COMPETITIVE AUDIT FOR [REDACTED]
PURPOSE
Understand how [Redacted] and [Redacted] technology companies represent themselves digitally to pinpoint how [Redacted] can differentiate itself within an emerging category landscape.
What We Looked At:
● Core messaging, value propositions, and positioning
● Web-based customer journey
● Website sitemaps
● Marketing tech stack
● Search engine optimization
● SEM spend and keywords
● Short and long-form content
Implications
● Positioning & Messaging: Identify how to differentiate [Redacted] from the competition through distinct category messaging.
● Content Marketing: Gain an understanding of content strategy and tactics typically used in this industry category.
● Organic Search: Pinpoint quick wins and opportunities in the SEO/organic search landscape.
● Paid Media: Determine likely spend and keyword opportunities.
● Customer Journey: Assess how customers are nurtured through their journey, and how to deliver a superior experience.
SUMMARY GENERAL FINDINGS
SUMMARY CUSTOMER JOURNEY FINDINGS
SUMMARY SEO FINDINGS
HIGH-LEVEL TAKEAWAYS
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) [Redacted], followed by [Redacted], enjoy a dominant SEO position in this category due to a wealth of backlinks (e.g. domains linking in to their website) and a variety of SEO-friendly pages. Potential opportunities exist by creating specific [Redacted] tracking pages and optimizing the [Redacted] search engine results page with a site map.
Customer Journey All competitors have made some investment to facilitate customers through the buyer journey, with [Redacted] making the strongest strides across Top of Funnel (e.g. SEO, homepage experience), Middle of Funnel (e.g. Explainer Videos, Product Sheets), and Bottom of Funnel (e.g. Contact Us, Price List). None offer a stellar experience across the journey and there is an opportunity for [Redacted] to be best in class. At first glance, [Redacted] and [Redacted] feel like an engineer’s side hustle app to map and track [Redacted]s and monetize their work with ad networks.
Content – Blog & Video Two of the four competitors examined ([Redacted] and [Redacted]) are developing category-relevant blog content with an eye toward SEO. While some organizations are developing and publishing content on both their core sites and YouTube, some with high production value, very few do a strong job of demonstrating the value and robustness of their products via video.
Content – Thought Leader[Redacted] Organizations are highly inconsistent in their development of thought leader[Redacted]-level content. Only [Redacted] and [Redacted] offer any higher-quality collateral in this area, but even what they offer is limited in quantity.
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Message Style & Value Proposition The technical-oriented nature of the [Redacted] category is
bogging down competitor messaging, offering [Redacted] an opportunity to leverage more
evocative, aspirational language to excite prospective customers. Further, true differentiation will
come from elevating value propositions from the tactical level (e.g. 84 [Redacted]s and counting)
to a strategic level (e.g. make faster, smarter business decisions).
Content Marketing Investment & SEO A major opportunity exists to “win” in the content space,
both for SEO and thought leader[Redacted]. With organizations offering little in the way of
innovative and forward-thinking content, [Redacted] has a chance to move ahead of the limited
pack by developing in-depth longer-form content. This can be repurposed to develop shorter-form
blog content for a more-frequent blog publishing cadence that will help build domain authority for core keywords.
Stronger SEM Testing The highly limited competition in the search marketing space may indicate
an opportunity for [Redacted] to earn quick wins by rolling out a broader campaign to target
qualified traffic. However, ample measurement will be needed to ensure that paid traffic is
converting into qualified leads.
Marketing Technology (MarTech) [Redacted]’s investment in marketing technology today is
relatively light compared to competitors (except for [Redacted]). A stronger investment, especially
in end-to-end life stage analytics tracking with aligned automation technology, will be needed to
surpass industry competitors in their ability to nurture leads and drive customer conversions.
Customer Journey [Redacted] will most benefit from focusing on top-of-funnel activities (e.g.
SEO, SEM) first to drive lead capture today and stand against competitors who have already made
strides in this area. [Redacted] should continue to provide lower-funnel collateral (e.g. named
customer lists, testimonials, sample data). As [Redacted] introduces more products/verticals the
home page will need to merchandise several offers and provide an easy way for users to navigate
to the right product and service (e.g. maritime, weather, aviation, etc).
