CognitiveScale

New industries are difficult to navigate. Companies at the bleeding edge of the industry aren't just competing for business. They are trying to create a market for it. They also have to deal with the difficult process of defining the industry, the nomenclature, and the expectations for service and product performance. By default, a company's messaging will have to change several times as the market changes, the industry develops, and then begins to mature. CognitiveScale was in this position at the beginning of 2022.

For most companies in this situation Marketing and Sales are chaotic. They are constantly having to redefine themselves and refocus their efforts as the market attempts to define its needs and direction. To meet these demands requires processes and infrastructure designed to add structure to the chaos. Having a framework in place allows them to manage the changes while remaining agile and in control.

This is a good part of what we did for CognitiveScale. We put processes and infrastructure in place to keep everything in alignment across all marketing efforts in order to reign in the chaos.

INDUSTRY: Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare, Banking and Insurance
KEY STATS: 400% growth in website visits | Moved SEO Rankings from rating for 3 Keywords to more than 200 in six months—including 30 top 20 results | Managed & budgeted online and traditional ad campaigns
MESSAGING: Complex. CognitiveScale markets an Artificial Intelligence Platform that allows enterprises to build AI apps across all areas of healthcare, banking and insurance business operations.

Phase 1: Proof of Value

It didn't take long to complete an evaluation of where things stood at CognitiveScale. Their previous marketing teams hadn't left much that was usable and the current people were doing their best, but lacked a plan and focus and the ability to prioritize needs. That's where we came in. There were a lot of things that needed work online and offline to move the company in the right direction. SEO was non-existent. Analytics wasn't being used, though it was in place. There was no list of Keywords that mattered or where the company ranked for them. In fact, a little research showed that the company only ranked for four keywords, including its name.

More importantly, there were no standards, no Brand Style Guide or defined uses of colors and the logo, and no messaging documentation that was current. The website had over fourteen colors being used and the wording on the site was flowery and overly complex, filled with industry jargon.

For Phase 1 we cleaned all of that up, fixed the "under the hood" issues of the code of the site, and put standards in place (Brand Style Guide) for usage of fonts, colors and the logo, among other things. Below is a list of some of the things we did during Phase 1.

"Jack has helped CognitiveScale in a number of areas related to Marketing Engineering, from web design and SEO to MarComms and messaging. He learned our business and the language of AI, our platform and products, the industries we serve and more. His Marketing Engineering program helped us to align the people, tools and processes that would not only build out excellent MarComms, our web site, and various Marketing campaigns, but it also produced results against specific KPIs."

Jeffrey Eyestone
Healthcare AI Advisor
CognitiveScale

Phase 2: Infrastructure

Phase 2 is about building out processes and structure. It is also about bringing the team into alignment and working with the same tools toward the same goals. To that end, we installed multiple tools to measure (KPIs) our efforts and their results. These became an important part of the weekly GTM (Go To Market ) meetings. Some of the tools we implemented are:

In addition to these changes, we took the new messaging and rebuilt the website. The new site was more agile and easier to change the pieces out and add new areas than the old site was, and it was built with SEO in mind.

The Marketing Calendar was a working calendar that included milestones for all events, advertising campaigns and releases. It listed trade shows, webinars, advertisements, analyst relations, newsletter publication, etc. The milestones were deadlines that needed to be met at certain points. KPIs were kept for each.

The Marketing and Sales Dashboard aggregated data from Google Analytics, Social Media, AdWords and LinkedIn Ad campaigns, SEO Keyword rankings and newsletter signups. We also integrated SalesForce into the dashboard to view Lead Generation and where in the process the leads were. Each team member had access to the dashboard to use as they needed, including for Board meetings and Investor meetings.

Phase 3: Authority and Leadership

Phase 3 is about building Authority and Leadership in the industry. The approach changes for each company we work with. We have to assess the various types of content that are needed and then plan for them. CognitiveScale needed more in-depth product articles, videos explaining the platform and a few new pages for the website that hadn't been addressed previously. On addition to that, we had to develop some broad-reaching content that addressed the industry as a whole, not the company's product, in particular. Content that was more philosophical and that engaged a larger audience.

With the additional content we built out a Learn Center on the website, a place where potential customers could explore the platform from various angles.

Once those things were in place, put in place a program to advertise with leading journals in the industry, places that would enhance the company profile, get the attention of the correct people, and lead to further engagement.

Phase 4: Test, Measurement and Refinement

Phase 4 is about testing, measuring and adjusting for better results. A/B testing becomes integral to the approach once the infrastructure is in place. It is an ongoing process, as each phase is. Industries and companies change over time and each area needs to be evaluated for viability and effectiveness.

Results

It's easy to talk about the results. They were clearly visible. SEO moved from ranking for 4 keywords to ranking for more than 200, including more than thirty top 20 keywords in a natural search. Page Authority rose from 17 to 51 in the process. The Learn Center became one of the most popular areas on the website and played a big role in SEO. Website visits rose from 20,000 in 2021 (March to September) to over 87,000 in 2022—a 400% increase. LinkedIn followers grew from 12,000 to 14,500 in six months. There are other KPIs and success stories. But the picture should be clear. Nothing is impossible. With Marketing Engineering, proper messaging, and authoritative content the outcome you want is achievable.

Website: CognitiveScale was sold to a group out of Qatar.

Ready to talk?

Contact Us →

Jack McDaniel began Impress Design & Marketing in 2005. He's an award-winning designer and has lead many companies to the top of their market niche with a data-driven, science-based approach to marketing and user experience. About us »