How I’d Grow MappedIn
MappedIn is an indoor maps and wayfinding software. They’re like Google Maps but for malls and other venues. They’re doing well, but here’s how I’d compound on their early SEO traction.
By Ryan Carruthers
Dec 24, 2023
MappedIn is an indoor maps and wayfinding software. They’re like Google Maps but for malls, stadiums, offices, retail stores, healthcare facilities, warehouses, colleges and universities.
They used to sell only to large companies but have moved down market with their free, AI-powered MappedIn Maker, which lets anyone create an interactive map in minutes.
It’s pretty cool stuff.
Mappedin’s Current Positioning and Messaging Could Use Some Clarity
Mappedin has 5 product offerings:
- Mappedin Maker,
- Mappedin Web,
- Digital Directory,
- Mappedin CMS, and
- Mappedin SDK.
Focus on the benefits, not the features
In their dropdown menu, It’s helpful to have the subtext under the product name. Otherwise, it’s unclear what each of the products do.
But even with the sub-copy, it’s still not clear. I read it two or three times before it clicked.
For example, I read “Digital Directory” as “You can look at other maps that people have made,” but that’s not what it is at all.
It’s the technology behind digital kiosks that visitors at malls use to find their way around.
Firstly, to make it clearer, I’d swap the subtext with the header.
After doing that, I’d change the copy of the new headers to describe what the user actually accomplishes with that product.
For example, I’d change the copy to the following:
- Mappedin Maker —> “Create a map for free in minutes”
- Mappedin Web —> “Publish your map on your website”
- Digital directory —> “Build maps for large-screen kiosks”
- Mappedin CMS —> “Empower property managers to easily manage multiple maps”
- Mappedin SDK —> “Sophisticated solutions to meet your unique mapping needs”
When completed, the new dropdown menu would look like this:
I’d do the same for their “SOLUTIONS” dropdown. Several of the use cases are also unclear.
I’d change the copy from nouns to copy that captures the benefit better.
That way, when the visitor clicks the dropdown menu, they ‘get it’ immediately.
To be more concrete, here’s an example. I’d change “Indoor positioning” to “Let visitors know exactly where they are at all times.”
I’d also swap the subtext with the header just like we did with the “PRODUCTS” menu.
Prioritize your CTAs and make it clear what you want the visitor to do
Every SaaS website has two goals.
- If they’re product-led, you want them to start a free trial.
- If they’re sales-led, you want them to book a demo.
In Mappedin’s case, because they released their free map maker app, they do both.
It’s not uncommon for an enterprise SaaS company to offer a free trial version of their software. In doing so, they grow through high volumes and low LTVs, instead of only a few high-value customers.
Sidebar:
Together, a mentorship software company in Toronto, started offering a free trial while I was heading up Content Marketing there. It was an effective way to encourage small communities or departments to start mentorship programs using their technology rather than struggling to get the budget for a pricer license.
Back to Mappedin.
The “Try it for free” CTA that shows up in the dropdown menus and the “Signup” CTA in the header go to the same place. I imagine they added the “TRY IT FOR FREE” CTA when they released the new app. But now it’s causing confusion—do you want them to sign up, try for free, or contact you?
Here’s what I’d do.
Change the main CTAs to “Book a demo” and “Map Your Space for Free.” Then, make your main CTA to the orange so it’s more prominent (I’m assuming the priority would be to book a demo).
This way, you’re telling the reader exactly what you want them to do.
Mappedin’s Content Strategy Has The Foundation For Significant Impact
Mappedin has the potential to grow their organic presence. It’s clear they’ve started investing in creating content related to indoor mapping, but there’s still work to do.
For starters, they do rank well for different variations of the keyword “indoor mapping.” This is great.
Additionally, their industry landing pages rank really well for valuable bottom-of-funnel (BoFu) keywords.
I’d bet they’re getting a lot of conversions from these pages:
Where they have room to grow, however, is their blog content.
They have about 300 blogs, but the only ones ranking for keywords related to indoor mapping are, How To Create Indoor Navigation Maps and Experiences and The Importance of Useful Indoor Maps.
There’s a big opportunity for them to expand their mapping content.
1. Copy competitor content, but do it better
What I would do is compare Mappedin to the dominant organic competitor in their space and then start producing all the content they have—but make it better.
