Market Competitor Research

---
name: competitor-research
description: Research competitors systematically. Analyze positioning, pricing, features, marketing, and gaps. Generate competitive intelligence reports with actionable insights. Use when analyzing market competition, benchmarking products, or finding market opportunities. Triggers on "competitor", "competition", "benchmark", "market analysis", "competitive intelligence".
---

# Competitor Research

Systematic competitive analysis to understand your market position and find opportunities.

## Research Framework

### 1. Identify Competitors

**Direct Competitors:**
- Same product category
- Same target market
- Similar features/pricing

**Indirect Competitors:**
- Different product, same need
- Alternative solutions
- Adjacent markets

**Emerging Competitors:**
- New entrants
- Startups
- Platform expansions

**How to Find:**
```
- Search "[product] alternatives"
- Check review sites (G2, Capterra)
- Industry reports
- Customer suggestions
- Social media mentions
- App store categories
```

### 2. Analyze Positioning

**Value Proposition:**
- What do they claim?
- Who do they target?
- What problem do they solve?
- How do they differentiate?

**Positioning Map:**
```
                Premium
                   │
    ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
    │              │              │
    │   Competitor A    Competitor B
    │              │              │
Enterprise ───────┼─────── SMB
    │              │              │
    │   Competitor C    You
    │              │              │
    └──────────────┼──────────────┘
                   │
              Commodity
```

### 3. Evaluate Features

**Feature Matrix:**
| Feature | You | Comp A | Comp B | Comp C |
|---------|-----|--------|--------|--------|
| Core Feature 1 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Core Feature 2 | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Advanced Feature | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Integration X | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Mobile App | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |

**Gap Analysis:**
- Features only you have → Differentiation
- Features everyone has → Table stakes
- Features you lack → Competitive disadvantage
- Features no one has → Opportunity

### 4. Pricing Analysis

**Pricing Models:**
- Free tier + Premium
- Per-seat pricing
- Usage-based
- Enterprise contracts
- One-time purchase

**Price Comparison:**
```
| Plan | You | Comp A | Comp B |
|------|-----|--------|--------|
| Free | 5 users | 3 users | 10 users |
| Pro | $29/user | $25/user | $35/user |
| Enterprise | Custom | $99/user | Quote |
```

**Pricing Strategy:**
- Undercut? Risk race to bottom
- Premium? Need clear differentiation
- Match? Compete on features

### 5. Marketing Analysis

**Channels:**
- Where do they advertise?
- What content do they create?
- Which communities are they in?
- Who are their partners?

**Messaging:**
- Keywords they target
- Tone and voice
- Claims and promises
- Social proof used

**Content Strategy:**
- Blog frequency
- Content types
- Distribution channels
- Engagement metrics

### 6. Technical Analysis

**Technology Stack:**
```
- Framework/Language
- Cloud provider
- Third-party integrations
- Open source dependencies
```

**Performance:**
- Load time
- Uptime
- Scale limits
- Security posture

**Developer Experience:**
- API quality
- Documentation
- SDK availability
- Community support

## Research Methods

### Public Sources

**Company Website:**
- About page
- Pricing page
- Feature pages
- Case studies
- Blog
- Press releases

**Review Sites:**
- G2
- Capterra
- Product Hunt
- AlternativeTo
- TrustRadius

**Social Media:**
- Twitter/X
- LinkedIn
- Reddit communities
- Discord servers
- YouTube

**Industry Sources:**
- News sites
- Podcasts
- Conference talks
- Investor updates
- SEC filings (public companies)

### Technical Sources

**Built With:**
- BuiltWith.com
- Wappalyzer
- GitHub repos
- Package dependencies

**Job Postings:**
- Required skills reveal stack
- Growth areas
- Strategic priorities

**API Documentation:**
- Capabilities
- Rate limits
- Integration options

### Customer Intelligence

**Reviews:**
- What customers love
- What they complain about
- Feature requests
- Switching reasons

**Customer Interviews:**
- Why they chose competitor
- What they'd improve
- Switching costs
- Unmet needs

**Community:**
- Forum discussions
- Support tickets (public)
- Feature request boards
- User groups

## Analysis Templates

### SWOT Analysis

```
COMPETITOR: [Name]

Strengths:
- What they do well
- Resources they have
- Market position
- Unique advantages

Weaknesses:
- Product gaps
- Customer complaints
- Technical debt
- Market limitations

Opportunities:
- Markets they could enter
- Features they could add
- Partnerships possible
- Trends they could leverage

Threats:
- New entrants
- Technology shifts
- Market changes
- Regulatory risks
```

### Competitor Profile

```
## [Competitor Name]

### Basic Info
- Founded: [Year]
- Funding: [Amount/Round]
- Employees: [Count]
- Location: [HQ]
- Market: [Segment]

### Product
- Core offering: [Description]
- Key features: [List]
- Pricing: [Model]
- Target: [Customer]

### Positioning
- Value prop: [One line]
- Differentiation: [How]
- Messaging: [Tone/Style]

### Traction
- Users: [Count]
- Revenue: [Estimate]
- Growth: [Rate]
- Markets: [Geography]

### Strengths
- [Top 3 strengths]

### Weaknesses
- [Top 3 weaknesses]

### Strategy Implications
- How should we respond?
- What can we learn?
- Where can we win?
```

## Actionable Outputs

### Competitive Report

```markdown
# [Industry] Competitive Analysis

## Executive Summary
[2-3 paragraphs on market position and key findings]

## Market Overview
- Market size: $X billion
- Growth rate: Y%
- Key trends: [List]

## Competitor Landscape

### Direct Competitors

#### [Competitor A]
[Profile]

#### [Competitor B]
[Profile]

### Indirect Competitors
[Brief profiles]

## Feature Comparison
[Matrix]

## Pricing Comparison
[Table]

## Gap Analysis
- Features only we have: [List]
- Features we lack: [List]
- Opportunities: [List]

## Recommendations
1. [Priority action]
2. [Priority action]
3. [Priority action]

## Appendix
[Detailed data]
```

### Battle Card

```
# [Competitor Name] Battle Card

## When They Come Up
- [Scenario where prospect mentions them]

## How We Win
- [Key differentiator 1]
- [Key differentiator 2]
- [Key differentiator 3]

## Common Objections
| Objection | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| "They're cheaper" | [Response] |
| "They have X feature" | [Response] |
| "They're bigger" | [Response] |

## Proof Points
- [Case study]
- [Testimonial]
- [Metric]

## Don't Say
- [What to avoid]

## Do Say
- [Key messages]
```

## Continuous Monitoring

### Set Up Alerts

```
Google Alerts:
- "[competitor name]"
- "[competitor product]"
- "[competitor CEO]"

Social Mentions:
- Twitter lists
- LinkedIn follows
- Reddit saves
- Newsletters
```

### Track Changes

**Weekly:**
- News mentions
- Social activity
- Blog posts

**Monthly:**
- Pricing changes
- Feature releases
- Hiring patterns

**Quarterly:**
- Full re-analysis
- Strategy update
- Report to stakeholders

## Ethical Guidelines

**Do:**
- Use public sources
- Cite sources properly
- Focus on facts
- Update regularly
- Share internally only

**Don't:**
- Misrepresent yourself
- Access private information
- Share confidential data
- Make false claims
- Use for defamation

## Tools

**Research:**
- Google (search, alerts, trends)
- Social media monitoring
- Review aggregators
- News aggregators

**Analysis:**
- Spreadsheets
- SWOT templates
- Positioning maps
- Feature matrices

**Monitoring:**
- RSS readers
- Newsletter subscriptions
- Social lists
- Calendar reminders