What is strategic monitoring?
Before we start, let us explain what strategic monitoring is. To summarize, strategic monitoring involves collecting information that can help your business. It can be data about the latest trends, competitors, or target audience.
Why should you do strategic monitoring on a regular basis?
We all know that everything changes quickly; therefore, it is likely that you are already very busy. Nonetheless, it is essential to do some strategic monitoring regularly if you want to succeed and increase your chances of always being able to answer your clientele’s needs and avoid becoming obsolete.
By taking the time to see what your competitors do and knowing the worries of your audience, you will have in hand some precious information that can help you make the right decisions. Moreover, these pieces of information are pretty easy to find nowadays.
How do you do strategic monitoring efficiently?
What can you do if you only have a few hours available and want to do some strategic monitoring efficiently? We found a few steps to follow to help you with this and get some interesting results quickly.
Define your goals
As for a new project, it is essential to define some goals if you want to be efficient. Why do you want to do strategic monitoring? Is it to know what your competitors are up to? Is it to learn more about the latest trends in your field or know more about your clientele’s needs instead? It is possible to meet many goals when we do strategic monitoring, but we suggest you try to remain concise. It will help you save some time and get better results.
Target relevant groups and resources
You may want to do strategic monitoring but do not know where to start. It is normal. Even if it depends on your goals, social media and search engines are precious resources that can help you. Start by seeing what comes up when you search for your business. Are all the mentions positive? Then, take a look at your competitors’ websites. Analyze their offers and how they present themselves.
You can learn a lot about your community’s needs with social media. Try to follow groups or pages related to your target audience and pay special attention to the content. For example, if you are a cook, you could get ideas from the latest food trends for your menu. What about your clients’ reviews? Whether on social media or a survey, testimonials can give you some ideas on what you need to improve.
Keep a moment to do strategic monitoring
What can you do to remember to do strategic monitoring regularly? As is the case when we want to take a good habit, if you want to increase your chances of success, it is essential to plan a moment for it. Whether it is your accounting, content creation, or customer service, you likely have scheduled time for them. Here is a suggestion: since strategic monitoring is passive, why not do it at the end of the day or on Fridays? According to your needs, you can dedicate a few hours per week or month.
Use performing tools
If your primary goal is complex or you have several pieces of information to monitor, please note that several tools can help you with your strategic monitoring. For example, you could receive a notification when a precise word or hashtag is used. Also, some apps allow you to analyze your competitors’ websites and SEO if it matters to you.
Do you want to know more about the other businesses in your field? Discover our list of tools to spy on your competitors legally.
Monitor the results closely
It can take a moment to find the perfect places or tools to do your strategic monitoring, but once you have them, monitor the results closely. It is not enough to check what people say or write once in a while, especially if you are in a competitive field. Do not hesitate to take down notes and try to learn more. It can be helpful and become an important competitive advantage.
Use your findings
A mistake many people make is doing strategic monitoring but not using the precious data they find. It is a complete waste of time! By knowing what your competitors do, you can prepare a counter-attack and improve your offers. By understanding the worries and needs of your target audience, you can create custom offers made especially for them and content that really meets their needs.
For example, by doing strategic monitoring every week, our team finds many ideas for our blog articles.
In conclusion, whatever your field, it should be relevant to take the habit of doing strategic monitoring. Besides checking you are on the right track, you will be able to understand the needs of your clientele better and keep your competitors within sight. Finally, it will allow you to create better products and offers.
Do you have a business but no online presence yet? Find tips on our guide to create the perfect company website.