The concept of competitive intelligence (CI) is vital for businesses as part of their business strategies because it aids them in understanding the competition it offers and its threats. Every company employs competitive intelligence, in one form or the other, to guide marketing strategies or product roadmaps. It also aids in the strategic making.
Nowadays, businesses worldwide invest in the latest competitive intelligence software and tools. Competitive intelligence is no longer an unrecognized concept for making corporate decisions but a vital business practice to help sustain and expand your business. That’s why we’ve made the top 5 competitive intelligence software for marketing teams on the market in 2023. Let’s get started.
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What is Competitive Intelligence Software?
Competitive intelligence (CI) is gathering and analyzing data about the industry and competitors to stay ahead of competitors. It is a crucial element of any strategy for business. Competitive intelligence gives you insights into the market’s dynamics, allowing you to identify emerging trends and future issues, analyze events and finally improve your position in the marketplace.
Ad-hoc and fragmented competitive intelligence processes are no longer enough. Imagine that the CI actions are efficient as they can be and last for a long time. If that’s the situation, you’ll require a tool to analyze your competitive situation that can collect vital details about your competition using an automated method. That’s why we’ve made the top 5 competitive intelligence software for marketing teams on the market in 2023. Let’s have a look.
How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Increase your Business
Competitive intelligence solves two primary business needs: to make more informed decisions and to make decisions quickly. CI includes research on competition’s activities, trends in the industry, the overall market conditions, and customer attitudes.
This information enables companies to make decisions in the market using an enlightened strategy. Competitive intelligence allows companies to:
- Get helpful information to develop their business strategies effectively.
- Determine the actual competition. You might think you’re aware of who your rival is. However, there’s always the chance of missing the most significant competitor.
- Review the performance of your competition and find out what’s helping them achieve success.
- The trick here isn’t to duplicate your competitors’ success but to be ahead in your job. Learn from their work and stay one step ahead.
Top 5 Competitive Intelligence Software for Marketing Teams
This guide will help you select the best software to meet your needs in the field of competitive intelligence.
You’ll be able to discover the ideal solution for your business here. We’ll also provide their most popular and frequently used features and the complete description below.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is the first item on the list. The most popular digital marketing strategies are SEO or Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Ahrefs is a leading competitor intelligence tool that assists businesses in improving their SEO campaigns and making it easier for them to stand out from competitors in search results.
One of the most extensive databases of live links, Ahrefs is famous for its well-known backlink authority checker that lets you know who is linking to you as well as the competitors’ content. With the feature of checking backlinks, you can determine the websites that link to your competition’s websites and assess how they rank in their respective backlink profile.
Additionally, you can discover if your rivals spend money on paid search results and which keywords they’re bidding for.
- Deployment – Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based.
- Top Features – API, Alerts / Escalation, Alerts/Notifications, Audit Management, Backlink Monitoring, Competitive Analysis, Dashboard, Data Import/Export, Data Visualization, Keyword Analysis, Keyword Discovery, Keyword Rank Tracking, Keyword Research, Tools Keyword Tracking.
- Free Version Available
- Prize – $99.00 /month.
- Best for – API, Alerts/Notifications, Competitive Analysis, Data Import/Export, Performance Metrics, Reporting/Analytics SEO Management.
- Support – Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, Chat.
- Overall Rating – 5/5 Stars
Semrush Traffic Analytics
The second that comes on the list is Semrush. Semrush Competitive Intelligence allows you to examine your competition’s marketing techniques and methods from every angle, from web traffic to PR, content marketing strategies, social media presence, and PPC creatives.
While you’re at it, the business teams appreciate the opportunity to assess potential partners, look for new methods to increase the number of prospects, assist in the sales process before a sale, and quickly assess the potential of new markets while developing go-to-market strategies.
Semrush is a leading online visibility management software-as-a-service platform. It is seamless in its integration. It is the seamless integration of Google and tasks management platforms. Semrush is an essential tool for any business serious about online presence.
- Deployment – Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based.
- Top Features – API, Activity Dashboard, Activity Tracking, Ad hoc Reporting, Advertising Management, Alerts/Notifications, Application Management, Audit Management, Automated Publishing, Automated Scheduling, Backlink Management, Backlink Monitoring, Benchmarking, Brand Control, Brand Tracking, Broken Link Discovery.
- Free Trial & Version Available
- Prize – $119.95 /month.
- Best for – API, Activity Dashboard, Alerts/Notifications, Benchmarking, Campaign Analytics, Campaign Management, Competitive Analysis.
- Support – Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, Chat.
