# Competitor ads analyst Human Guide

## What This Is For
Analyze competitor advertising from public ad libraries to understand what messaging, creative formats, and positioning strategies are working. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for paid media: 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 ads analyst 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 ads analyst.
- 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 ads analyst 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
- Extract ads from public ad libraries (Facebook, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn)
- Categorize ad creative by format, message type, and funnel stage
- Identify pain points competitors highlight (with frequency scoring)
- Map competitor positioning and find white space
- Extract headline and copy formulas
- Track creative format trends (UGC, before/after, testimonial, etc.)
- Generate competitive intelligence reports and swipe files
- **Competitors:** 3-5 companies to analyze
- **Timeframe:** Last 30, 60, or 90 days
- **Platforms:** Which ad libraries to search
- **Focus:** Messaging, creative format, audience targeting, or all
- Ad copy (headline, primary text, CTA)

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Install, Core Capabilities, Ad Library Access, Workflow, Define Scope, Extract Ads, Categorize, Analyze Patterns, Generate Output, Key Principles.

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
- **Never copy, always adapt.** The goal is informed inspiration, not plagiarism.
- | Knowledge | Lack of expertise, uncertainty | "No data science team required" |

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitor ads analyst 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 thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing skill entry for `competitor-ads-analyst`.

## 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 Ads Analyst

Analyze competitor advertising from public ad libraries to understand what messaging, creative formats, and positioning strategies are working.

## Install

```bash
git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/competitor-ads-analyst ~/.claude/skills/
```

## Core Capabilities

- Extract ads from public ad libraries (Facebook, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn)
- Categorize ad creative by format, message type, and funnel stage
- Identify pain points competitors highlight (with frequency scoring)
- Map competitor positioning and find white space
- Extract headline and copy formulas
- Track creative format trends (UGC, before/after, testimonial, etc.)
- Generate competitive intelligence reports and swipe files

## Ad Library Access

| Platform | URL | Access |
|----------|-----|--------|
| Meta (Facebook/Instagram) | facebook.com/ads/library | Free, public |
| Google Ads | adstransparency.google.com | Free, public |
| TikTok | library.tiktok.com | Free, public |
| LinkedIn | linkedin.com/ad-library | Requires account |

## Workflow

### 1. Define Scope

- **Competitors:** 3-5 companies to analyze
- **Timeframe:** Last 30, 60, or 90 days
- **Platforms:** Which ad libraries to search
- **Focus:** Messaging, creative format, audience targeting, or all

### 2. Extract Ads

For each competitor, collect:
- Ad copy (headline, primary text, CTA)
- Creative format (image, video, carousel, UGC)
- Landing page URL
- Active date range (if visible)
- Platform and placement

### 3. Categorize

Classify each ad by:

**Message Type:**
- Pain point (problem-aware)
- Solution (product-aware)
- Social proof (testimonial, case study, press)
- Offer (discount, free trial, demo)
- Educational (how-to, tip, guide)
- Brand (awareness, positioning)

**Funnel Stage:**
- Top (awareness, problem education)
- Middle (consideration, comparison)
- Bottom (conversion, offer, urgency)

**Creative Format:**
- Static image
- Video (short <15s, medium 15-60s, long >60s)
- Carousel
- UGC-style
- Before/after
- Screenshot/product demo
- Testimonial quote card
- Data/stat visualization

### 4. Analyze Patterns

- **Pain point frequency:** Which problems appear most across competitors?
- **Message clustering:** Are competitors saying the same things?
- **Format preferences:** Which creative types are most used?
- **Positioning map:** Where does each competitor sit on key dimensions?