Skip to main content

There are so many different marketing intelligence software that making a shortlist of the best can be tricky. You want actionable insights to make informed decisions and to understand your market position, identify opportunities for growth, and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly—and now need the right solution for your brand and team. I've got you covered! In this post, I share from my personal experience using many different marketing intelligence tools, and share my picks of the best marketing intelligence software overall.

Why Trust Our Reviews

We’ve been testing and reviewing marketing software since 2022. As marketing experts ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.

We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions. We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different marketing use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our software review methodology.

The 10 Best Marketing Intelligence Software Solutions Summary

Tools Price
Salesforce CRM From $25/user/month (billed annually)
Brand24 From $79/month (annually)
SimilarWeb $167/month
6sense Pricing upon request
NetBase Quid Pricing upon request
AppMagic $380/month (billed annually)
Crayon Intel Pricing upon request
Stackline From $199/user/month
Zappi Pricing upon request
Klue Pricing upon request
Preview Image - <h2 class="c-block__title b-summary-table__title c-listicle__title h3" > Compare Software Specs Side by Side</h2>

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Compare Software

How to Choose Marketing Intelligence Software

With so many different marketing intelligence software available, it can be challenging to make decisions on what marketing intelligence software is going to be the best fit for your needs.

As you're shortlisting, trialing, and selecting marketing intelligence software, consider the following:

  • What problem are you trying to solve - Start by identifying the marketing intelligence feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the marketing intelligence software needs to provide.
  • Who will need to use it - To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who'll be using the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be the marketing team, or the whole organization that will require access. When that's clear, it's worth considering if you're prioritizing ease of use for all, or speed for your marketing software power users.
  • What other tools it needs to work with - Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as accounting, CRM or HR software. You'll need to decide if the tools will need to integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated marketing intelligence software.
  • What outcomes are important - Consider the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain, or what you want to improve, and how you will be measuring success. For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into performance. You could compare marketing intelligence software features until you’re blue in the face but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time.
  • How it would work within your organization - Consider the software selection alongside your workflows and delivery methodology. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed. Remember every business is different — don’t assume that because a tool is popular that it'll work in your organization.

Best Marketing Intelligence Software Reviews

These are the top 10 best marketing intelligence software, which I will review in detail with insights on best use cases, key features, pros/cons, and pricing/free trial information. You’ll find the remainder of my picks in a list at the bottom of the article for further consideration.

Best for customer relationship management

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $25/user/month (billed annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.2/5

Salesforce CRM is an enterprise-level marketing intelligence software that helps companies manage customer relationships at all stages of the sales and customer journey. It makes it easy for businesses to use data to make more informed decisions about their marketing strategies.

Why I Picked Salesforce CRM: Salesforce CRM provides customer segmentation, contact management, lead tracking, sales automation, analytics, and reporting features. Marketers can track and analyze customer data to gain insights into buying habits and preferences. Its dashboards enable users to quickly create and visualize their sales data in real-time, empowering them to gain insights into customer trends, buying habits, and opportunities for improvement. The drag-and-drop interface allows easy dashboard customization with metrics and KPIs relevant to their business needs.

Salesforce CRM offers predictive analytics capabilities that help businesses forecast future trends and behaviors. For example, users can track which products are performing well in different markets, identify trends in buying behavior across different demographics or regions, and gain a more accurate understanding of what drives conversions in each segment. All this data helps marketers craft targeted messages that are more likely to result in successful sales outcomes.

Salesforce CRM Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include the ability to automate routine tasks related to mobile marketing, such as sending follow-up emails or creating personalized notifications depending on customer behavior or preferences. This helps eliminate manual labor in executing campaigns while allowing users to drive engagement. Salesforce CRM also has unmatched client relationship building systems, which makes it great for funneling marketing efforts right into your sales team's contact list for personalized attention.

