Competitor Analysis

---
name: competitor-analysis
description: "Use when analyzing competitors. Audits, positioning."
version: 1.0.0
author: Hermes Agent
license: MIT
platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [competitive-analysis, market-research, intelligence, strategy]
    related_skills: [marketing-strategy-framework, seo-strategy, brand-identity-development]
---

# Competitor Analysis

## Overview

A structured competitive intelligence methodology covering the full lifecycle: competitor identification (direct, indirect, aspirational, emerging), digital audit (website UX, SEO performance, social media presence, advertising strategy), SWOT analysis per competitor, pricing and business model comparison, positioning map creation, content gap analysis, and ongoing monitoring. This skill provides the frameworks, templates, and analysis techniques to build a systematic competitive intelligence program that informs product, marketing, and strategic decisions.

## When to Use

- Conducting a competitive landscape review as part of strategic planning
- Preparing for a product launch or market entry
- Identifying content and SEO gaps vs. competitors
- Analyzing competitor pricing, positioning, and messaging
- Building a competitive monitoring and alerting system
- Informing sales enablement with competitive battle cards
- Evaluating acquisition targets or partnership opportunities
- Understanding market positioning and identifying whitespace opportunities
- Preparing investor or board presentations on competitive landscape

## Body

### 1. Competitor Identification & Classification

#### 1.1 Competitor Tiers

| Tier | Definition | Examples | Analysis Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Direct** | Same product, same audience, same geography | Direct substitute — customer chooses between you and them | Full deep-dive (all sections) |
| **Indirect** | Different product, same audience and need | Solves same problem differently (e.g., CRM vs. spreadsheet) | Moderate (positioning, pricing, content) |
| **Aspirational** | More successful brand in your space | The "gold standard" you want to become | Light (best practices, strategy) |
| **Emergent** | New entrants or startups gaining traction | Threat in 12–24 months | Light (monitor, watchlist) |
| **Legacy** | Established but declining approaches | The old way of doing things | Light (transition analysis) |

**Identification framework:**

| Source | Method | Output |
|---|---|---|
| **Customer surveys** | "Who else did you consider?" | Direct competitor list |
| **Sales team** | "Who do we lose to most often?" | Win/loss analysis, direct competitors |
| **Search (SERP)** | Search for your primary keywords | SEO competitors (may be indirect) |
| **Review sites** | G2, Capterra, Trustpilot — compare alternatives | Verified direct competitors |
| **Social listening** | "I wish [competitor] had..." | Indirect + aspirational |
| **Funding data** | Crunchbase, PitchBook — similar-stage companies | Emerging competitors |
| **App/shop directories** | App Store, Chrome Web Store, Shopify App Store | Niche/adjacent competitors |
| **Industry reports** | Gartner Magic Quadrant, Forrester Wave | All tiers |

#### 1.2 Competitor Profile Template

Create a profile for each direct competitor:

```
## Competitor Profile: [Name]

**Company Info**
- Founded: [Year]
- HQ: [Location]
- Funding: [$ raised, round, investors]
- Revenue: [Estimated / Public]
- Employees: [Headcount, breakdown]
- Ownership: [Bootstrapped / VC / Public / PE]

**Product**
- Core offering:
- Key features:
- Pricing model: [Freemium, Subscription, Usage-based, One-time]
- Pricing range: [$X – $Y per month / per user]
- Target audience: [Persona, vertical, company size]
- Key integrations:

**Strengths**
1. [Strength with evidence]
2. [Strength with evidence]
3. [Strength with evidence]

**Weaknesses**
1. [Weakness with evidence]
2. [Weakness with evidence]
3. [Weakness with evidence]

**Market Position**
- Market share: [Estimated %]
- Growth trend: [Growing / Stable / Declining]
- Brand awareness: [Low / Medium / High]
- Key differentiator: [What they claim]

**Recent Moves (Last 12 months)**
- [Date: Product launch, acquisition, partnership, funding]
- [Date: Significant hire, pivot, lawsuit, rebrand]
```