Tests also should be run on the value of publishing pricing and its ability to improve conversion
rates and/or sales cycles.
FASTEST “WIN” OPPORTUNITIES
The core focus today should be at the ToF:
● Paid Media (SEM & LinkedIn): There is relatively little competition today in the SEM arena,
giving [Redacted] an opportunity to lead the pack in a channel that likely drives
highly-qualified traffic. Further, the spend levels of one competitor ($23K/month, [Redacted])
indicate there is likely an opportunity to profitably convert paid traffic.
● Content: Extremely inconsistent approaches to content by competitors, either in terms of
quality, quantity, or both, demonstrate an opportunity for [Redacted] to quickly enter this
channel.
● Optimizing Initial [Redacted] Experience (Website/Landing Pages): No competitor today
is offering a stellar ToF website experience giving [Redacted] an opportunity to more quickly
and effectively convert traffic into Engagers and MQLs.
While competitors are generally failing at offering strong MoF and BoF experiences, spending time
and money optimizing this part of the funnel is only warranted once the higher level areas are
showing strong performance.
[Redacted] MESSAGING
POSITIONING: PROVIDING ALL THE [Redacted] DATA YOU NEED, WHEN YOU NEED IT VALUE
PROPOSITIONS: Robust Data Coverage, Fast Data Access, Complete Visibility
MESSAGING
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
● [Redacted] poorly integrates the ‘why’ when discussing its technology. It speaks to what the technology does but not the end goal behind using it.
● The copy focuses on specs and features; it’s all about utility.
● Its language is wordy and clunky, a misalignment with its value propositions around speed and innovation.
KEY EXAMPLES
● “Leverage [Redacted] [Redacted] tracking data to improve maritime asset protection and significantly mitigate risk in these remote regions.”
● “Completing your maritime picture faster than any other provider.”
● “Compiling over 7,000,000 [Redacted] messages daily, exact[Redacted] data provides enhanced maritime domain awareness across all bodies of water.
● “These advancements allow for maximum efficiency of your resources using the most complete and up-to-date [Redacted] picture available.”
● “Tracking more than 250,000 [Redacted]s worldwide and providing [Redacted]ping data to customer [sic] in under one minute.”
PRODUCT COPY
● “[Redacted] [Redacted]View™ is an easy-to-use, modern web-based
viewing tool that allows users to see all the [Redacted] positions
produced by their exact[Redacted]® data service and then plots them
on a familiar set of map layers to enhance the viewing experience.
● The World’s Only Real-Time, Global [Redacted] Tracking Service. All
58 [Redacted] Payloads Now in Operation!
● “This new way to view our industry-leading [Redacted] [Redacted]
data is the most efficient, accessible way to obtain the complete
maritime picture for your area of interest. These data can be accessed
when desired, and integrated effortlessly within your geospatial
platforms- removing barriers to big data integration.”
● “exact[Redacted] Density Maps™ deliver in-depth [Redacted] pattern
analysis by transforming millions of [Redacted] messages into
individual geospatial data points.”
● “exactView is not only a collection of coordinated [Redacted]s, but a
complete data services business solution which encompasses the
detection and transmission of [Redacted] marine [Redacted]
information for distribution to customers around the world.”
● “The single source of truth for all your [Redacted] data needs”
● “[Redacted] leverages advanced micro[Redacted] technology to
deliver [Redacted] monitoring solutions characterised by high
performance, reliability, security, and simplicity.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
● LI: [Redacted] is a leading provider of global maritime [Redacted] data for [Redacted] tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions.
● LI: This groundbreaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of [Redacted] equipped maritime [Redacted]s throughout the world and allows [Redacted] to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets.
● FB: [Redacted] is a data services company leading the way in delivering advanced location-based maritime [Redacted] information.
● FB: [Redacted]’s data can be easily integrated into existing operational maritime, C2 or geospatial intelligence systems.
● TW: #exactViewRT delivers ALL [Redacted] and voyage updates with latency of less than one minute!
● TW: With the most comprehensive [Redacted] tracking coverage over polar areas than any other system, #exact[Redacted] can provide real benefits to deliver new [Redacted] monitoring capabilities across our Arctic waters.