Integrations include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Google Workspace, Slack, Quickbooks, MailChimp, LinkedIn, Docusign, JIRA, HelloSign, Code Science, Active Campaign, and Dropbox. You can also access numerous additional integrations through the Salesforce AppExchange as well.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Comprehensive range of features
  • Strong integration capabilities
  • AI-driven marketing analytics

Cons:

  • Steep learning curve
  • SMBs may feel priced out

Best for AI-powered social listening

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $79/month (annually)
Visit Website
Rating: 4.6/5

Brand24 is a marketing intelligence software that provides comprehensive monitoring and analytics on brand mentions across the web, enabling businesses to gain valuable insights into their online presence and customer perceptions. The software's intuitive dashboard and reporting tools make it easy to visualize data, track performance metrics, and make informed decisions, making Brand24 a powerful tool for enhancing marketing intelligence and strategic planning.

Why I picked Brand24: Brand24 excels as a marketing intelligence software by offering businesses the ability to track and analyze online mentions of their brand, products, and competitors across a wide range of digital platforms, including social media, blogs, forums, and news websites. This extensive monitoring capability allows companies to gather real-time data on customer opinions, market trends, and the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. By leveraging advanced analytics, such as sentiment analysis and influencer identification, Brand24 provides actionable insights that help businesses understand their market position, identify opportunities for engagement, and optimize their marketing efforts for better ROI.

Brand24 Standout Features and Integrations

Key features include its custom alert system, which notifies businesses in real-time about significant changes in the volume of mentions or sentiment. This feature allows companies to act swiftly in managing their online reputation, responding to potential crises, or capitalizing on positive publicity. The ability to customize these alerts based on specific keywords, sentiment thresholds, or mention spikes is particularly valuable for staying ahead in dynamic market conditions.

Integrations include Slack and SEMrush.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Strong competitor analysis
  • Affordable pricing makes for businesses of all sizes
  • Real-time alerts let you respond to mentions quickly

Cons:

  • Only supports a limited number of languages
  • Could use more integrations

Best for website analytics

  • Free plan available
  • $167/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

Similarweb is a cloud-based web traffic analysis platform that tracks the online activity of customers, prospects, and competitors. Core features include custom dashboards, marketing performance metrics, data export, and marketing analytics.

Why I Picked Similarweb: Similarweb excels in competitor intelligence and marketing intelligence by providing robust insights into competitors' online presence and performance. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enable users to analyze competitors' website traffic, audience demographics, keyword strategies, referral sources, and digital marketing campaigns. Similarweb's advanced algorithms and vast data sources allow for accurate benchmarking and comparison against competitors, providing valuable insights into market trends, customer behavior, and competitive positioning.

Similarweb Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include its Traffic Share feature provides an estimate of the percentage of traffic that each website receives within a specific industry or market. This data is derived from a vast array of sources, including web panels, ISPs, and mobile apps, making it a valuable tool for benchmarking against competitors and understanding market share dynamics. Similarweb also offers a comprehensive set of digital marketing insights, including detailed information on competitors' advertising strategies, display ads, and search engine marketing activities.

Integrations include Salesforce and Hubspot.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Comprehensive website analytics
  • Detailed competitor intelligence
  • Very easy to use

Cons:

  • Few native integrations
  • Complex pricing/plans schema

Best for B2B marketing

  • No free trial is currently available
  • Pricing upon request
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

6sense is a customer engagement platform that offers insights to B2B organizations. The data analytics software offers AI-driven capabilities, including a propriety intent network, predictive analytics, contact and account scoring, omnichannel integration, and value metrics.

Why I Picked 6sense: 6sense excels in marketing intelligence, particularly in the realm of B2B marketing, by providing a powerful platform that leverages AI and predictive analytics to deliver actionable insights and drive effective marketing strategies. With 6sense, businesses gain a deep understanding of their target accounts and buyers' intent signals, enabling them to identify and prioritize high-quality leads, personalize messaging, and align marketing and sales efforts. The platform's ability to track anonymous buyer behavior across multiple channels and touchpoints empowers B2B marketers to deliver the right message at the right time, driving engagement and conversions.

