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Competitive Intelligence for Sales and Marketing

How To Win More Opportunities and Optimize Your Marketing Strategy

Allen GannettFounder and CEO of TrackMaven

Founder & CEO of TrackMavenThe Competitive Intelligence Platform for Digital Marketers

allen@trackmaven.com@allen

ALLENGANNETT

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COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE FOR SALES

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GOAL: Discover opportunities to differentiate yourself from your competitors

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CREATING FUDFear, Anxiety, Doubt

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JOB POSTINGS: INDEEDWhat are they hiring for?What are their priorities for growth?

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Look for special projects/worry signs (CX,

UX, technical architect, etc.)

Look for new product signs. Hiring lots of

product managers, especially with specific

skills.

Create Alerts for new postings

Job Postings are Leading Indicators

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GlassdoorWhat is the company like internally? Organized? High morale?

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How they treat customers

Is it boiler-roomesque?

Do people say things about

the product?

What we’re looking for

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Inc DataAre they smaller than us?Are they growing faster?

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Growth Rate

Revenue Rate

Industry

INC 500/0 has a significant amount of data

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REVENUE & RISKSAnalyze S1 Data

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Revenue Summary

Are they spending $1 to

make 0.50?

Disclose any risks to

business that would scare

customers?

S1 Filing: Great resource if company is going public

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STARTUPSHow can you benefit from competitor transparency?

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Are they small?

Only generating a small

amount of revenue?

Look at Traction Section

AngelList: Look For “Overdisclosure” From Startups

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B2B REVIEWSDo they have bad reviews?What do people dislike?

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Overall Company Rating?

What do people like and dislike?

TrustRadius and BestVendor

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WEBSITE MONITORINGDoes the messaging make sense? Is their website user-friendly?

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Create pings for specific

sections of competitor

websites (ex: Pricing,

Positioning, Offers, etc.)

VisualPing.io: Monitor Website Messaging

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIPDoes it have a positive or negative impact? Does it make them seem smart/knowledgeable?

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Do your competitors’ CEOs post

presentations on SlideShare?

Do they post industry talks online?

What audiences are they

cultivating?

What stories are they telling about

the company/product?

YouTube & SlideShare: Look For Executives’ Presence

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POPULARITY OVER TIMEIs their customer base shrinking?

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Track changes in competitors’

customer base

No one likes to be on a

sinking ship…

Pull down a list of customers

each month and search for

losses

BuiltWith: Real-Time Popularity For Tech Products

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EMPLOYEE LINKEDINSLook For Employee Overdisclosures

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PROSPECTSAre we charging too much? Too little?

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ASK! Ask your prospects for

competitors’ pricing and materials

They are happy to share!

Prospects: Resource For Competitor Sales Funnel

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2 COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE FOR MARKETERS

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GOAL: Gain Insight Into How We Are Performing And What We Can Do To Improve

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SENDERBASEAre we sending the right number of emails?

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SOCIAL PLATFORMSGather weekly stats on audience size/channel

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META DESCRIPTIONSSee what people think their key messages are

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META KEYWORDSAre they broadcasting their SEO strategy?

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GOOGLE SURVEYSSurvey competitors customers on their opinions about them

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GHOSTERYSee your competitors’ advertising and marketing automation tools

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FEEDLYHow many people subscribe to competitors’ RSS feed?

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GOOGLE TRENDSHow much word of mouth is there for us? Organic search is a good proxy.

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TRAFFIC PANEL TOOLSWhich of your competitors have the largest footprint?

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CI ToolsWhere are your competitors winning?

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QUESTIONS ?