[Redacted] SEO METRICS
[Redacted] TOP KEYWORDS
[Redacted] SITE MAP
FINDINGS
● Extremely difficult site to navigate; challenging to understand the distinction between “Product” and “Technology,” requiring the visitor to
navigate to discover what they need.
● The shear number of child pages, coupled with unintuitive child page titles (e.g. exactTRax), make it difficult for a visitor to know where to
navigate.
● Oddly, “Contact Us” is embedded within “Company” rather than a stand alone call-to-action, making conversion harder.
● The use of “Media Centre” does a disservice to [Redacted] content, making it sound like a PR play rather than a user resource area.
● Nine unique, seemingly disparate, industry/usage categories are listed under application, giving the appearance of trying to be something for everyone with zero product and use-case focus.
[Redacted] PAID MARKETING - 3RD PARTY DISPLAY, TEXT OR IMAGE-BASED
CURRENT DISPLAY ADVERTISING
TEXT ADS: None in market today
DISPLAY ADS: None in market today
PAST DISPLAY ADVERTISING
TEXT ADS: Last seen July, 2018
● Countries placed: Greece, Italy, France, Netherland, Poland, Portugal, Spain,
Turkey, United States
● Breadth of Ads: One text ad only
● Text Displayed:
Real-Time [Redacted] Tracking
Track Any [Redacted], Anywhere in the World with [Redacted].com
DISPLAY ADS: None in market today
[Redacted] CONTENT MARKETING
BLOG
Recency: Last post November, 2017
Publishing Frequency: When active, [Redacted] published 2X per month.
General Length: ~500 words
Content Themes: High-level maritime content, occasional product marketing.
Content Medium Usage: Text only. No video or rich images.
Evidence of Keyword/SEO Strategy: NA. No indication of consistent keyword usage in titles, meta descriptions or body copy.
Evidence of Thought Leader[Redacted]: NA. Content is basic, would already be known by most in the industry.
Topic Examples:
● Greatest Hits: Ocean monitoring and sustainability
● Why Digitizing the Ocean Remains a 2017 Problem
● Stop Illegal Fishing in its Tracks
● US R[Redacted]es Privacy Concerns Around [Redacted]
NEWSLETTER
Sign Up Pop Up: NA. Sign up is available via right nav bar.
Newsletter Content: Unknown, none delivered or received after subscribing.
VIDEO
Recency: Last video published in 2017
Content Themes: Product marketing, webinars.
Product Caliber: Highly variable. Some marketing videos with strong
graphics, production quality. Other videos demonstrating actual product
are low quality.
Ability To Grasp Product Capabilities: Strong. Product marketing and
webinars do a good job of demonstrating the macro and micro-level
data compiled and available.
Topic Examples:
● Exploring [Redacted] [Redacted]View
● Real Time Global [Redacted] Tracking From Space
● [Redacted] [Redacted] Intro Webinar
● [Redacted] ArcGIS GeoEvent Processor [Redacted] Tracking
CASE STUDIES
NA. Site only has “use cases” but no actual evidence of product usage
by customers.
WHITEPAPER & EBOOKS
Gating Practices: All long form content is gated using HubSpot.
eBook General Impressions:
● Fairly simplistic coverage of the topic.
● Used mainly to insert [Redacted]’s product marketing next to potential use-case.
● Underwhelming visual design
eBook Examples:
● Global [Redacted]ping & The Impact On Our Oceans
● Monitoring Marine Protected Areas
White Paper General Impressions
● Highly variable approaches across white papers. Some include valuable
academic content with perspectives on [Redacted] usage, others include
case studies.
● The individual units of content included within each white paper are
valuable, but the formatting and collation of that content is illogical.
White Paper Examples:
● Applications of [Redacted]-[Redacted] (S-[Redacted]) for Search and
Rescue
● Applications of [Redacted]-[Redacted] (S-[Redacted]) for Environmental
Protection
[Redacted] WEBSITE & 3rd PARTY MARKETING TECHNOLOGY
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
““Aman has been exceptionally supportive, providing invaluable feedback and insights that have truly guided our journey. His extensive expertise in product and marketing has been a remarkable asset.”