6sense Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include its patented Intent Data Engine enables businesses to capture and analyze anonymous buyer intent signals, allowing marketers to understand the real-time interests and needs of potential customers. Secondly, 6sense offers an advanced Predictive Analytics capability that uses AI and machine learning algorithms to predict the buying likelihood and timing of potential customers.

Integrations include Salesforce Sales Cloud, Hubspot, Marketo, and Google Analytics.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Advanced buyer intent data
  • Account-based marketing focus
  • Predictive analytics & AI

Cons:

  • Complexity for small businesses
  • Integration limitations

Best for reputation management

  • Free demo
  • Pricing upon request

NetBase Quid is a competitive intelligence tool focused on brand health monitoring, social media monitoring, and campaign performance measurement. The software monitors social media posts to capture what people are saying about individual brands.

Why I Picked NetBase Quid: Using natural language processing, NetBase Quid reveals customer sentiments such as attitude, willingness to purchase, and needs. The dashboard displays data in the form of graphs, charts, and heatmaps. You can also customize reports and deliver them to assigned email accounts. Another feature, Live Pulse, helps users spot emerging trends and find the most shared images. It’s also easy to find the most engaging posts and trending influencers.

NetBase Quid Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include its advanced natural language processing (NLP) capabilities enable deep analysis of unstructured data, such as social media posts, customer reviews, and online discussions. This allows businesses to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of text data, uncovering sentiments, trends, and consumer opinions with high accuracy. Plus, NetBase Quid offers powerful image analysis capabilities, utilizing computer vision algorithms to analyze and interpret visual content shared on social media platforms. This unique feature enables businesses to gain insights from images.

Integrations are possible through Zapier, but this is a separate program that may incur additional costs. They offer one native integration with Hootsuite and API access for data flow connectors.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • AI-powered consumer & market intelligence
  • Reputation management & social listening
  • Unique image analysis capabilities

Cons:

  • Vague about plan & pricing options
  • Few native integrations

Best for a mobile market intelligence

  • $380/month (billed annually)

AppMagic gives mobile app developers insights into the potential for their products. Over 100,000 titles are tagged by genre, setting, and art style, so you can analyze any market segment in seconds. Based on mobile app stores’ recommendation systems, the Similarity Graph pins down all copycats or similar titles in seconds. You can learn how other publishers budget their ads and which countries and ad networks they target.

Why I Picked AppMagic: AppMagic excels in marketing intelligence, particularly in the realm of mobile app marketing, by providing a comprehensive platform for analyzing and optimizing app performance. With AppMagic, users can access detailed insights into key metrics such as downloads, revenue, user ratings, and user engagement for their own mobile apps as well as those of competitors. The platform offers robust features like app store optimization (ASO) analysis, keyword tracking, and user sentiment analysis, enabling businesses to optimize their app visibility, target relevant keywords, and understand user sentiment.

AppMagic Standout features & Integrations

Key features include their competitor intelligence tools, which provides in-depth insights into the performance and strategies of competitors' mobile apps. Users can analyze competitor app metrics, user reviews, rankings, and feature updates. Secondly, AppMagic offers Advanced ASO (App Store Optimization) capabilities, enabling users to optimize their app's visibility and discoverability in app stores.

Integrations are not listed on their site.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Competitors tagged by genre, setting, and art style
  • Track emerging hits & publishing trends
  • Insights into competitor budget spend

Cons:

  • Convoluted, complex pricing schema
  • For mobile app marketing only

Best for competitor intelligence

  • Free demo
  • Pricing upon request

Crayon is a competitive intelligence platform any marketer can use to get a winning edge. Using this tool, you can track your rivals with over 100 data types across millions of sources. From news mentions and social media discussions to employee reviews and SEC filings, Crayon automatically captures and categorizes insights.

