In a competitive business environment, keeping track of how the competition operates and strategizes is essential. Data is critical because it can be culled and can serve as the impetus for your next marketing or sales strategy or inspiration for a big idea. Either way, data collection and monitoring are fundamental. Here’s what you should consider:

• Identify your true competitors. Only some entities that share the same audience pool are your competition.
• Track the social, digital and PR performance of your competition. Most data is public, so you can set up monitoring and flagging to stay updated.
• Get a leg up on your competition by employing creativity instead of price wars or “copy-paste” executions.
• Be agile with your tactics and be mindful of your long-term strategies. Don’t give your competition the power to rush you into hasty decisions or mediocre executions.

Setting up competition monitoring is simple, but it must be done right.

(Digital/Business Digest is a continuing series provided courtesy of the MPE Caribbean Report, which offers travel and tourism news weekly. It is published by US-based integrated marketing agency Marketplace Excellence, which has an office in Richmond Hill, Ont. www.marketplaceexcellence.com)