### 2. Digital Presence Audit

#### 2.1 Website UX & Content Assessment

| Criteria | Score (1–5) | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **First impression** (headline + hero in 5s) | | | | | |
| **Value proposition clarity** (can I understand what they do?) | | | | | |
| **Navigation simplicity** (can I find key pages?) | | | | | |
| **CTA prominence** (what's the main action they want?) | | | | | |
| **Content quality** (depth, freshness, accuracy) | | | | | |
| **Trust signals** (testimonials, case studies, logos, certs) | | | | | |
| **Mobile responsiveness** | | | | | |
| **Page load speed** (< 2.5s mobile) | | | | | |
| **Pricing transparency** | | | | | |
| **Social proof** (reviews, ratings, social engagement) | | | | | |

**Tools:** Screaming Frog (crawl), PageSpeed Insights (speed), BuiltWith (tech stack), Wappalyzer (stack browser extension).

#### 2.2 SEO Assessment

| Metric | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Traffic (monthly est.) | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Domain Authority / Rating | | | | Moz / Ahrefs |
| Referring Domains | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Backlinks (total) | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Top Organic Keywords | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Estimated Traffic Value ($/mo) | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Keywords in Top 10 | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| Keywords in Top 3 | | | | Ahrefs / SEMrush |
| % Branded vs. Non-branded Traffic | | | | SEMrush / Similarweb |
| Site Authority (URL Rating) | | | | Ahrefs |

**SEO Gap Analysis:**

For each competitor, identify keywords they rank for (Top 20) that you don't:

```
Competitor A ranks for "X" but we don't → Is it relevant? → Volume? → 
Difficulty? → Create content targeting this keyword
```

**Backlink analysis per competitor:**

| Competitor | Top Referring Domain | Domain Rating | Link Type | Can We Replicate? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Forbes.com | 92 | Editorial | Pitch expert quote |
| B | TechCrunch.com | 90 | News article | PR story angle |
| C | IndustryBlog.com | 65 | Guest post | Guest post pitch |

#### 2.3 Social Media Assessment

| Platform | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---|---|---|---|
| **LinkedIn** followers | X | X | X |
| LinkedIn posting frequency | X/week | X/week | X/week |
| LinkedIn engagement rate | X% | X% | X% |
| **Twitter/X** followers | X | X | X |
| Twitter/X posting freq | X/day | X/day | X/day |
| Twitter/X engagement rate | X% | X% | X% |
| **YouTube** subscribers | X | X | X |
| YouTube total views | X | X | X |
| **Instagram** followers | X | X | X |
| **TikTok** followers (if relevant) | X | X | X |
| **Facebook** followers | X | X | X |

**Content analysis:**
- What topics get the most engagement for each competitor?
- What content formats work best (video, text, carousel)?
- Do they use paid promotion on social? (look for "Sponsored" tags)
- What hashtags do they use consistently?
- Do they engage with comments/followers?

#### 2.4 Advertising Assessment

**Platform presence check:**

| Platform | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads (Search) | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Google Ads (Display) | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Google Shopping | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Meta (Facebook/IG) Ads | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| LinkedIn Ads | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| YouTube Ads | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| TikTok Ads | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Podcast / Sponsorships | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Affiliate / Partnerships | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |
| Retargeting | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] | [Active/Not] |

**Ad analysis tools:**
- **Facebook Ad Library** (all active Meta ads — free)
- **Adbeat / Moat** (competitor ad creative and spend estimates)
- **SEMrush Advertising Research** (competitor Google Ads keywords and copy)
- **SpyFu** (Google Ads history for any domain)
- **Google Search** (search competitor terms to find their ads live)

### 3. SWOT Analysis Per Competitor

#### 3.1 Template

```
## Competitor: [Name]
[Date of Analysis]

### Strengths (Internal)
1. [Strength] — Evidence: [source]
2. [Strength] — Evidence: [source]
3. [Strength] — Evidence: [source]

### Weaknesses (Internal)
1. [Weakness] — Evidence: [source]
2. [Weakness] — Evidence: [source]
3. [Weakness] — Evidence: [source]

### Opportunities (External)
1. [Opportunity they could exploit] — Risk to us: [High/Med/Low]
2. [Opportunity they could exploit] — Risk to us: [High/Med/Low]

### Threats (External)
1. [Threat they face] — Our potential advantage: [exploit possibility]
2. [Threat they face] — Our potential advantage: [exploit possibility]

### Key Takeaway for Our Strategy
[1–2 sentence synthesis: what this competitor means for our positioning]
```

