In the fast pace world of digital marketing, changing with the times may not be enough. The target needs to be well beyond where the market leaders are today, but where the market is going tomorrow. Use the competitor’s investment in addressing today’s standard against them and aim for some target that leapfrog today’s innovations.

Too often, I hear various sales teams who want their product to catch up with the leaders in features and functionalities. The “me too” strategy of playing catch up with competitors is a difficult one unless you have more resources than anyone else.

If you can think ahead of how the market is being viewed today, and invest in strategies that address future demand and value, you can outflank your competitors with modest resources. In the world of social media intelligence, this is truly validating the social data set to give insight and foresight in compelling ways. Social Intelligence is just getting going. The value it can provide is far beyond today’s monitoring and listening platforms.

I’m excited to be sharing my views in this regard at SDL Innovate 2012 next week.