Why I Picked Crayon: Crayon.com excels in competitor intelligence for marketing by providing a comprehensive platform that enables businesses to monitor and analyze their competitors' online presence and activities. With Crayon.com, users gain access to a wide range of competitor data, including website changes, pricing updates, product launches, content strategies, and digital marketing campaigns. The platform's powerful tracking and alert system keeps users informed of any changes or updates happening in real-time, allowing businesses to stay ahead of the competition. Crayon.com's intuitive interface, customizable dashboards, and advanced analytics features enable users to gain deep insights into their competitors' strategies and identify market trends.

Crayon Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include its comprehensive Competitive Intelligence platform provides access to a vast array of competitor data, including website changes, pricing information, product updates, and promotional strategies. This breadth of data coverage allows users to gain a holistic view of their competitors' activities. Crayon.co also offers a powerful Battlecards feature, which enables users to create and share competitive battlecards that provide concise and actionable information about competitors.

Integrations include FreshSales, HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Yammer, ClickUp, Confluence, Freshworks, Guru, Highspot, Notion, Seismic, Sharepoint, Showpad, Welcome, Chorus, Gong, Azure, Google, Jumpcloud, Okta, OneLogin, and other options.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • 100 data types, millions of sources
  • Unqiue avenues of competitor analysis
  • Easy to learn and use

Cons:

  • Learning curve for advanced features
  • No free trial

Best for analyzing retail trends

  • From $199/user/month

Stackline is an ecommerce intelligence tool that gathers data from over 300 billion consumer searches. By analyzing and taking action on this data, you can sell more products in online marketplaces, through social media, and direct to consumers. The software helps you create, execute and analyze campaigns on platforms such as Amazon and Walmart.

Why I Picked Stackline: Stackline excels in marketing intelligence, particularly in the realm of retail and shopper data, by providing a comprehensive platform for analyzing and understanding consumer behavior and retail performance. With Stackline, users can access a wide range of retail data, including sales trends, pricing dynamics, market share, and product performance. The platform offers powerful analytics and visualization tools that enable businesses to identify market opportunities, optimize pricing strategies, track competitive performance, and make data-driven decisions to drive growth. 

Stackline Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include its Retail Intelligence feature provides access to a vast array of retail data, including sales performance, market share, pricing dynamics, and product trends. Secondly, Stackline offers a proprietary metric called Velocity, which measures a product's performance relative to its competitors within specific retail categories. This unique metric allows businesses to understand the relative popularity and momentum of their products, helping them prioritize marketing efforts and optimize their product portfolio.

Integrations include Amazon, BestBuy, Costco Wholesale, and Facebook.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Wealth of retail data
  • Robust analytics & visualization tools
  • Identify popular and trending products

Cons:

  • Integration limitations
  • Limited reports customizability

Best for testing ideas

  • Pricing upon request

Zappi aims to test assumptions and amplify your creative effectiveness using actionable data. The platform allows you to iterate creatives, then test them on real people to find the best customer experience. You can build surveys, add custom questions and preview instantly.

Why I Picked Zappi: Zappi excels as a marketing intelligence software, particularly in its ability to test and validate campaign ideas. The platform offers a range of robust testing methodologies, such as concept testing, creative testing, and ad testing, that enable businesses to assess the potential impact and effectiveness of their campaign ideas. Zappi's advanced analytics and data-driven insights provide actionable feedback and recommendations, helping marketers refine their strategies and optimize their campaigns for maximum impact. The platform's emphasis on testing campaign ideas enables marketers to iterate, refine, and fine-tune their marketing initiatives.

Zappi Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include that you can choose from pre-configured audiences for selected industry verticals or create custom audiences. All panel providers are ESOMAR and ISO certified. Other quality features include deduplication, GeoIP, fingerprinting, and verbatim analysis.

Integrations are not listed on their site.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Robust product testing suite
  • Customer feedback analytics
  • Simple and easy-to-use interface

Cons:

  • Limitations around customization
  • No video feedback

Best range of visualization types

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing upon request

Klue is a competitive enablement platform that delivers actionable insights and content. The software makes it easy to collect, curate, and deliver intel by email, web, mobile, or CRMs like Salesforce. Klue collects data from millions of sources, using artificial intelligence to surface the most relevant competitive intelligence.