#### 3.2 Competitive SWOT Matrix

Compare strengths and weaknesses across competitors to find patterns:

```
| Category       | Us         | Comp A     | Comp B     | Comp C     |
|----------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
| Product/Feature| [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Pricing        | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Brand          | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| SEO/Traffic    | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Sales/Channel  | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Support        | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Innovation     | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
| Talent         | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      | [S/W]      |
```

### 4. Pricing & Business Model Comparison

#### 4.1 Pricing Framework

| Dimension | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Model** | [Sub/Usage/Freemium/One-time] | | | |
| **Entry price ($/mo)** | $X | $X | $X | $X |
| **Mid-tier price** | $X | $X | $X | $X |
| **Enterprise price** | $X | $X | $X | $X |
| **Free tier** | [Yes/No] — limits | [Yes/No] — limits | [Yes/No] — limits | [Yes/No] — limits |
| **Setup fee** | [$X / None] | | | |
| **Contract length** | [Month/Month/Annual] | | | |
| **Discount for annual** | [X% off] | | | |
| **Per-user pricing** | [Yes/No] — price | | | |
| **Per-feature pricing** | [Yes/No] | | | |
| **Hidden fees** | [None / Transaction / Implementation] | | | |
| **Refund policy** | [X days] | | | |
| **Payment methods** | | | | |

#### 4.2 Feature Comparison Matrix

| Feature Category | Feature | Us | Comp A | Comp B | Comp C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Core** | Feature 1 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| **Core** | Feature 2 | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| **Differentiating** | Feature 3 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Differentiating** | Feature 4 | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| **Table stakes** | Feature 5 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| **Table stakes** | Feature 6 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |

**Feature comparison rules:**
- Limit to 15–25 features across 3–4 categories
- Include table-stakes features (everyone has them) — check parity
- Include differentiators (unique to one or two) — find your moat
- Include gaps (competitor has, we don't) — potential priorities
- Rank features by customer importance (from surveys / sales team)

### 5. Positioning Map

#### 5.1 2×2 Positioning Matrix

Plot all direct competitors on two axes:

**Common axis pairs:**
- Price (Low → High) × Features (Basic → Premium)
- Enterprise Fit (SMB → Enterprise) × Price (Low → High)
- Innovation (Traditional → Cutting Edge) × Price (Budget → Premium)
- Ease of Use (Hard → Easy) × Features (Basic → Rich)
- Niche (Generalist → Specialist) × Scale (Local → Global)

```
                    High Features / Premium
                           │
          [Comp C]         │           [Comp A]
                           │
                           │
        Niche ─────────────┼──────────── Broad
                           │
                           │
          [Us]             │           [Comp B]
                           │
                    Low Features / Budget
```

**Whitespace analysis:** Empty quadrants or under-populated areas represent potential positioning opportunities.

#### 5.2 Perceptual Map (Multi-dimensional)

For more nuanced positioning, use a spider/radar chart across 5–7 dimensions:

```
                      Product Quality
                          /\
                   5     /  \     4
                   /     \/     \
           4 Pricing ───├───┼──────→ 3 Ease of Use
                   \    /\     /
                    \  /  \  /
                     3   4   \
                            5 Customer Support

Dimensions: Innovation, Customer Support, Ease of Use, Pricing, Product Quality
Scale: 1 (worst) — 5 (best)
Plot each competitor as a colored line
```

### 6. Content Gap Analysis

#### 6.1 Content Coverage Matrix

Map keywords and topics by coverage:

```
| Topic Cluster       | Us         | Comp A     | Comp B     | Opp. Level   |
|---------------------|------------|------------|------------|--------------|
| [Pillar topic 1]    | Pillar ✅  | Pillar ✅  | No pillar  | Medium (fix) |
| [Subtopic 1a]       | Cluster ✅ | Cluster ✅ | Cluster ✅ | Saturated    |
| [Subtopic 1b]       | ❌ Gap     | Cluster ✅ | ❌ Gap     | High — target|
| [Pillar topic 2]    | No pillar  | Pillar ✅  | Pillar ✅  | High — build |
| [Subtopic 2a]       | ❌ Gap     | ❌ Gap     | Cluster ✅ | Medium       |
| [Pillar topic 3]    | No pillar  | No pillar  | No pillar  | VERY HIGH    |
```

