Smart Competitive Intelligence Tip: Hiding in Plain Sight

Kimberly Mercer

Smart Competitive Intelligence Tip: Hiding in Plain Sight

The Facts

We talk a lot about sales enablement content—battlecards, product sheets, win-loss analysis, competitor matrices. We talk about smart competitive intelligence and getting targeted content to the right people at the right time. And, we talk about how it all has to, ultimately, serve the customer. Reflect their journey. Embrace their voice.

Fact: the buyer’s journey has expanded the time buyers dedicate to independent discovery and contracted the amount of direct interaction with sales reps.

Fact: this emphasis on inbound sales enablement means more targeted and tactical content being shipped top-of-funnel.

It is easier to access key competitive product intel than ever before because it’s offered up front and ungated to prospects in early-stage awareness and discovery.

As sales enablement expands to inbound content, it offers more access to a lot of previously protected positioning. It’s a sell space, no longer reserved for click-bait and thought-leadership. Features lists disguised as blog posts, product demos wrapped in a free white paper…more and more, detailed product intel is hidden in plain sight on the marketing sites of your top competitors.

We do it. Here, here and here. All not-so-subtle pitches aimed directly at Product Marketers who read our blog. We know they have a problem but if we wait around for them to follow the breadcrumbs of a multitude of posts and ebooks, we will probably get scooped. Transparency is expected. Especially as the line between software and hardware blurs and tech like AR and VR becomes a part of daily life. Consumers, B2B and B2C, are in on it. In fact, considering the tsunami of information that rolls over us—continously, relentlessly—it’s a relief to simply have access to what you need, when you need it.

A disciplined, honest approach can move a buyer along the funnel faster and more efficiently. Bait and switch wastes time and money – your and theirs. Make your key deliverables accessible and consistent. Openly highlighting some of your competitive advantages can be freeing. Shed the cloak of secrecy and own what makes your solution the right one—the best one.

Directly target keywords that reflect specific user needs that are met by your product and features. Buyers will find you easier and appreciate the no bullsh*t approach. Your brand becomes stronger when it unites the entire organisation.

The Opportunity

Simple, if you’re doing it, so are they. Which means that it’s right there, hiding in plain sight, for you to study. Forget stealth mode, just read their blog posts and social feeds. Assume that what they say, they mean; that what they share, they believe.

Like you, competitors are fighting to be heard and striving to engage buyers. Pay attention to the content they produce for different audiences. Note partnerships and leadership strategies. It’s right there, in their words, their photography, their onboarding experience, even the GIFs that accompany social content. They are telling you both who they and their intended are.

The Obstacles

So, that’s great, right? Pay even more attention to the mostly-boring content produced by your rivals. Devote even more time and resources to parsing every turn of phrase word.

Sign. Me. Up.

It’s true, that a return to on-page monitoring a competitor’s inbound content can seem basic. It’s a lot of searching and scanning that may or may not catch a solid piece of intel. And if you do, what do you do with it? Where does that get stored? In an email link? A Pocket item or buried in an Evernote folder that won’t get opened until next quarter?

A core value of smart competitive intelligence is utility. So, who uses it? And, to what end?

How do you collect all of this new content and how do you make it tactical and relevant?

The Tools

The good news is, you’re probably already monitoring and collecting what you need to. Tools like BuzzSumo, Hootsuite and Google Alerts help you track what competitors are saying and what’s resonating. That’s how you plan your content strategy and determine what to develop. You’ll just need to wear a different hat to anaylse the information and find a way to share it with your teams that makes it relevant and is easy to use.

You + Klue

Klue can help. You know what’s important, you just need a tool that helps collect, organize and share the pro analysis you’re already doing.

We help companies combine intel shared by employees with intel collected across the web into private, curated hubs of competitive knowledge. Feeds, email digests, profiles and battlecards can be created and curated in Klue then distributed to platforms your teams use now.

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