Whether you’re a marketer or a sales rep, everybody in the go-to-market (GTM) team needs to keep a check on the market’s pulse. That means constantly monitoring your:
- Target market (prospects/customers)
- Third-party review websites
- Industry publications
- Indirect competitors
- Direct competitors
…to name a few sources. Because if you don’t, you’ll never know how the market shifts—and as a result, you’ll always be chasing trends, not getting ahead of them. That’s why you need to use market intelligence software.
In this article, we’ll explain what market intelligence software is, how to choose the right one for your needs, and our top picks.
What is market intelligence software?
Market intelligence software is a platform that lets you collect, analyze, and interpret market data from various sources. Using this data, you can make informed decisions that give your customers what they want while staying ahead of competitors.
It helps GTM teams by:
- Tracking a competitor’s move at all times—like positioning, pricing, and marketing strategy changes.
- Aggregating data from different channels like social media, company websites, press release platforms, and more.
- Providing insights into how you can optimize your business’s performance relative to the market, customers, and competitors.
- Showing you opportunities and potential threats in the market that could impact your business.
- Using historical data to forecast market trends and potential outcomes.
How to choose the right market intelligence tool?
There are so many options available these days that it could lead to analysis paralysis. However, the first thing you need to do is identify what your business needs to know. This comes down to your main goals.
For example, if you’re in the travel and hospitality industry, you might want to see how your competitors make price adjustments on their reservation systems. You could offer a better pricing strategy—encouraging visitors to book on your site instead.
Suppose you want to improve your pricing strategy because you’re noticing a dip in paid conversions or higher cancellation rates. In that case, you need a tool that surfaces larger economic trends and your competitor’s pricing strategy.
Use that information as a baseline and then choose a market intelligence software based on factors like:
1. Data sources
Where does the software aggregate data from? For example, is it just sourcing industry reports and press releases or providing competitive intel?
Also, look at whether the data is unstructured or structured. With technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) available these days, you should not just get a long list of alerts but instead structured reports with a detailed analysis of how each data point impacts your strategy.
Look for the frequency of updates and the software’s ability to handle real-time information.
2. Types of users
Think about who your primary users will be. Would it be sales reps or C-suite executives? That would decide the level of customization or out-of-the-box features you’ll need.
For example, if it’s data analysts, you’ll need a tool that gives them complete control over the data and the ability to customize reports. However, a non-technical user might want Slack alerts to keep a pulse on the market.
3. Features and functionality
Ideally, your market intelligence tool, at the very least, should offer:
- Aggregate industry reports and PRs
- Provide trend-based data or reports
- Review competing websites
- An easy-to-use interface
- Intuitive dashboards
Without these, you won’t really have any “intelligence,” so to speak. These days, you also get AI features that do the analysis for you and contextualize it for your needs. So, look for similar features as well.
4. Integrations
Your market intelligence tool should integrate with your existing tech stack. For example, if you’re using Slack and prefer getting updates there, ensure there’s an integration. Or, if you prefer exporting data and moving it to your preferred platform, see if it integrates with automation tools like Zapier or Make.
Sometimes, your internal team might want to build its own integration. See if the software provides an API for custom integrations so that you have more control over the process.
5. Pricing
Pricing is one of the most significant factors as it decides which tool you use.
Most platforms like Crayon and Klue don’t offer startup-friendly pricing. In fact, you could easily spend tens of thousands of dollars to get the right intelligence.
So, look for pricing factors like:
- Sticker price (subscription or one-time fee)
- Data storage and processing costs
- Implementation fees
- Training expenses
5 market intelligence software for GTM teams
Here are our top five picks if you’re looking for cost-effective market intelligence software:
1. Unkover
Unkover is a market intelligence tool that aggregates data from sources such as:
- Competitor websites
- Review sites like G2
- Competitor’s emails
The goal is to surface actionable insights, package them in an easy-to-digest way, and zero in on the things that matter. Very soon, we’ll also be able to detect the software your competitors are using and how employees are moving between companies. We’ll also provide a complete overview of your competitors’ SEO performance.
You can use this information to see how they’re executing their marketing strategy and how customers perceive them in the market—without having to look at hundreds of data sources manually.
Plus, you can integrate Unkover with your favorite tools, such as Slack, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and more. This allows you to move data between tools easily and eliminates any manual work.
Best for: Marketing and sales data
Key features: Slack alerts, Email flows
Segment: Startups to Enterprise
Pricing: $99 per user per month
2. Crunchbase Pro
Crunchbase offers a comprehensive database for businesses of all sizes. Its primary focus is on:
- Funding information
- Leadership changes
- Industry trends
- Revenue data
- Investors
You can use its database to see how companies are performing and if newer players are entering the market. You also get advanced filtering capabilities allowing precise targeting, such as funding range or growth stage. So, if you’re building prospect lists or partner lists, it’s an excellent starting point.
Now, it also uses AI to offer recommendations based on your search history or account settings—letting you get relevant insights at the right time.
Best for: Funding and company information
Key features: Engagement suite and CRM integrations (Monday.com and Salesforce)
Segment: Startups to Enterprise
Pricing: $99 per user per month
Cons: Outdated data, confusing interface, limited support for mobile devices
3. G2
G2 is a peer-to-peer review platform that lets users review the software platforms they’re using. It’s a great source for those who want to know how customers perceive a particular product or service related to the product.
The platform also recently launched Monty, its AI assistant, which helps users surface pros and cons quickly using its chat-based interface. If you’re in the software or technology space, you can use it to get a realistic sense of how competitors are performing and who your true competitors are.
Best for: Customer reviews
Key features: Review platforms, G2 Marketing Solutions
Segment: Startups to Enterprise
Pricing: Undisclosed — need to contact sales
Cons: Difficult to navigate, long questionnaires
4. Keyhole
Keyhole offers a social media analytics and monitoring tool that lets you see how your social accounts perform and benchmark them against competitors. Its key capabilities include:
- Analyze social conversations to identify opportunities
- Ability to access real-time insights on specific topics
- Ability to benchmark against competitors
Using this data, you can see how conversations unfold online, dig into a brand’s perception, and track how they respond to it. Plus, it provides real-time updates, allowing you to capitalize on them at the right time.
Best for: Social listening
Key features: Historical insights, monitor media mentions
Segment: Mid-market and enterprise companies
Pricing: Starts at $189 per month for social listening and $49 per month for publishing
Cons: Steep learning curve, expensive
5. Exploding Topics
Exploding Topics uses AI to identify emerging trends in the market and serves it up in a dashboard for you. It’s great for businesses that want to see how consumer interests are shifting and identify potential disruptors or opportunities.
It analyzes data from sources like:
- Social media channels
- Ecommerce websites
- Google Trends
- News outlets
Using these valuable insights, you get to see how specific topics and search terms have grown over time—and even at which point they started gaining popularity. Hey, you might even know about these insights before other industry leaders.
Pay attention to the growth trajectory and projected future interest for each topic. It’ll help you become more strategic about product, marketing, or sales-related decisions.
Best for: Market and product trends
Key features: Trend tracking, Trend analysis
Segment: Startups to Enterprise
Pricing: Starts at $39 per month
Cons: Limited searches on Entrepreneur plan
Turn market intelligence into your competitive advantage today
Using the right market intelligence tool can improve your business strategy in many ways. You can prospect better, target customers appropriately, and even see how competitors quickly price and position their products. At the end of the day, it results in increased revenue and happier customers.T
hat said, the right tool depends on your business needs. Critically evaluate what type of intel you need and finalize a budget before looking for solutions. If you’re looking for a tool that provides always-on competitive intelligence, try a 14-day trial of Unkover.