Competitive Intelligence Specialist

Sprout Social is seeking a customer-obsessed and data-driven competitive intelligence specialist to help us grow our Competitive Intelligence team. Named one of the best places to work in 2022 by Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Award in the US small and medium category, our marketing team has helped us reach 30,000 customers worldwide including DoorDash, General Mills, Trello, Make-a-wish Foundation, Edelman, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. These businesses rely on Sprout to create stronger relationships with their customers through social media.

As a Competitive Intelligence Specialist, you understand the social business marketplace and are knowledgeable about the latest technology and industry trends. The ideal candidate has experience with B2B tech or software marketing and possesses the desire and ability to garner a deep product knowledge while understanding the need to tell compelling stories about our platform and solutions.

You will work closely with our Marketing and Sales teams to ensure our teams are enabled to tell the best possible stories to position our platform and solutions in a competitive marketplace. You will continue evolving our competitive intelligence program and competitive intelligence database through initiatives such as win/loss analyses, sales collateral, ROI tools, product trainings, product launches, and more. You’ll advocate for new approaches to communicate Sprout’s positioning in an ever-evolving market.

Your skills are part creative, part analytical and always centered around delivering relevant content that enhances our brand. We’re looking for a product-focused and creative individual who inherently understands product content creation, sales enablement strategies, and the competitive landscape. If you have a deep understanding of the social business marketplace, love keeping tabs on your favorite industry publications, and value competitive intelligence, we'd love to talk to you!

Qualifications

These are the minimum qualifications that our hiring team is looking for in this role:

• 2+ years experience in product marketing, competitive intelligence, industry research, and/or sales content creation
• 1+ years experience with data analysis within Excel and Salesforce

Additionally, these are the preferred qualifications that would indicate a particularly strong candidate:

• Excellent market research skills preferably within B2B or software marketing
• Experience providing department-wide training and customer/industry-focused training
• Experience with and/or knowledge of social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) from a business use-case perspective

Within 1 Month, you will:

• Experience Sprout’s in-depth onboarding, covering everything from our company mission and values, hearing directly from executives and founders, to deep training on our products and the value that Sprout delivers to our customers.
• Make a plan with your manager to set initial priorities, align on expectations for your role, plant goalposts for your career, and learn about Sprout’s approach to competitive insights.
• Conduct initial 1:1s with stakeholders and other strategic partners throughout the company to identify what a successful relationship looks like and how you will work together.
• Attend our sales onboarding training to learn how we position our solution and value to customers
• Understand as much as you can about the culture, products, teams, and projects of Sprout to creatively support our award-winning culture.

Within 3 Months, you will:

• Familiarize yourself with Competitive Intelligence process and rituals (i.e. how we get work done), learn our existing rituals, and understand how to effectively plan for work to get done
• Go deep into customer data and research to familiarize yourself with various competitors and customer use cases
• Familiarize yourself with Sprout’s sales strategy, product strategy, marketing campaign framework and more
• Interact day-to-day with internal teams including sales, marketing, creative, account management, support and others to extract insights and spot opportunities

Within 6 months, you will...

• Participate in cross-functional meetings to develop competitive awareness and sales strategies and contribute to integrated product launches both tactically and in a project management capacity
• Continue to develop strong relationships across Sales and Marketing and better understand the full customer lifecycle so you can better align your work with Sales/Success needs.

Within 12 months, you will...

• Develop processes to understand competitive differentiators, package those insights, and leverage them in a way that drives increased win and rates and retention rates
• Conduct market and customer research that can be combined with existing VoC and competitive insights gathered by our Customer Marketing and Market Strategy teams to inform product lifecycle strategies
• Collaborate with Sales, Growth, Success and Customer Marketing to build and socialize collateral that drives revenue.
• Develop unique strategies to help us increase our knowledge of competitive offerings and how we can use this to arm our company.
• Surprise us! Use your unique ideas and abilities to change our team and strategy efforts in beneficial ways that we haven’t even considered yet.

Of course what is outlined above is the ideal timeline, but things may shift based on business needs and other projects and tasks could be added at the discretion of your manager.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social powers open communication between individuals, brands and communities through elegant, sophisticated software. We are relentless about solving hard problems for our customers and committed to both customer and team success. Our team’s shared belief in Sprout’s mission promotes a culture of openness, empowerment and fun.

We’re proud to regularly be recognized for our team, product and culture. Our benefits program includes:

• Insurance and benefit options that are built for both individuals and families
• Progressive policies to support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave program
• High-quality and well-maintained equipment—your computer will never prevent you from doing your best
• Wellness initiatives to ensure both health and mental well-being of our team
• Ongoing education and development opportunities via our Grow@Sprout program and employee-led diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
• Growing corporate social responsibility program that is driven by the involvement and passion of our team members
• Beautiful, convenient and state-of-the-art offices in Chicago’s Loop and downtown Seattle, for those who prefer an office setting

Whenever possible, Sprout wants to provide our team with the flexibility to work in the location that makes the most sense for them. Sprout maintains a remote workforce in many places in the United States. However, we are not set up in all states, so please look at the drop-down box in our application to see whether your state is listed. Few roles require an office setting. If your position requires a physical presence in a Sprout office, it will be evident in the job listing and your offer letter.

Sprout Social is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and an Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate based on identity- race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual identity), age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship status, arrest record or expunged or sealed convictions, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our 2021 DEI Report.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at accommodations@sproutsocial.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. We'll do all we can to ensure you're set up for success during our interview process while upholding your privacy, including requests for accommodation. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please click here (1) Equal Opportunity Employment Poster (2) Sprout Social's Affirmative Action Statement (3) Pay Transparency Statement.

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