When we talk about competitive brand analysis, we’re really talking about one thing: understanding exactly where we stand in the competitive landscape so we can make smarter, bolder moves than our rivals. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to do a competitive brand analysis step by step, what to include in your report, and how to turn insights into a real competitive advantage.
What is competitive brand analysis?
Competitive brand analysis (or brand competitive analysis, brand competitor analysis) is the systematic process of:
- Identifying your direct, indirect, tertiary, and aspirational competitors
- Understanding how they position and present their brands
- Evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and performance
- Comparing all of that against your own brand’s positioning, experience, and results
The goal isn’t to copy their playbook. It’s to see the whole competitive landscape clearly enough that we can decide where we want to play, how we want to win, and which battles aren’t worth fighting.
Competitive brand analysis vs generic competitor analysis
Generic competitor analysis usually looks at companies, products, and market share at a high level. Competitive brand analysis goes deeper into:
- Brand positioning and value propositions
- Visual and verbal identity (logos, colors, typography, tone of voice)
- Perception, customer sentiment, and reputation
- Share of voice in key conversations and channels
- How consistently a brand tells its story across the customer journey
This is why marketers, CMOs, founders, and brand leaders lean on competitive brand analysis whenever they’re launching, repositioning, or defending a brand.
Why competitive brand analysis matters
Most categories are noisy. Without a structured competitive analysis, it’s easy to fall into “me too” positioning and vague marketing that blends into the background.
When we do a robust competitive brand analysis, we:
- Clarify our competitive advantage by comparing products, pricing, messaging, and experience side by side
- See market saturation vs white space—where everyone is piled up and where there are untouched niches
- Improve strategic decisions on pricing, product roadmaps, channels, and brand positioning
- Strengthen marketing and communications with sharper, differentiated messaging
- Surface opportunities and threats early instead of reacting after the fact
- Establish benchmarks for share of voice, sentiment, reach, and growth so we can track gains or losses over time
When should you run a competitive brand analysis?
We treat competitor research as an ongoing discipline, but there are specific moments where a full competitive review is non‑negotiable:
- Launching a new brand, product, or service
- Planning a rebrand or brand refresh
- Entering a new market or segment
- Seeing growth plateau or market share decline
- Facing new entrants or disruptive challenger brands
As a rhythm, we generally recommend:
- Deep competitive brand analysis once a year
- Lighter, focused reviews quarterly (particularly on digital, SEO, and social performance)
Types of competitors to include
A strong competitive landscape analysis goes beyond the 2–3 obvious rivals you always hear about.
Direct competitors
These are the brands that:
- Offer similar products or services
- Target the same audience
- Serve the same needs and use cases in similar channels or regions
They’re the ones you see on “alternatives to [your brand]” pages and in most RFPs.
Indirect competitors
These brands solve a similar problem in a different way or target an adjacent segment. They might not be in the same category label, but they compete for the same jobs to be done or the same budget.
Tertiary / emerging competitors
Adjacent products or brands that could become competitors if they pivot or if consumer preferences shift. Tracking them is a core part of competitive intelligence so you’re not blindsided by new entrants.
Aspirational competitors
Brands you don’t yet compete with directly, but whose brand equity, innovation, or experience you benchmark against. They’re useful for understanding best‑in‑class standards for your positioning and customer experience.
Objectives of a competitive brand analysis
Before doing any competitor research, we define what we’re trying to achieve. Typical objectives:
- Define or refine our competitive advantage
- Understand competitor strategies across product, pricing, marketing, and CX
- Decide our next strategic moves (positioning, target segments, channels)
- Identify gaps and white space in the market landscape
- Evaluate customer sentiment and experience versus competing brands
What to include in a competitive analysis report
A comprehensive competitive analysis report or brand competition analysis normally covers:
- Company & brand overview
- Target markets and segments
- Brand positioning and USP (unique selling proposition)
- Visual and verbal identity (logo, colors, typography, imagery, tone, tagline)
- Products and services (features, benefits, quality, innovation)
- Pricing and offers (structure, tiers, promotions, delivery costs)
- Distribution and channels (e‑commerce, retail, partners, geographies)
- Marketing and communications (website, SEO, content, ads, PR, influencers)
- Customer acquisition methods and funnels
- Customer experience & support
- Customer sentiment & reputation (reviews, ratings, social listening)
- Technology stack where visible
- Key metrics and benchmarks (traffic, social reach, share of voice, estimated market share)
We often structure this into a competitor comparison matrix so we can see patterns and gaps at a glance.
