Three Things About Competitive Intel Newsletters | Compete Confidential

Collaboration makes the dream work. That’s how the expression, right?

Anyway, I got to do some serious collaborating over the past four weeks working on a very fun project. 

I worked with Klue CSMs, Klue customers and some familiar faces in the compete community to put together…

The Competitive Intel Newsletter Guide & Template! 

 We packaged up all their knowledge and wisdom and jammed it into one handy-dandy guide — I really hope you check it out. 

But until then, in today’s edition of ☕ Coffee & Compete 🤜🤛 , I’ll be sharing my top three biggest learnings about competitive intel newsletters. 

Also in this edition…

The return of CE Live with JFrog’s Gal Toren and Autodesk’s Dylan D’Urso.

Plus Brandon Bedford breaks down why customers that churned from your competitors are a goldmine for fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD)

Read on,

Ben ✌️

🎓 Three things I learned about competitive intel newsletters

1️⃣ The ‘why it matters’ section is the most crucial and most difficult to execute

Why should your readers care about your insights?

A bullet-point list of intel or events that did or didn’t occur is not enough. It’s your job to connect the dots and tell the story about why the intel matters. So ask yourself:

• How does this intel impact my reps in the field? 
• How does it impact our position or messaging in the market?
• How does it impact the perception of our brand? 

Consider every audience you’re serving, and what intel and insights THEY need to be successful in their role.

The more you can understand that, and tailor your newsletter insights to their needs, the more successful you’ll be. 

P.S. Check out slides 10-12, and 18 & 21 in the Competitive Intel Newsletter Guide for more deets on how to nail the Why It Matters Section

2️⃣ Consistency in formatting and timing will keep your audience coming back for more

Chain restaurants are not popular because of their culinary prowess. It’s because what they offer is a repeatable and predictable experience that makes customers feel comfortable. 

Keeping the formatting and release cadence of your competitive intelligence newsletter can have a similar effect.

As Jenny Sung puts it: 

“Keep it consistent: same day, same time, same sections.” 

If you do it right, your audience will know what to expect each and every time — impactful intel and insights that make them better at their jobs. 

Whether you include three competitor win stories, a sales call of the week, some must-have metrics, or something completely different, there really isn’t a wrong way to do it. 

Just make sure you land on a structure that works for you and stick to it. 

It will keep people coming back for more. 

3️⃣ Loosen up and have a little fun with it

Our guests on the Competitive Enablement Show talk about the importance of branding your compete program — giving it an identity. 

Your competitive intel newsletter is the ideal place for you to start forming that identity. 

Even something as simple as theming your subject lines can go a long way. 

(As you may know, our Competitive Enablement Manager Brandon Bedford uses the same naming convention for his Intel Digests as they do episode titles on the sitcom Friends i.e. ‘The One With [Insert Competitor]’.)

When he was Head of Competitive Intelligence at Commvault, Matt Tyrer called his newsletter the Competitive Market Minute.

(If you’re curious, I would call mine “This Week in Compete” 😏)

It doesn’t start and end at the subject line though. 

Include some funny Glassdoor reviews about your competitors, a quote of the day, or something unrelated to work altogether.

Tl;dr…have some fun.

Because if you’re having fun writing it, your audience will have fun reading it. 

🤫 Okay but you can’t tell anyone…🤫

We all have questions we’re too afraid to ask out loud…

• How should I be measuring the impact of my compete program?
• How often should I be updating my battlecards?
• Why is she taking so long to text me back?

You’re invited to join JFrog’s Gal Toren and Autodesk’s Jason D’Urso as they answer these questions (maybe not the last one) and much more on September 13th. 

Competitive Enablement Show LIVE is back with a vengeance, baby! It’s going to be a good one. 

Save your seat 👉 https://klue.com/celive

👭Coffee & Compete Community Corner 👬

So many sources of intel…so little time. 

Pound-for-pound though, customers that churned from a competitor pack the biggest intel punch. 

So mine them for intel (and include it in your Competitive Intel Newsletter!)

I’ll let Brandon take it from here 👇

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