**Gap priority scoring:**

```
Priority = (Search Volume × 0.4) + (Intent Fit × 0.3) + (Comp Coverage × 0.2) + (Ease to Create × 0.1)

Where:
- Search Volume: 1–10 (based on keyword volume)
- Intent Fit: 1–10 (how well it matches our offering)
- Comp Coverage: 1–10 (higher = more competitors cover it = more urgent to compete or find angle)
- Ease: 1–10 (easier = higher score)
```

#### 6.2 SERP Feature Gap Analysis

For target keywords, check which SERP features competitors capture:

| Keyword | Featured Snippet | People Also Ask | Image Pack | Video | Local Pack | Top Ad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "K" | Comp A | — | Comp B | Comp A | — | Comp C |
| "L" | — | Us, Comp A | — | Comp B | — | — |
| "M" | Comp A | Comp A, Comp B | — | — | — | Comp B |

**Strategy:** For each keyword where competitors have SERP features and we don't, create content optimized for that feature type (e.g., step-by-step format for "how to" snippets, FAQ schema for PAA, video for video carousel).

### 7. Ongoing Monitoring & Intelligence

#### 7.1 Monitoring Tools & Setup

| Type | Tool | What to Monitor | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Website changes** | Wachete, Visualping, ChangeTower | Pricing page, product page, homepage | Weekly |
| **SEO changes** | Ahrefs/SEMrush alerts | Ranking changes, new keywords, lost/gained backlinks | Weekly |
| **Social media** | Brand24, Mention, Sprout Social | Brand mentions, sentiment, campaign launches | Daily |
| **Press/News** | Google Alerts, Mention | News coverage, funding announcements, executive changes | Daily |
| **Product changes** | G2 Capterra reviews, App store updates | New features, user sentiment, version releases | Weekly |
| **Job postings** | LinkedIn, Indeed | Hiring patterns — product, sales, executive hires | Monthly |
| **Funding** | Crunchbase, CB Insights | Funding rounds, valuations, investor activity | Monthly |
| **Reviews** | G2, Capterra, Trustpilot | User sentiment, bug reports, feature requests | Weekly |
| **Ad monitoring** | Facebook Ad Library, Moat, Adbeat | New ad creative, messaging shifts, spend changes | Monthly |
| **Content publishing** | Feedly, RSS (their blog) | New content, topic shifts, tone changes | Weekly |

#### 7.2 Competitive Intelligence Dashboard

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE DASHBOARD              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ LAST UPDATED: [Date]                                            │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ALERTS (Last 7 days)                                            │
│ ⚠️ [Comp A] launched new feature: [Feature]                     │
│ ⚠️ [Comp B] raised $XXM Series B                                │
│ ℹ️  [Comp C] posted 5 new jobs in sales                         │
│ ℹ️  [Comp A] started Google Ads campaign for keyword [KW]       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ MARKET POSITION SNAPSHOT                                        │
│ ┌───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐      │
│ │           │ Us       │ Comp A   │ Comp B   │ Comp C   │      │
│ ├───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤      │
│ │ Est. Rev. │ $X       │ $X       │ $X       │ $X       │      │
│ │ Growth    │ +X%      │ +X%      │ +X%      │ +X%      │      │
│ │ Traffic   │ X/mo     │ X/mo     │ X/mo     │ X/mo     │      │
│ │ Key Diff  │ [X]      │ [X]      │ [X]      │ [X]      │      │
│ └───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### 8. Competitive Response Matrix

#### 8.1 Threat Assessment

| Competitor | Move | Severity | Immediacy | Our Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp A | Launched free tier | High | Immediate | Accelerate value-add features, emphasize premium support |
| Comp B | New partnership with [Platform] | Medium | Next quarter | Explore competing partnership |
| Comp C | Price drop 20% | Medium | Next month | Don't compete on price — emphasize TCO, better onboarding |
| Comp A | Hiring VP of Sales | Low | This year | Review our hiring, no immediate action |