Right now, Mapme.com is the dominant player in the space and they’re not setting a very high bar when it comes to high quality content IMO 😏.
For example, Mapme.com has several blogs ranking for keywords related to “navigation” and “mapping“.
As a start, Mappedin could copy these topics and produce better blogs.
It’s also worth noting that even though Mapme is the dominant competitor in search, many of their blogs generate little traffic.
Just look at estimated ‘traffic’ column:
This suggests that with a consistent content program, Mappedin could really make a splash and grow their site through blog content.
2. Create content based on the users’ Jobs To Be Done
Copying your competitors will only take you so far.
To become a leader within the SERPs, you need to generate your own content ideas, too. And ideally, these content ideas point readers back to your product as the best way to solve their problems.
To do that, use the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) method.
For example, here are three potential JTBD of Mappedin customers:
- Wayfinding and Navigation: “I need to help my customers find their way around complex indoor spaces like shopping malls, airports, or large office buildings efficiently.”
- Location-Based Services for Businesses: “I want to offer location-based services or promotions to customers within my establishment.”
- Enhanced Visitor Experience: “I want to provide a better experience for visitors or guests to my venue.”
In my mind, the core JTBD of a Mappedin customer is helping customers find their way around complex indoor spaces.
With this as the guiding principle of the content strategy, I would create a content cluster around the topic.
Here’s what I mean.
To build a cluster, there are ~17 formats of articles. They are:
- Ultimate Guide (this is your pillar page that links to all other formats below)
- Tools/software (this is where you round up different tools and review them)
- Definitional
- Importance/benefits
- How-to guide
- Differences (X vs Y)
- Best practices/Strategies
- Examples (oftentimes, you can include your customers in these examples and highlight how your product has helped them)
- Types
- Mistakes to avoid
- Ideas
- Stages/Cycle
- Trends
- Studies/Statistics
- Challenges
- Checklist
- Template/Sample (this is where you offer a downloadable asset in exchange for their email)
Applying these formats to Mappedin customers’ core Job To Be Done of helping customers find their way around complex indoor spaces, will look like this:
You can see that the existing Mappedin content fits in nicely with this cluster.
Producing all this content and internally linking them all together is an effective way to own the SERPs for anything related to helping customers find their way around complex indoor spaces.
3. Create product-led content
Writing this content will keep you busy for a while.
Next, I’d then move on to creating a series of product-led articles related to the different industries Mappedin serves.
For each industry, I would create a product-led article to walk readers through how to complete their core JTBD using Mappedin’s different products.
Following this process would yield 60 product-led articles across all the industry verticals.
There’s a formula for this:
“How to” + “[Create/Publish/Manage]” + “[Of/For] Your” + “[Industry]”
That may be confusing, but when you apply it to Mappedin, it makes more sense. Here’s what the content topics would be:
Sidebar:
Producing all this content will take time, but because it’s all so similar, you can actually create it programmatically if you’re savvy. One way to do this is to provide a very structured article outline with the same sections but changed for the different industries. Then you can have a writer produce several articles in that span that would usually take them to write one.
I would start by creating all this content as written articles. Then, for those articles that start ranking well and generating a decent amount of traffic or conversions, I would double down on them.
Here’s what I’d do for articles that start to gain traction:
- add images and graphics that enhance the message,
- create a YouTube video walkthrough of how to use Mappedin to accomplish whatever the Job To Be Done of the article is and embed it on the page,
- include customer testimonials that fit the industry,
- add CTAs to ebooks, newsletter signups, and free trials or demos.
In doing so, you’ll build a high-converting blog.
4. Create content clusters around each industry
Doing all this would keep me busy for a while. But I wouldn’t stop there.
I would go back to the content clusters we made above and reapply the ~17 formats to each industry Mappedin serves.
By completing a content cluster for each of Mappedin’s 15 industries, we’d come out of it with over 200 articles that are laser-focused on the needs and pain points of Mappedin’s target customers.
Not bad.
Once it’s all published and ranking, I’d keep an eye on it, seeing what’s ranking, what’s driving conversions and adjust accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Mappedin has an opportunity to be an authority in the indoor mapping space.
With sharper messaging and a robust content strategy, they’ll turn their website into a high converting sales asset.
They’re poised to outpace competitors and claim a top spot in the SERPs. Watch this space— Mappedin is going places, and it’s going to be one heck of a ride.