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Strategic insights – were they behind the couch the whole time?

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Most successful business owners are on the hunt for strategic insights or what I call ‘light bulb moments’ – revelations that allow an organisation to take its next big step.

The trick with strategic insights is finding more of them – that and making them happen. Although there’s generally not a single idea that, as if by magic, will take your business from A to B, leveraging key strategic insights can make a big difference in your marketing and overall business success.

So, what do strategic insights look like?

A strategic insight may be a tasty morsel that you can take advantage of: information about a competitor, research about your industry or a gap in the market that becomes apparent.

Other insights may include the overall condition of your market, changing customer needs and new products that your competitors are about to release – these are all tid-bits you’d be foolish to ignore.

Where can you find strategic insights?

A strategic insight could come from anywhere – chatting to someone at a coffee shop or *ahem* reading Anthill…

To get you started, here are just a few places you should go noseying about for strategic insights:

  • Blogs written by your competitors
  • Journal articles from leaders in your industry
  • Trade magazines
  • The business section of your local newspaper
  • Other business owners at networking events
  • Online business portals
  • Your customers’ social media conversations

As well as subscribing to relevant blogs and reading online business magazines, it is a good idea to set up Google alerts for news topics relating to your business and industry.

Keep your eyes peeled and ears open – there be strategic insights everywhere! Most importantly, once your have your grubby mitts of a key piece of strategic information, use it.

Jo Macdermott is the chief Marketing Consultant from Next Marketing in Melbourne. Next Marketing is a full serviced Marketing Agency working with small and medium sized businesses.