#### 8.2 Battle Card Template

For sales enablement — one-pager per competitor:

```
## Battle Card: [Competitor]

**Scenario:** "Why should we choose you over [Competitor]?"

**Our Advantage:**
- [Differentiator 1]
- [Differentiator 2]
- [Differentiator 3]

**Their Weakness We Exploit:**
- [Weakness 1] → our talking point
- [Weakness 2] → our talking point

**Common Objections & Responses:**
- Objection: "They're cheaper"
  Response: "Let's look at total cost of ownership. Their [X] costs extra, ours is included."
- Objection: "They have feature X"
  Response: "We're building that. Meanwhile, we offer Y and Z that they don't have at all."
- Objection: "They have more reviews"
  Response: "We have a 4.8 rating on G2 vs their 4.2. Our customers are happier."

**Sales Talk Track:**
"[Prospect], when you look at [Competitor], you're getting [X]. With us, you get [Y] — and we're [Z%] more cost-effective when you factor in [hidden cost]. Would you like to see a comparison?"

**Resources:**
- Case study: [Customer] switched from [Competitor] and saw [Result]
- ROI calculator: Link
- Comparison page: Link

**Last Updated:** [Date]
```

## Common Pitfalls

1. **Too many competitors:** Tracking 20+ competitors dilutes focus. Maintain 3–5 direct and 3–5 indirect at most. Refresh the list quarterly.
2. **Analysis without action:** A beautifully formatted competitive matrix that sits in a shared drive is useless. Each analysis should produce clear action items and owners.
3. **Confirmation bias:** Cherry-picking data that makes your brand look good while ignoring competitor strengths. The SWOT analysis must be honest.
4. **Comparing your insider view to their public face:** You know your weaknesses intimately; competitors' weaknesses must be inferred. Be honest about data quality differences.
5. **Price-only comparisons:** Competing solely on price is a race to the bottom. Focus analysis on value differentiation, not just price differences.
6. **Static, one-time analysis:** Competitors change month to month. Set up ongoing monitoring (alerts, automated checks) rather than annual deep-dives.
7. **No sales enablement:** Competitive insights that don't reach the sales team are wasted. Create battle cards, update them quarterly, and train the team.
8. **Copying instead of differentiating:** Finding a competitor's feature and immediately planning to build the same thing is a trap. Understand why customers choose THEM before deciding to compete.
9. **Ignoring indirect competitors:** The biggest threat is often a company in an adjacent category (e.g., Slack vs. email). Map indirect substitutes.
10. **No structured data collection:** Ad-hoc competitive intelligence (random screenshots, occasional articles) produces unreliable insights. Set up systematic collection with templates and tools.

## Verification Checklist

- [ ] Competitor tier identified: Direct (3–5), Indirect (3–5), Aspirational (1–3), Emerging (watchlist)
- [ ] Competitor profile created for each direct competitor
- [ ] Digital presence audit completed (website UX, SEO, social, ads)
- [ ] SEO gap analysis performed (keywords competitors rank for that we don't)
- [ ] Backlink gap analysis completed (top referring domains per competitor)
- [ ] Social media audit completed (followers, frequency, engagement, content types)
- [ ] Ad platform presence mapped per competitor
- [ ] SWOT analysis completed per direct competitor
- [ ] Pricing and business model comparison completed
- [ ] Feature comparison matrix built (15–25 features across 3–4 categories)
- [ ] Positioning map (2×2) created with identified whitespace
- [ ] Content gap analysis completed (coverage matrix + priority scoring)
- [ ] SERP feature gap analysis completed for target keywords
- [ ] Monitoring system set up (alerts for website changes, press, funding, hires)
- [ ] Competitive intelligence dashboard built
- [ ] Battle cards created for top 3 competitors
- [ ] Threat assessment and response matrix documented
- [ ] Sales team trained on battle cards and competitive positioning
- [ ] Quarterly competitor review cadence scheduled
- [ ] Competitive analysis repository established (shared drive, templates)
- [ ] Win/loss analysis integrated with competitive intelligence (what deals do we lose and to whom)