Working in the market intelligence business is multidisciplinary. It demands a diverse range of talents and involves various tasks daily. Suppose you are considering a career in this field and ask questions about the scope of responsibilities, necessary skills, and potential impacts on your professional future. In that case, this article is tailored to you. Come along as we reveal some insights into what it entails to work for a strategic market intelligence firm.
At EMBS Group, we aim to empower businesses with hard-to-obtain intel, enabling them to make well-informed strategic decisions. Focused primarily on the healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and construction sectors, we excel in decoding market data and transforming it into actionable insights for our clients. Understanding this core of our business is essential for gaining insight into the scope of our activities and, thus, the profile of a market intelligence consultant.
Insights into the world of market intelligence
Market intelligence is a crucial support function for critical decision-makers in large organizations, such as Strategic Marketing Leaders, Business Development Executives, Competitor Intelligence Analysts, and R&D Managers. These professionals encounter challenges in formulating effective market strategies and development plans. While they typically keep a general eye on market trends, specialized firms like ours step in when the need arises for more intricate insights into competitors, customers, and other stakeholders across the value chain. Acting as a dedicated task force, we aim to obtain hard-to-get market information that offers a competitive edge. Through this process, we deliver added value to our clients’ businesses.
But working in market intelligence is not just meaningful. It’s also intriguing. Why? Because each client presents unique challenges and requirements. This translates to a dynamic work environment. In practice, it means that you never know what kind of project you will be assigned to, and what’s more, you will never be assigned the same project. It creates an excellent space for self-development, exposure to various industries and research topics, and innovation.
Engaging with the actual business challenges of significant organizations and closely interacting with business stakeholders provide a tangible sense of purpose and empowerment. It’s contrary to jobs based on well-defined protocols, which are full of tedious and time-consuming tasks. Although our projects are based on predefined milestones facilitating your work and ensuring high-quality collaboration with clients, each project demands an individual approach, including developing a unique methodology, identifying specific industry experts, and creating customized reports.
Profile of a market intelligence consultant
Now that we have explored the essence of working in market intelligence let’s delve into how it shapes the profile of a market intelligence consultant. Market intelligence projects significantly overlap with strategic consulting, business analysis, and marketing. To excel in this role, one must thrive in a diverse and dynamic work environment, preferring interdisciplinary tasks over repetitive ones. Strong communication and analytical skills are also essential for success because of the objective of acquiring hard-to-get information and converting it into actionable recommendations.
An additional crucial aspect is the ability to think creatively. Every project presents unique challenges that demand innovative solutions. Market intelligence consultants must approach tasks with an open mind to explore unconventional avenues to achieve their objectives. This includes identifying industry experts and persuading them to participate in interviews, formulating insightful questions, and devising methods to calculate market size in niche or emerging industries.
Moreover, a natural curiosity is an essential quality that distinguishes a proficient market intelligence specialist. Given the nature of dealing with real business challenges, staying informed about current business and economic trends and possessing a deep understanding of business operations, market dynamics, and industry processes is beneficial. This knowledge enhances the ability to grasp the project’s context, enables the formulation of hypotheses, and facilitates their testing in practical scenarios.
Some vital hard skills also matter. Among them is proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, particularly Excel for handling data and PowerPoint for creating impactful and visually compelling reports. Another aspect is proficiency in foreign languages. English is essential because we are a multinational team and our clients are international brands. Since these clients often seek intelligence in specialized markets, knowledge of additional foreign languages is advantageous. It facilitates tasks such as conducting secondary research or in-depth interviews in the local language.
The path forward
Being part of a strategic market intelligence firm provides significant advantages and opens up diverse opportunities for the future. This experience equips you with a deep understanding of the business landscape, data collection and analysis expertise, connections to various industry bodies and experts, and the ability to craft effective strategies. With this skill set at your disposal, tailored to your aspirations, you are well-equipped to either venture into entrepreneurship or secure a role in a strategic division within a major organization.
Indeed, there is also the opportunity to continue a career in market intelligence. Thanks to the diverse nature of the project, the risk of getting bored is minimized. The specific nature of market intelligence projects also leads to forming strong partnerships with our clients. In this field of consultancy, clients are typically very collaborative as they’re very much interested in our findings. This mutual engagement fuels motivation, knowing that our efforts consistently deliver tangible value to our client’s businesses.
Wrapping up
Working as a market intelligence consultant is like playing the puzzles. It demands a passion for combining big and small pieces of information into meaningful insights and offers a stimulating, fast-paced learning environment. If this challenge resonates with you, explore our available job opportunities.
Location is not a barrier; our main office is in Poland, but our project teams operate remotely from diverse global locations like the USA, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Slovakia, and more. I could also add that we have a very friendly atmosphere, but it would probably sound cliché. So apply and check for yourself.
