It became clear to the lean marketing team that competitive intelligence was a necessity, a critical step in being able to win in their market. They knew they had to do something to gain a competitive edge while protecting their limited resources.
Leveraging Competitors’ Marketing Resources to Get an Advantage
Dominic and his team started using Crayon to research website marketing ideas from related companies and then quickly expanded to use the full suite of Crayon’s competitive analysis tools. Crayon provided a complete and timely view of what their competitors were doing, and with the low price point, the choice to go with Crayon was a no brainer.
“Crayon gives us every type of intel we need to gain a competitive edge across our marketing efforts. There’s something for every stakeholder - from content to positioning to news and more - everything we need to drive marketing decisions,” Dominic shared. Today, the entire marketing team interacts with Crayon, either within the platform or as a recipient of intel.
Dominic and his team leverage Crayon intel to allocate resources effectively. By monitoring the marketing efforts of competitors, they are able to identify tactics they can try themselves. The Budget Dumpster team frequently identifies SEO strategies, landing page conversion test ideas, new awards to apply for, and social promotions to try, based on the competitive intel found. This allows the lean team to draw from the marketing expertise of each of their competitors and use it to their own advantage.
They have also been able to leverage this view into competitors’ activities to drive strategic decisions. For example, by analyzing a competitor’s content marketing efforts, they can identify what gaps exist and create content to fill that void in the market. They can also analyze a competitor’s activities more broadly, connecting the dots across various pieces of intel, to see where each company is going. This allows Dominic and his team to adjust their own strategy as needed to stay competitive.
Accelerating Competitive Strategy with Crayon Intel
Crayon allows Dominic and his team to leverage competitive intelligence to drive a variety of marketing tactics and strategies. “The majority of our marketing testing backlog originated from a piece of Crayon intel,” Dominic said. On top of that, Crayon allows them to identify trends in the space, get ideas from companies in related industries, and monitor top competitors at a speed that would otherwise not be possible.
Without Crayon, the Budget Dumpster team would not have the time to commit to collecting all of this intelligence and leave time to act on it. “We would have to spend hours every week collecting the intel that Crayon just delivers to our doorstep,” Dominic shared. “We save $25,000 or more by using Crayon and we’re able to move faster now too.”
Ultimately, the speed of accessing complete and organized intelligence allows the Budget Dumpster team to be more proactive about their competitive strategy. Instead of spending time researching what their competitors are doing, they can focus on analyzing and acting on the latest intelligence.
Budget Dumpster specializes in dumpster rentals for homeowners and contractors across the US. As a waste management company, they have hundreds of competitors, both large and small, national and local, broad and specific. Keeping tabs on competitors is a critical component to the success of the company in such a crowded market.