Why I Picked Klue: Klue excels as a marketing intelligence platform, particularly due to its extensive range of data visualizations and collaboration tools. The platform offers a diverse set of data visualization options, allowing businesses to effectively analyze and interpret complex marketing data. Klue's visualizations enable users to gain valuable insights quickly and make informed decisions based on clear, concise representations of data. Additionally, Klue provides robust collaboration tools that facilitate seamless communication and knowledge sharing among team members, promoting collaboration and alignment across departments. 

Klue Standout Features & Integrations

Key features include that you can share real-time data with your sales team through battle cards or newsletters. To fully understand ROI, you can measure revenue impact, battle card consumption, and competitive win rates. It’s also simple to update sales battle cards dynamically, publishing once and delivering everywhere simultaneously. The software also tracks competitors through website monitoring, keyword insights, content tracking, and news monitoring.

Integrations include Salesforce, Gong, and Slack.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Great customer support
  • Creative & shareable content types
  • Tons of automation tools

Cons:

  • Time consuming implimentation
  • Content formatting limitations

Other Marketing Intelligence Software

Here are the rest of my picks for the best marketing intelligence software, including what each does best. If you didn’t find anything you like in the top 10, I hope this will fill in the gap.

  1. Adthena

    Best for PPC camapaigns

  2. Semrush

    Best for keyword research

  3. Zoho Analytics

    Best for ease of use

  4. Pecan

    Best predictive analytics for churn & conversion

  5. Adriel

    Best for ad creation & monitoring

  6. Marketing Miner

    SEO insights for data-driven marketers

  7. Adverity

    Best for monitoring multiple MarTech channels

  8. Marketing 360

    Best choice for small businesses

  9. Growth Channel

    Sales intelligence for digital marketing campaigns

  10. Feathr

    Tools for growing and converting your audience

  11. anatics

    Best for data transformation

  12. Sponsorship Intelligence

    Best for sponsorship intelligence

  13. Salesforce Datorama

    Single source of truth for marketing

  14. GroupHigh

    Best for influencer and blogger intelligence

  15. ProFundCom

    Marketing automation for investment firms

If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these tools closely related to digital marketing strategy that we've tested and evaluated.

Selection Criteria for Marketing Intelligence Software

Selecting the right marketing intelligence software involves a careful evaluation of what they have to offer. Through extensive personal trials and research, I've developed criteria to guide software buyers towards making an informed decision.

Core Marketing Intelligence Software Functionality: 25% of total weighting score

  • Market trend analysis: Identifying and analyzing prevailing market trends to forecast future market movements.
  • Customer behavior tracking: Monitoring and understanding how customers interact with your brand across various channels.
  • Competitive intelligence: Gathering data on competitors’ strategies, strengths, and weaknesses.
  • Campaign effectiveness measurement: Assessing the performance of marketing campaigns to determine ROI.
  • Social media analytics: Analyzing social media trends and engagement to inform content and campaign strategies.

Additional Standout Features: 25% of total weighting score

  • Predictive analytics: Tools that go beyond traditional analytics to forecast future trends based on historical data.
  • Sentiment analysis: Advanced algorithms that gauge customer sentiment from social media posts, reviews, and feedback.
  • Real-time data processing: The ability to process and analyze data in real-time for up-to-the-minute insights.
  • Customizable dashboards: Highly customizable interfaces that allow users to tailor analytics dashboards to their specific needs.
  • Integration capabilities: Seamless integration with other marketing tools and platforms for a unified marketing strategy.

Usability: 10% of total weighting score

  • Intuitive design: A clean, user-friendly interface that simplifies navigation and data analysis.
  • Drag-and-drop functionality: For easy customization of reports and dashboards.
  • Mobile optimization: Ensures access to insights on-the-go through a mobile-friendly interface.

