Tag Archives: Devices

How Do You Obtain Competitive Intelligence Ethically? Six Points

Situation: A CEO is concerned that many of the ways that her company might gain competitive intelligence could compromise the ethics and values that she has worked to instill in the company. What legal and ethical methods have others used to gain competitive intelligence? How do you obtain competitive intelligence ethically?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • It’s critical not to use methods that compromise the company’s legal position. Using spies or spy devices fit into the category of both illegal and unwise methods to obtain intelligence.
  • Do not misrepresent the company, or have employees misrepresent themselves to competitors in order to obtain competitive information.
  • Do not talk about prices directly with your competitors. This compromises both companies legally.
  • Here’s a test: If an action is being considered to gain competitive intelligence, would the company be willing to put up a banner in the office for all employees to see, telling them about this? If not, don’t do it. If questionable activities are employed, it’s likely that they will find out no matter what is done to hide these activities.
  • Here are primary sources for gathering competitive intelligence ethically:
    • Customers;
    • Competitors’ customer service and engineering departments, possibly through 3rd parties;
    • Editors of trade journals;
    • Former employees of competitors;
    • Trade Associations; and
    • Trade shows and conferences.
  • In addition, these are good secondary sources:
    • Google and other search engines – whatever appears through these is publicly available;
    • D&B Hoovers;
    • Web sites;
    • Reverse engineering – without using information obtained unethically;
    • 10Ks and Annual Reports available on the SEC web site.

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What’s the Best Way to Target Your Audience? Eight Points

Interview with Peter Koeppel, President, Koeppel Direct

Situation: The media industry is increasingly challenged trying to reach its audience. Media choices are fragmented, and the proliferation of new devices makes reaching purchasing audiences difficult. How do you best reach your target audience in this environment?

Advice:

  • Historically placement of advertising and pricing of media ad buys were driven by calculations of audience impressions – how many eyeballs a particular ad would reach. With the media market now highly fragmented this measure is no longer as effective. Sophisticated marketers now seek ROI driven media buy models to justify their advertising purchases.
  • Two companies, Facebook and TiVo, are in the lead in terms of potential to assist marketers in targeting distinct audiences, because they collect rich data on individual consumers, but this information must be balanced with privacy concerns.
  • Non-conventional channels like TiVo or Google TV and other research services can selectively present marketing messages to specific customer demographics.
  • The mobile search market represented approximately $2 billion in revenue in 2010. As more people consume media through mobile devices, this market will grow. The leader in this market is Google.
  • A growing format is longer length spots. These include short-form infomercials which are typically seen for insurance, legal services, and spots that drive consumers to web sites or an 800 number. Long-form infomercials are typically 30 minutes in length, composed of three to four 7 or 8 minute segments separated by commercials, which serve as calls to action. Infomercial marketing is not for every product, but is most applicable to higher priced products where specific demographic information is worth the investment and where the consumer needs more education about the product,in order to make a purchase decision.
  • Cable TV, print and radio, remain an effective way to target niche audiences. Television, among the traditional media, still drives the largest number of consumers to online purchases.
  • For the future, we predict a convergence between TV and online marketing and purchases. Many HDMI TVs and current Blu-Ray sets are already configured for both cable and either WiFi or Ethernet connections. Google and Apple sell devices that combine TV and online access. Netflix and Hulu serve content through either TV or online devices.
  • We see the future of TV as a device which will consume all media. As access to rich databases of consumer preferences and purchasing proliferates we see growth in content which will be increasingly tailored to personal preferences and desires of highly fragmented consumer demographics.

You can contact Peter Koeppel at [email protected]   URL: www.koeppelinc.com

Key Words: Sales & Marketing, Media, Audience, Choice, Fragmented, Devices, Purchase, ROI, Targeted, Facebook, TiVo, Apple, Google, Data, Privacy, Mobile, Search, Pay-per-Click, Infomercial, Convergence

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