How to do a competitive brand analysis (step by step)
Below is a practical, step‑by‑step framework you can adapt into your own competitive analysis template or spreadsheet.
Step 1: Assemble and classify competitors
We start by building a structured list of competitors for our competitive landscape analysis:
-
Brainstorm internally
- Ask sales and success teams: “Who do prospects compare us to?”
- Ask customers: “Which alternatives did you consider?”
- Review RFPs, deals, and “loss reasons” from your CRM.
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Use external sources
- Google searches for category keywords (e.g., “B2B CRM for agencies”).
- Review sites and “alternatives to X” pages.
- Marketplaces and app stores.
- Industry reports and rankings.
-
Classify competitors
- Direct competitors
- Indirect / secondary competitors
- Tertiary / emerging competitors
- Aspirational brands
For a deep dive, we usually keep the core set to 5–10 key competitors and monitor others more lightly.
Step 2: Evaluate competitor geography & market structure
Next, we map where and how each brand plays:
- Geography: Countries, regions, local vs global reach
- Channel mix: Online‑only, brick‑and‑mortar, omnichannel
- Market structure:
- Is it an oligopoly with a few big players?
- Fragmented with many niche brands?
- Highly concentrated around one dominant leader?
This context affects pricing power, barriers to entry, and the strategy we can realistically pursue.
Step 3: Examine competitor products and services
Here we do a feature‑by‑feature competitor comparison focused on what customers truly care about:
- Product or service range (depth and breadth)
- Core features and benefits
- Quality and performance signals
- Usability and design
- Guarantees, returns, warranties
- Implementation or onboarding complexity
We usually summarize this in a features matrix and a SWOT analysis per competitor:
- Strengths: What they clearly do well
- Weaknesses: Where users are consistently dissatisfied
- Opportunities: Trends or gaps we (or they) could exploit
- Threats: Risks like regulation, new tech, or new entrants
Step 4: Analyze pricing, offers, and delivery costs
A structured pricing analysis is critical for positioning.
- Pricing structure
- Price points and tiers
- Freemium vs free trial vs paid‑only
- Contracts vs month‑to‑month
- Volume or partner discounts
- Special offers
- Bundles and packages
- Seasonal promotions, coupons, loyalty schemes
- Onboarding or setup fees waived vs charged
- Delivery & service costs
- Shipping rates, minimum order thresholds, speed
- Implementation, training, or support fees
We then decide if we’re playing as a premium, mid‑market, or value brand—and ensure pricing, messaging, and experience all align.
Step 5: Analyze marketing, messaging, and brand identity
Next, we shift from what competitors sell to how they tell their story.
- Website & landing pages
- Clarity of their main value proposition
- Information architecture and UX
- Conversion devices: CTAs, social proof, guarantees, urgency
- Brand messaging & voice
- Taglines and messaging pillars
- What problems and benefits they emphasize
- Brand voice: formal vs casual, playful vs serious
- Visual identity
- Logos, color palettes, typography
- Imagery style (illustration vs photography, lifestyle vs product‑focused)
- Content and campaigns
- Key themes (e.g., innovation, sustainability, affordability)
- Brand stories and narratives they repeat
- Campaign hooks and creative direction
Across competitors, we look for category clichés—the repeated claims and visuals that define the current norm. Those patterns show us exactly where we can zig while others zag.
Step 6: Run an SEO and content analysis
A modern competitor analysis isn’t complete without a SEO and content benchmarking component.