Onboarding: 10% of total weighting score

  • Comprehensive training materials: Including videos, templates, and interactive tours.
  • Customer onboarding programs: Structured programs to guide new users through the setup and utilization of the software.
  • Community forums and support: Access to user communities for shared learning and support.

Customer Support: 10% of total weighting score

  • Multi-channel support: Offering support through email, chat, and phone.
  • Responsive support team: Timely and helpful responses to inquiries and issues.
  • Dedicated account management: For enterprise-level clients, providing personalized support.

Value For Money: 10% of total weighting score

  • Competitive pricing: Pricing that is in line with the features and capabilities offered.
  • Scalable plans: Options that grow with your business needs.
  • Free trial availability: Allowing users to test features before committing financially.

Customer Reviews: 10% of total weighting score

  • Positive feedback on ease of use: Indicating a low learning curve.
  • High ratings for customer support: Reflecting satisfaction with the assistance provided.
  • Testimonials on value for money: Demonstrating the software's impact relative to its cost.

When choosing marketing intelligence software, it's essential to consider how each of these criteria aligns with your specific business needs. The right software should not only fit your current requirements but also have the capacity to scale as your business grows and evolves.

Savvy companies will look around them and plan their marketing intelligence implementation strategies according to trends they are seeing in the industry. I have collected these marketing intelligence trends and insights to help inspire you and ground your future planning.

  • Industry leaders say that "deep segmentation" is mission-critical for marketers; companies need to invest in research to understand their core target audience
  • In 2021, personalized content was 60% more likely to encourage repeat purchases, and it continues to be even more essential for profitability today
  • Apps like Instagram offer searchability via keywords and SEO through their captions now, making it an excellent alternative search engine for nearly 76% of consumers
  • Video content like TikTok videos and Instagram Reels have a much better engagement rate than text or photo content—1200% more to be exact!
  • Podcasts have emerged as a leading channel for B2B content, as consumers lean more into audio consumption in 2024
  • Gen Z is now the largest generation on social media, with 50% reporting daily usage to keep up with news, trends, and more; only 44% of Millennials reported the same
  • Larger companies are more likely to use cloud-based BI tools; 58% of companies with 5,000+ employees have invested in the cloud compared to 35% of companies with 250-1,000 employees.

What Is Marketing Intelligence Software?

Marketing intelligence software is a tool that collects and analyzes data on market trends, customer preferences, and competitor activities. The purpose is to provide businesses with valuable insights into the marketplace, helping them make informed decisions about their marketing strategies. This software typically includes features for tracking consumer behavior, monitoring industry developments, and evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

Features of Marketing Intelligence Software

Marketing intelligence software equips businesses with the tools necessary to gather, analyze, and leverage data for making informed marketing decisions. Here are the key features that define this type of software:

  1. Data Collection and Aggregation: Automates the process of collecting data from various sources, including social media, websites, CRM systems, and market research reports, to provide a comprehensive view of the market landscape.
  2. Competitive Analysis: Offers tools for tracking and analyzing competitors' marketing strategies, performance, and market position, enabling businesses to benchmark their performance and identify competitive advantages.
  3. Market Trend Analysis: Analyzes data over time to identify trends in the market, helping businesses anticipate market movements and adjust their strategies accordingly.
  4. Customer Segmentation: Allows businesses to segment their audience based on various criteria such as demographics, behavior, and purchase history, enabling more targeted and effective marketing campaigns.
  5. Sentiment Analysis: Utilizes natural language processing (NLP) to analyze customer feedback, reviews, and social media conversations, providing insights into customer sentiment towards a brand or product.
  6. Predictive Analytics: Employs statistical models and machine learning algorithms to predict future market trends, customer behaviors, and campaign outcomes, helping businesses make proactive decisions.
  7. Campaign Analysis: Measures and analyzes the performance of marketing campaigns across different channels, providing insights into ROI, effectiveness, and areas for improvement.
  8. Social Media Analytics: Tracks and analyzes social media activity related to a brand or industry, including engagement rates, reach, and the impact of social media campaigns.
  9. Dashboard and Reporting: Offers customizable dashboards and reporting tools that present data and insights in an accessible and actionable format, enabling quick decision-making.
  10. Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with other business and marketing tools, such as CRM software, email marketing platforms, and social media management tools, to centralize data and insights.
  11. Real-time Analytics: Provides real-time data and insights, allowing businesses to make timely decisions based on the latest information.

