37
Mining the Invisible Web for Competitive Intelligence Mary Ellen Bates Bates Information Services Inc. www.BatesInfo.com 800.820.2104
| Date post: | 27-Dec-2015 |
| Category: |
Documents |
| Upload: | lorin-lloyd |
| View: | 220 times |
| Download: | 1 times |
Mining the Invisible Web for Competitive IntelligenceMary Ellen Bates
Bates Information Services Inc.
www.BatesInfo.com
800.820.2104
www.BatesInfo.com
What we’ll cover
Thinking about CI
Looking at the target company
CI tools
Ethical considerations
www.BatesInfo.com
Thinking about CI
www.BatesInfo.com
Thinking about CI
Look sideways. Cast a wide net when searching the
professional literatureSet your relevance-meter on “broad”Often, there is no One Right AnswerYou can’t find everything, but you can
always find something
www.BatesInfo.com
Thinking about CI
Think about who cares:Who are the company’s competitors?Who regulates the industry?Who buys their products/services?What association looks at this
industry?
www.BatesInfo.com
Thinking about CI
Think about who cares:Who is obsessive about them?Who is affected by this company?
(labor union? lawsuits by injured customers?)
www.BatesInfo.com
Looking at the target company
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
Do not assume content within the company’s web site is search-engine-friendly.
Content management systems can make content inaccessible to spiders
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
Look for:Investor relationsAnnual report (even for privately-
held companies)Organization chartBranch locationsProduct information
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
Look for:Employment opportunitiesChanges in executivesSuppliers and vendorsPress releases (get added to their
press list)
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
Use the site map or site index
Click everywhere!
Think creatively about what these things tell you
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
When drilling down in company web pages:Use the "Search This Site" feature to
look for PowerPoint presentations, speeches, white papers, etc.
Search terms: .ppt, .doc, powerpoint
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
Look through job postings on company web site, if availableMay require multiple passes with
pull-down menus or searches
www.BatesInfo.com
Company web site
To discover a company’s marketing channels, visit its site and click the “for more information” link
Look for a “how did you hear about us” listIt is usually a checklist of where the
company is expending marketing dollars
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring the company
Vault.comHear what current employees sayDirected to new graduates
F***edCompany.comLots of naught wordsSource for alleged internal memosEarly warning for rumors of bad news
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring the company
Identify the government agencies that regulate this industry
Identify industry groups that regulate or certify companies
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring the company
Use Dialog’s Domain Names (file 225) to monitor new domain registrationsThis is an early-warning of new
products, promotions, acquisitions
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring the company
Use the WayBack Machine (archive.org) to see: how a company presented itself in
the pastinformation on a company before
an acquisitionto determine how long the company
has had a web presence
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring the company
Basic patent researchwww.uspto.gov
Public records: bankruptcies, judgments, etc.May not be available onlineSee BRBpub.com for list
www.BatesInfo.com
CI Tools
www.BatesInfo.com
Basic CI tools
Local newspapers & biz journals
Trade press, especially newsletters
NewsIsFree.com, other web-based news aggregators
CorporateInformation.comRequires free registration
www.BatesInfo.com
The phone: really invisible web
Identify who you can talk to:Journalists - Search local newspapers
to identify who has the industry beat Government experts - Who regulates
this industry? Investment analystsUniversity professorsThink tanks / policy organizations
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring who’s talking
Hear what vendors/suppliers sayUse reverse link look-uplink:www.company-name.com
What are company employees saying?Monitor association web sites, to see
conference speaker lists
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring who’s talking
For consumer trends, monitor the most popular search phrases50.lycos.comwww.google.com/press/zeitgeist.htmlbuzz.yahoo.com
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring who’s talking
Mine the online discussionsGoogle GroupsYahoo GroupsBlogs• Technorati.com, DayPop.com,
Feedster.com, Blogdex.net are good for searching
www.BatesInfo.com
Monitoring who’s talking
Find I-hate-company-X.com – use www.whois.sc to identify
See also Home->Consumer Information->Complaints in dmoz.org
www.BatesInfo.com
www.BatesInfo.com
The almost-invisible web
Find subject-specific search enginesGeniusFind.com categorizes
specialized search engines and finding tools
Beaucoup.com includes several thousand search engines and directories; “search” looks at abstracts
www.BatesInfo.com
The almost-invisible web
Use Teoma’s “Resources” list to identify link-rich sources
www.BatesInfo.com
www.BatesInfo.com
Ethical considerations
www.BatesInfo.com
Ethical considerations
If you wouldn’t want your actions reported on the front page of the newspaper your mother or your child reads, don’t do it.
www.BatesInfo.com
Ethical considerations
SCIP says:
Over 95% of information that is required is publicly available from open sources. If managers plan ahead and maintain best practice CI systems, it is not necessary to undertake illegal or unethical activity.
www.BatesInfo.com
Ethical considerations
Never lie
Manage your clients’ expectations
Outsource to third-party if appropriate
www.BatesInfo.com
Resources:
SLA’s new CI Division
Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence by Margaret Carr (Information Today, 2003)
ISBN:0-910965-64-1 www.infotoday.com/supersearchers/ssci.htm
# # #
www.BatesInfo.com
Mary Ellen offers a free “Tip of the Month” email update.
If you would like to subscribe, just ask ([email protected]) or go to www.BatesInfo.com/tip.html