- Keyword and topic mapping
- Which keywords are driving traffic to each brand
- Category, product, and problem‑based terms
- Unbranded vs branded queries
- Content inventory and performance
- Top‑performing pages and themes
- Formats used (blogs, guides, tools, webinars, videos)
- Backlink profiles and authority signals
- Gaps and opportunities
- Topics competitors haven’t covered or covered poorly
- Long‑tail opportunities your audience searches for but no one owns yet
We turn this into a content strategy roadmap so our brand can lead key conversations instead of fighting for scraps.
Step 7: Monitor online information, reviews, and feedback
Brand claims are only half the story. We also map what the market says:
- Review sites and ratings (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Google, Yelp, app stores, Amazon)
- Common praise themes for each competitor
- Recurring complaints and low‑rated patterns
- Forums and communities where customers share unfiltered opinions
We use this to build a more realistic SWOT matrix for each rival—and to identify problems we can solve better.
Social platforms are a live feed of category conversations, so we always include a social media strategy analysis in our competitor benchmarking:
- Channel presence & activity
- Which platforms they prioritize
- Posting frequency and content mix
- Engagement and growth
- Follower growth trends
- Engagement rates vs audience size
- Sentiment analysis
- Overall positivity vs negativity in mentions
- Hot‑button issues, crises, and delight moments
- Share of voice (SOV)
- Volume and reach of mentions by brand
- Category‑level and topic‑specific SOV (e.g., “eco‑friendly”, “premium service”)
We’re careful to set up apples‑to‑apples queries so we’re not skewed by inconsistent brand names or product lines.
Step 9: Assess customer support and end‑to‑end experience
Customer experience is often the easiest way to differentiate. Our customer experience evaluation includes:
- Support channels & availability
- Chat, email, phone, in‑app, self‑service resources
- Operating hours and SLAs
- Quality & tone
- Speed and helpfulness in actual interactions
- Support reviews and anecdotal feedback
- End‑to‑end journey
- Onboarding experience
- Education and nurturing
- Return, cancellation, or complaint flows
We map where competitors create friction versus where they create delight, and we deliberately design experiences that remove their pain points.
Step 10: Understand customer acquisition tactics and catalysts
We then look at how each brand actually wins attention and converts interest:
- Funnels & lead magnets
- Free tools, webinars, trials, demos, events
- Downloadable resources or calculators
- Email & lifecycle campaigns
- Referral, affiliate, and partner programs
- Major campaign catalysts
- Product launches
- Viral campaigns or big stunts
- Controversies or crises
- High‑profile partnerships or sponsorships
This helps us understand what actually moves the needle in our category—and what we can do differently, not just cheaper.
Step 11: Explore competitor technology stacks
We don’t need a perfect view of each technology stack, but we try to understand:
- CRM, marketing automation, and analytics platforms
- E‑commerce infrastructure and app frameworks
- Customer support systems and self‑service tools
Technology choices often indicate operational maturity, personalization capabilities, and scalability—and sometimes reveal where competitors are over‑ or under‑invested.
Step 12: Build SWOT analyses for you and your competitors
At this point, we synthesize our competitive intelligence into structured SWOT matrices:
- One SWOT for each key competitor
- One honest SWOT for our own brand
Then we compare across them to answer:
- Where do our strengths line up with their weaknesses?
- Which market opportunities are under‑served by everyone?
- What industry‑wide threats do we need to plan around?
Step 13: Map the market landscape with positioning matrixes
Finally, we visualize our competitive market analysis with simple brand marketplace matrixes (or competitor maps):
- Price vs quality: low → high, basic → premium
- Mass market vs niche: broad appeal → focused segment
- Traditional vs innovative: conservative → cutting‑edge
- Self‑service vs high‑touch: DIY → white‑glove
We plot each brand (including ours) on these maps. Patterns emerge:
- Dense clusters where brands look and sound the same
- White space where few or no brands are positioned
Those gaps are where we can build a distinctive brand position instead of fighting in a red ocean.