These features collectively empower businesses to navigate the complexities of the market, understand their customers better, and craft strategies that drive success.

Benefits of Marketing Intelligence Software

Marketing intelligence software has revolutionized the way businesses approach market research, competitive analysis, and strategic planning. Here are five primary benefits that marketing intelligence software provides to its users and organizations:

  • Informed Decision Making: Empowers businesses with data-driven insights for strategic decision-making. Utilizing marketing intelligence software allows companies to base their marketing strategies on solid data, reducing guesswork and enabling more effective targeting and positioning.
  • Competitive Advantage: Provides a deep understanding of the competitive landscape. By analyzing competitors' strategies, strengths, and weaknesses, businesses can identify opportunities to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.
  • Enhanced Customer Insights: Delivers detailed analysis of customer behavior and preferences. This software enables businesses to segment their audience more accurately, tailor their marketing efforts to meet customer needs, and ultimately improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Increased Marketing ROI: Optimizes marketing campaigns for better performance and higher returns. With insights into what works and what doesn't, businesses can allocate their marketing budget more effectively, focusing on high-performing channels and tactics.
  • Agility in Market Trends Adaptation: Allows businesses to quickly adapt to market changes and trends. Marketing intelligence software provides real-time data and trend analysis, helping companies to stay ahead of the curve and adjust their strategies in response to the evolving market dynamics.

By harnessing the power of data-driven insights, companies can not only refine their marketing strategies but also achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, ensuring long-term success in their respective industries.

Cost & Pricing for Marketing Intelligence Software

Navigating the diverse range of marketing intelligence software available can be a daunting task, especially for those new to the software buying process. Below is a breakdown of typical plan options and their pricing, along with the common features included in each.

Plan Comparison Table for Marketing Intelligence Software

Plan TypeAverage PriceCommon Features Included
Basic$0 - $100 per month- Access to basic analytics and data collection
- Limited competitive analysis
- Basic customer insights
- Email support
Professional$100 - $500 per month- All features in Basic
- Enhanced data analytics capabilities
- Broader competitive analysis
- Advanced customer segmentation
- Priority email and chat support
Enterprise$500 - $2000+ per month- All features in Professional
- Customizable dashboards and reports
- Access to all data sources
- Predictive analytics
- Dedicated account manager and support
Free$0- Limited access to basic analytics
- Basic competitive insights
- Access for a limited number of users
- Community support

When selecting a marketing intelligence software plan, consider both your immediate needs and future growth potential. The right plan should not only fit your current budget but also offer the flexibility to scale as your business expands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few questions I wanted to cover to clear up benefits, terminology, and other points of confusion around marketing intelligence software.

What are the 4 types of market intelligence?

Here are the 4 types of market intelligence, summarized.

1. Competitor Intelligence

Competitor intelligence, also known as competitive intelligence, refers to the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about competitors to gain insights into their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market position. It involves monitoring and assessing competitors’ activities, products or services, marketing campaigns, pricing strategies, customer feedback, and other relevant data.

2. Product Intelligence

Product intelligence refers to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to a company’s products or services. It involves gathering information about product features, performance, customer feedback, market trends, competitive landscape, and consumer preferences. Product intelligence helps businesses understand how their products are perceived in the market, identify areas for improvement, make data-driven decisions for product development and innovation, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

3. Market Intelligence

Market intelligence refers to a comprehensive knowledge and awareness of the dynamics, trends, and factors that influence a particular market or industry. It involves gaining insights into customer behavior, preferences, needs, and expectations, as well as understanding the competitive landscape, market segmentation, pricing, and distribution channels. Market understanding enables businesses to make informed decisions, develop effective marketing strategies, identify opportunities and threats, and align their products or services to meet the demands of the target market.

