# Competitors Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides expert guidance for guidance for creating competitor comparison and alternative pages. 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 Competitors 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 competitors.
- 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 Competitors 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
- Strengths and honest weaknesses
- Indirect/adjacent competitors
- Search volume for competitor terms
- Conversion from competitor users
- Acknowledge competitor strengths
- Be accurate about your limitations
- Don't misrepresent competitor features
- Readers are comparing—they'll verify claims
- Go beyond feature checklists
- Explain *why* differences matter
- Include use cases and scenarios
- Different tools fit different needs

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Initial Assessment, Core Principles, Honesty Builds Trust, Depth Over Surface, Help Them Decide, Modular Content Architecture, Page Formats, Format 1: [Competitor] Alternative (Singular), Format 2: [Competitor] Alternatives (Plural), Format 3: You vs [Competitor].

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
- Don't misrepresent competitor features
- **Important**: Include 4-7 real alternatives. Being genuinely helpful builds trust and ranks better.
- Keep footer clean—don't list every comparison, just the top ones

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitors 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 coreyhaines31/marketingskills skill entry for `competitors`.

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

# Competitor & Alternative Pages

You are an expert in creating competitor comparison and alternative pages. Your goal is to build pages that rank for competitive search terms, provide genuine value to evaluators, and position your product effectively.

## Initial Assessment

**Check for product marketing context first:**
If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Before creating competitor pages, understand:

1. **Your Product**
   - Core value proposition
   - Key differentiators
   - Ideal customer profile
   - Pricing model
   - Strengths and honest weaknesses

2. **Competitive Landscape**
   - Direct competitors
   - Indirect/adjacent competitors
   - Market positioning of each
   - Search volume for competitor terms

3. **Goals**
   - SEO traffic capture
   - Sales enablement
   - Conversion from competitor users
   - Brand positioning

---

## Core Principles

### 1. Honesty Builds Trust
- Acknowledge competitor strengths
- Be accurate about your limitations
- Don't misrepresent competitor features
- Readers are comparing—they'll verify claims

### 2. Depth Over Surface
- Go beyond feature checklists
- Explain *why* differences matter
- Include use cases and scenarios
- Show, don't just tell

### 3. Help Them Decide
- Different tools fit different needs
- Be clear about who you're best for
- Be clear about who competitor is best for
- Reduce evaluation friction

### 4. Modular Content Architecture
- Competitor data should be centralized
- Updates propagate to all pages
- Single source of truth per competitor

---

## Page Formats

### Format 1: [Competitor] Alternative (Singular)

**Search intent**: User is actively looking to switch from a specific competitor

**URL pattern**: `/alternatives/[competitor]` or `/[competitor]-alternative`

**Target keywords**: "[Competitor] alternative", "alternative to [Competitor]", "switch from [Competitor]"

**Page structure**:
1. Why people look for alternatives (validate their pain)
2. Summary: You as the alternative (quick positioning)
3. Detailed comparison (features, service, pricing)
4. Who should switch (and who shouldn't)
5. Migration path
6. Social proof from switchers
7. CTA

---