or distributors have set up their own sites. Amazon, for example, has set up its own website, which provides a platform for book buyers, readers, editors, and others to comment on its products, especially to evaluate books.

-          Customer Reviews and Expert Opinion Portfolio website.The portfolio site is focused on financial services and high-tech products that require expertise.ADNet.comProvide consultants and experts with an assessment of the ease of use, characteristics and stability of technology products.

-          Customer complaints website.The Customer Complaint Forum is designed primarily for dissatisfied customers.

-          Public blog.Tens of thousands of blogs and social networks include personal comments, reviews, reviews and recommendations on almost any topic, and the number of blogs and social networks is growing.

When marketing intelligence and decision-making process can be closely integrated, the function of competitive intelligence will be fully developed.Given the speed of the Internet, it is important to respond quickly to online information.

When Coca-Cola's monitoring software found outTwitterA complaint issued by a disgruntled consumer cannot be made in theMyCoke"The freely convertible tweets in the reward program were retweeted tens of thousands of times after Coca-Cola quickly bet on the consumer'sTwitterThe home page issues an apology and helps resolve the issue. The consumer who complained got the prize will be hisTwitterThe avatar was replaced with a picture of himself holding a Coke.