4. Customer Intelligence

Customer intelligence refers to the deep knowledge and insights gained about customers’ behaviors, preferences, needs, and motivations. It involves analyzing and interpreting customer data, including demographic information, purchasing patterns, interactions, feedback, and sentiment analysis. Customer understanding helps businesses develop a holistic understanding of their target audience, enabling them to create personalized and tailored experiences, improve products or services, optimize marketing strategies, and enhance customer satisfaction.

What is marketing intelligence and how is it used in strategic planning?

Marketing intelligence is the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data related to a company’s market environment, including trends, competitor activity, and customer behavior. It’s crucial for strategic planning because it provides actionable insights that help businesses understand market dynamics, identify growth opportunities, and develop strategies that align with customer needs and preferences. By leveraging marketing intelligence, companies can make informed decisions that enhance their competitive edge and drive business growth.

How do marketing intelligence tools integrate with existing CRM systems?

Marketing intelligence tools integrate with CRM systems by syncing data about market trends, customer interactions, and sales activities. This integration allows for a seamless flow of information, enabling businesses to enrich customer profiles with market insights and behavioral data. It helps companies personalize their marketing efforts, forecast customer needs, and improve customer engagement by providing a comprehensive view of the customer journey and market environment. Integration also facilitates more efficient data management and strategic planning.

Can small businesses afford marketing intelligence software?

Yes, small businesses can afford marketing intelligence software thanks to a variety of options tailored to different budget sizes. Many vendors offer scalable solutions with flexible pricing models, such as subscriptions based on features, users, or data volume. Additionally, there are free and low-cost tools that provide essential analytics and insights to help small businesses make data-driven decisions. By carefully evaluating their needs and choosing the right tools, small businesses can leverage marketing intelligence to compete effectively without breaking the bank.

How does marketing intelligence software handle data from different regions or languages?

Marketing intelligence software typically includes features for handling data from different regions or languages by using advanced algorithms and language processing techniques. This allows the software to collect, analyze, and interpret data in multiple languages, ensuring that insights are accurate and relevant across diverse markets. Furthermore, these tools can segment data by geographic location, enabling businesses to tailor their strategies to regional market conditions and consumer preferences, enhancing global marketing efforts.

How does marketing intelligence differ from market research?

Marketing intelligence and market research both aim to gather information about the market environment, but they differ in scope and approach. Marketing intelligence focuses on collecting ongoing data from a variety of sources to provide a real-time view of the market, competitors, and customer behavior. It’s broader, incorporating both internal and external data. Market research, on the other hand, involves conducting specific studies to answer particular questions about a market at a point in time. It’s more project-based and often used to gather in-depth insights on specific issues, such as product development or customer satisfaction.

The Takeaway

Proper data analytics (including marketing intelligence data) can help leaders make decisions 5X faster than when left to their own devices. Marketing intelligence tools offer many benefits in terms of understanding opportunities and threats in a marketplace. They help companies understand their total addressable market and the major players in the sector. If you're not using one yet, you should be. And I hope you found this list useful in making that choice.

For future industry insights, interviews, and software reviews, be sure to subscribe to the CMO newsletter.

By Stephanie Hood

Stephanie Hood is an experienced marketing professional and Editor of The CMO. With nearly a decade spent as Marketing Manager at Discover Holidays and Executive Editor at VIVA Lifestyle & Travel, she built her career leading editorial and marketing teams and strategies that turn six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. She now enjoys connecting with the world's top executives to learn their secrets to business success, and shares those insights right here with her community of like-minded professionals. Curious what she’s uncovered? Be sure to sign up for The CMO newsletter.