- Overall Rating – 4.8/5 Stars
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is third on the list. Social media can be a chaotic space to conduct business. Many brands depend on Hootsuite’s tools and know-how to manage the chaos. Create brilliant social campaigns, provide 5-star social shopping experiences and handle all customer conversations from one location.
With Hootsuite, it is possible to create posts confidently across many social platforms (including Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube) and manage paid and organic social content in one. It effortlessly tracks customer conversations, cuts through the barriers that hinder collaboration with your business, and gives you actionable, instant social media information to take crucial business decisions using a single dashboard.
Hootsuite is the most trusted social media management tool; Hootsuite can set you on the path to success with professional certifications in training, coaching, and training for social marketing, social listening, and customer service. Get your results to the next level and make the most of social faster using Hootsuite.
- Deployment – Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based.
- Platform – Android, iPhone, iPad.
- Top Features – AB Testing, API, Access Controls/Permissions, Activity Dashboard, Activity Tracking, Activity/News Feed, Advertising Management, Alerts / Escalation, Alerts/Notifications, Approval Process, Control Assignment Management, Audience Targeting, Automated Publishing, Automated Scheduling, Behavior Tracking, Benchmarking, Brand Tracking.
- Free Trial & Version Available
- Prize – $49.00/Per month.
- Best for – API, Activity Dashboard, Alerts/Notifications, Benchmarking, Campaign Analytics, Campaign Management, Competitive Analysis.
- Support – Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, 24/7 (Live Rep), Chat.
- Overall Rating – 4.7/5 Stars
Moz
Moz is data management and SEO software that assists businesses in increasing the number of visitors, rank, and visibility of their websites in search results. Essential features include ranking tracking, site audits, backlink analysis, and search keyword tools. The software lets users categorize, evaluate, prioritize keywords and phrases, and fine-tune content and marketing strategies. It also allows businesses to stand out from the crowd by offering user-friendly keyword suggestion tools from a sizeable online database updated with SERP information.
Moz assists businesses with fixing technical SEO issues that hinder website visibility, traffic, and ranking quality. It also permits them to monitor competitors’ movements in the SERP, which allows companies to identify competitive advantages and gain the top spots.
In addition, it performs regular weekly checks on the website, notifying administrators of any current problems to allow for quick resolutions.
- Deployment – Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based.
- Top Features – API, Access Controls/Permissions, Activity Dashboard, Alerts/Notifications, Audit Management, Backlink Monitoring, Broken Link Discovery, Campaign Management, Campaign Tracking, Categorization/Grouping, Competitive Analysis, Content Management, Conversion Tracking, Customer Journey, Mapping Customizable, Reports Dashboard.
- Free Trial & Version Available
- Prize – $99/ Per month
- Best for – API, Activity Dashboard, Alerts/Notifications, Campaign Management, Competitive Analysis.
- Support – Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, 24/7 (Live Rep).
- Overall Rating – 4.7/5 Stars
Qualtrics CoreXM
Qualtrics CoreXM is an application for managing surveys created to assist businesses in collecting feedback from various platforms. It also provides insights into the brand recognition and preferences of consumers. The key features are customer segmentation, trend alerts, sentiment analysis, and predictive behavior analytics—real-time monitoring of response times and data insight reports, and many more.
Using the Qualtrics survey tool, companies can utilize the drag-and-drop interface, various question formats, and pre-built templates to build customized questionnaires and surveys. Customers can gather feedback on different platforms, including mobile devices applications, websites, and chat boxes, which helps companies improve customer satisfaction, and response rates and capitalize on the information.
With Qualtrics CoreXM’s conjoint analytics tools, companies can review customer feedback by the demographics of customers, including gender, age, and background, to figure out the best configuration for their product’s beginning price and target market.
- Deployment – Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based.
- Platform – Android, iPhone, iPad.
- Top Features – AB Testing, API, Ad hoc Analysis, Alerts/Notifications, Assessment Management, Audience Targeting, Behavior Tracking, Benchmarking, Brand Guidelines, CRM, Campaign Segmentation, Change Management, Competitive Analysis, Customer Profiles, Customer Segmentation, Customizable Branding.
- Free Trial & Version Available
- Prize – $0/ user.
- Best for – API, Alerts/Notifications, Benchmarking, Competitive Analysis, Customer Profiles.
- Support – Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support, 24/7 (Live Rep), Chat.
- Overall Rating – 4.4/5 Stars
Conclusion
By the type of competitive intelligence you want to study, you can pick one or several of the tools listed above to give you an edge over your competition. Learn about your company’s competitive intelligence needs first, and then assess the tools that meet your requirements individually.
If you are in the market, you only need to use these tools to gather data on your competition and market.