Turning competitive analysis into strategy
A competitive analysis report is only useful if it changes what we do. We always translate findings into clear strategic decisions.
Refine your brand core and identity
We use the analysis to sharpen:
- Brand purpose, mission, vision, and values
- Unique value proposition for specific target segments
- Brand personality and tone of voice (how we sound compared to others)
- Visual system so we’re visually distinct, not generic
The objective is a brand that could only be us, not a diluted version of the market leader.
Clarify your target niche and positioning
Based on our competitive landscape analysis, we decide:
- Which segment we want to own (by need, industry, budget, or behavior)
- What specific value we will over‑deliver on for that segment
- How we’ll express that in positioning statements and messaging pillars
A simple formula we use internally is: “We serve [specific audience] by being the best at [specific value], unlike competitors who [limitation of current options].”
Adjust product and pricing strategy
Armed with competitor profiles, we frequently:
- Reprioritize our product roadmap to double down on unique strengths
- Rationalize tiers and repackage offers to be easier to compare (and choose)
- Revisit price positioning with a clear, brand‑aligned rationale
- Design promotions that are strategic, not reactive
Evolve your marketing and content strategy
We use competitor benchmarking to decide:
- Which channels to emphasize or deprioritize
- Which themes and narratives to own (especially under‑served ones)
- How to differentiate our creative, storytelling, and campaigns
- Where to invest in SEO and content that compounds over time
Elevate customer experience as a differentiator
Finally, we translate competitive gaps into CX improvements:
- Fixing friction points competitors are known for
- Designing onboarding and support that consistently surprise customers in a good way
- Aligning internal processes with the promises our brand makes externally
The result is a positioning that isn’t just claimed in ads—it’s felt in every interaction.
You can run a lean competitive analysis with nothing but a spreadsheet and time, but specialized tools speed up and deepen the work:
- SEO & content: Ahrefs, Semrush, Rank Tracker
- Social listening & share of voice: Brandwatch, Brand24, Mention, Sprout Social
- Competitive intelligence platforms: Crayon and similar tools
- Pricing intelligence: Wiser and category‑specific alternatives
- Dashboards & reporting: BI tools or integrated analytics dashboards
We choose tools based on where our category’s competition is fiercest—search, social, retail, or elsewhere—and the level of detail our team can realistically keep updated.
Best practices and mistakes to avoid
Best practices
- Start with clear business objectives before collecting data
- Focus on learning, not copying—use competitors as inputs, not templates
- Combine perception and reality: what brands claim vs what customers experience
- Keep it regular: an annual deep dive plus quarterly mini‑reviews
- Share insights across teams (marketing, product, sales, leadership)
- Include indirect and emerging competitors to catch shifts early
Common pitfalls
- Confirmation bias: only collecting evidence that proves we’re “the best”
- Static reports that live in a folder and never influence decisions
- Apples‑to‑oranges comparisons, especially with share of voice and traffic metrics
- Over‑indexing on vanity metrics like likes and raw mentions instead of conversions and sentiment
- Copy‑cat positioning that erodes differentiation and pricing power
Using competitive brand analysis as a growth lever
When we treat competitive brand analysis as an ongoing, structured practice—not a one‑off slide deck—we gain:
- A clear understanding of where we sit in the market
- An honest view of our strengths and weaknesses vs rivals
- Insight into what customers truly value and where competitors fall short
- A roadmap of white space opportunities we can credibly own
If you’re starting from scratch, we recommend:
- Define your core objective (e.g., “Clarify our positioning before launch”).
- Select 5–8 priority competitors across direct, indirect, and aspirational categories.
- Work through the steps above at a level of depth your team can handle.
- Synthesize into:
- SWOTs for you and key competitors
- 2–3 positioning matrixes
- 3–5 strategic decisions you’ll act on in the next 6–12 months
From there, the goal isn’t to obsessively track every move your rivals make—it’s to use what you’ve learned to build a brand that gives your ideal customers a simple, confident answer to the question:
“Why choose you over every other option in the market?”
