# Competitor analysis Human Guide

## What This Is For
Analyze competitive landscape with feature matrices, positioning maps, and strategic gap analysis. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for competitive research: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Competitor analysis agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for competitor analysis.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Competitor analysis guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Direct competitors:** Products that solve the same problem for the same audience.
- **Indirect competitors:** Products that solve the problem differently or serve an adjacent audience.
- **Non-consumption:** "Do nothing" and "manual workaround" (spreadsheets, email, hiring someone). ALWAYS include these — they're often the biggest competitor.
- Ease of use vs Power/flexibility
- Speed to value vs Depth of solution
- **Who do they serve best?** (Their ICP vs yours)
- **Where are they overserving?** (Features their users don't need — signals bloat)
- **Where are they underserving?** (Complaints, missing features, workarounds their users build)
- **What would make their users switch?** (The trigger event + unmet need)
- CRITICAL: ALWAYS include "do nothing" and "manual workaround" as competitors. For most startups, inertia is the primary competitor.
- NEVER just list features. Analyze positioning, strategic choices, and gaps.
- ALWAYS focus on your ICP's needs, not the broadest possible comparison.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Identify All Alternatives, Feature Matrix, Positioning Map, Strategic Gap Analysis, Guidelines.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Non-consumption:** "Do nothing" and "manual workaround" (spreadsheets, email, hiring someone). ALWAYS include these — they're often the biggest competitor.
- Rate each: Strong / Adequate / Weak / Missing. Don't use checkmarks — they hide nuance. Include pricing model in the matrix — it constrains product decisions.
- **Where are they overserving?** (Features their users don't need — signals bloat)
- CRITICAL: ALWAYS include "do nothing" and "manual workaround" as competitors. For most startups, inertia is the primary competitor.
- NEVER just list features. Analyze positioning, strategic choices, and gaps.
- NEVER copy competitor features without understanding why they built them and whether your ICP needs them.
- NEVER present a feature matrix without strategic implications. "So what?" is the question every row should answer.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitor analysis human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the assimovt/productskills skill entry for `competitor-analysis`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

Analyze competitors to find positioning gaps, not to copy features. The goal is to understand where alternatives fail your ICP so you can win on what matters to them.

## Identify All Alternatives

List every alternative your ICP considers. Three categories:

1. **Direct competitors:** Products that solve the same problem for the same audience.
2. **Indirect competitors:** Products that solve the problem differently or serve an adjacent audience.
3. **Non-consumption:** "Do nothing" and "manual workaround" (spreadsheets, email, hiring someone). ALWAYS include these — they're often the biggest competitor.

## Feature Matrix

Build a comparison table focused on what YOUR ICP cares about, not every feature that exists.

| Capability | Your Product | Competitor A | Competitor B | Manual Workaround |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ICP-relevant capability] | How you do it | How they do it | How they do it | How people hack it |

Rate each: Strong / Adequate / Weak / Missing. Don't use checkmarks — they hide nuance. Include pricing model in the matrix — it constrains product decisions.

Example row:
| Real-time collaboration | Strong (live cursors) | Weak (polling-based) | Missing | Google Docs + Slack — Adequate | **So what:** Their users are duct-taping two tools; our strength is their pain point.

## Positioning Map

Plot competitors on two axes that matter to your ICP. Choose axes where you can credibly win at least one.

Common axis pairs:
- Ease of use vs Power/flexibility
- Speed to value vs Depth of solution
- Price vs Completeness
- Self-serve vs White-glove

The empty quadrant is your opportunity. If no quadrant is empty, you need a different framing.

Example (project management tools, ICP = small remote teams):
```
                    Powerful
                       |
            Jira ------+------ Linear
                       |
  Easy ----------------+---------------- Hard
                       |
     Trello -----------+------ Asana
                       |
                    Simple
```
Empty quadrant: Powerful + Easy. That's the opportunity.

## Strategic Gap Analysis

For each competitor, answer:

1. **Who do they serve best?** (Their ICP vs yours)
2. **Where are they overserving?** (Features their users don't need — signals bloat)
3. **Where are they underserving?** (Complaints, missing features, workarounds their users build)
4. **What would make their users switch?** (The trigger event + unmet need)

## Guidelines

- CRITICAL: ALWAYS include "do nothing" and "manual workaround" as competitors. For most startups, inertia is the primary competitor.
- NEVER just list features. Analyze positioning, strategic choices, and gaps.
- ALWAYS focus on your ICP's needs, not the broadest possible comparison.
- NEVER copy competitor features without understanding why they built them and whether your ICP needs them.
- ALWAYS note competitor pricing and business model — these constrain their product decisions.
- NEVER present a feature matrix without strategic implications. "So what?" is the question every row should answer.

---

*Skills from [productskills](https://github.com/assimovt/productskills).*