Octopus Competitive Intelligence

Whether you’re a solopreneur, a tech founder, a Marketing Director, a product manager or a market analyst buried in dashboards and pretending it all means something. Choices define how much  control  you have over your position in the market. It’s about outsmarting competitors with strategic intel. Especially when the stakes are high, and the data is murky. “You don’t win by making the right choice — you win by creating better ones before anyone else sees them.” Now, let’s take that phrase and flip it toward competitive intelligence. Faced with a Choice: The Hidden Battle Behind Every Strategic Move Every market-facing decision is a fork in the road. Enter a new segment, or double down on the one that’s bleeding cash but building brand equity? Copy the competitor’s pricing model, or bet on creating a premium tier no one asked for (yet)? React to what the market  says  it wants, or lead with what they didn’t know they needed? It’s easy to assume  strategy is abou...

Why Your Cheaper Pricing Won’t Win the Market Why Your Cheaper Pricing Won’t Win the Market (And What Will): Weekly Winning Strategies Let’s talk about pricing wars. You see it everywhere—companies trying to undercut their competitors by fractions of a percentage point, hoping customers will jump ship for that tiny savings. We see it a lot with our B2B mystery shopping exercises. Pricing is always the first thing a client thinks about, but there is much more to collect, analyse and act on. Cheaper pricing is rarely the answer. Here’s an example: Competitor G charges a 3.75% transaction fee, while our fee is 3.25%, offering a 13% savings. Sounds great, right? A 13% savings! Surely, that’ll convince customers to switch. Except…it won’t. Because pricing alone is rarely the deciding factor in a competitive market. If it were, we’d all be using the cheapest SaaS tools, driving the lowest-cost cars, and eating at fast-food chains instead of high-end restaurants. But that’s not reality. If yo...

The Competitive Intelligence Optimisation Trap: Weekly Winning Strategies We’re told to analyse everything. Track every competitor’s move. Optimise every insight. Benchmark every product feature. “If you’re not tracking, you’re falling behind!” And sure, there’s truth to that. And there are many articles on our website telling you just that. But here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: You’ve got to leave something untracked. If it’s not data, it’ll be your time, your focus, your ability to take action. Something always gets left behind. Especially when endless analysis is the goal, and it will only get worse with the endless  AI tools  coming out every week to make your life “better”. Every hour you spend dissecting a competitor’s pricing strategy is an hour you’re not refining your own. Every minute spent tracking their social media engagement is a minute you’re not building your next market move. As I reflect on years of competitive strategy work, I see this m...

Many are playing hide and seek when they should be playing chess. They’re focused on what’s obvious. The moves are going on right in front of them. But missing the subtle shifts that signal where the market is really heading. That’s where weak signals come in. Weak signals are those early, barely noticeable indicators of change. The faint shifts in the market. Those emerging customer frustrations, unconventional behaviours, or subtle tech advancements. Individually, they seem insignificant and not worth worrying about. But together? They are the foundation of disruptive change. And yet, most businesses ignore them. Why? Because weak signals aren’t loud. They don’t scream for attention like a competitor’s press release. Or a government regulation change. Instead, they whisper, and only the smartest players listen. So, how do you interpret weak signals? And more importantly, how do you convert them into a competitive advantage before your competitors even see them? 1. Stop Looking at Wh...