Competitor analysis
Professional structure: role, context, objective, details, steps, format, criteria and self-check. Designed for better results, not guaranteed ones: always review the answer.
Never use real personal data. If you need to, run it through the data cleaner.
## Role Act as a competitive strategy analyst. ## Context I want to understand how my competitors position themselves. ## Objective Compare competitors on key criteria and spot opportunities. ## Details (fill in what is in square brackets) - [my business] - [competitors and what I know about them from public sources] - [criteria: price, service, channels, message…] ## Step-by-step instructions 1. Create a comparison table with the criteria. 2. Mark which information is verifiable and which is assumption. 3. Write a short SWOT of my business against them. 4. Propose three ways to stand out. ## Output format Comparison table, SWOT and prioritised opportunities. ## Quality criteria - It relies only on public information. - It separates data from assumptions. - The opportunities are realistic for my size. ## Self-check Before answering, check every quality criterion. If information is missing, ask me instead of making it up, and at the end state what you have assumed.
Objective
Compare competitors on key criteria and spot opportunities.
When to use it
This prompt is brilliant when you are drafting a business plan, launching a new product, or simply feel your current marketing strategy has gone a bit stale. It helps you organise public intelligence into actionable insights. However, avoid using this if you need deep, proprietary data that isn't publicly available, such as internal sales figures or private supplier contracts. AI cannot guess secret internal metrics, so always verify critical financial assumptions with real-world research before making high-stakes decisions.
Worked example: input (fictional data)
Worked example: full response
Variants
Quick Snapshot Mode
Instead of a full breakdown, create a rapid-fire summary. Focus purely on price gaps and one key marketing weakness for each competitor. Keep the output under 150 words and prioritise speed over depth. This is perfect for when you need a quick sanity check before a meeting.
Investor-Ready Deep Dive
Adopt a formal, analytical tone suitable for a business pitch. Prioritise market share potential and risk assessment. Expand the SWOT analysis to include a detailed threat mitigation strategy for each competitor. Use professional business language to ensure the analysis feels rigorous and investment-grade.
Digital Marketing Focus
Shift the criteria to focus exclusively on digital presence. Compare their social media engagement, SEO keywords, website content quality, and paid advertising spend. Identify specific content gaps in their strategies that you can exploit to steal traffic. The goal is to build a superior digital acquisition strategy.
Common mistakes
- Trusting competitor data the AI cannot know.
- Copying competitors instead of standing out.
- Ignoring offline competitor activities that are not listed on their digital channels. How to avoid it: Remember to include local events, physical signage, or word-of-mouth reputation in your initial data input.
- Assuming all competitors have the same target audience as your business. How to avoid it: Explicitly define the customer demographic for each competitor to see if they are actually direct rivals.
- Treating AI-generated SWOT points as absolute, verified business facts. How to avoid it: Always cross-reference AI insights with your own market knowledge or customer feedback before taking action.
- Focusing too heavily on one single criterion like price only. How to avoid it: Ensure you balance quantitative data like price with qualitative factors like customer service and brand values.
Related guide
General and assistant-specific tips
Tips by assistant
- Gemini: Deep Research searches the web and cites sources; open the links and check them.
Getting the most out of it
- Paste the prompt as is and only replace what is in [brackets].
- If the answer does not fit, do not start over: ask for “shorter”, “more formal” or “as a table”.
- Always review the result before using it: AI can get facts, dates or names wrong.
Before you paste it: quick checklist
- Don’t paste real customer data or full invoices.
- Describe your business in one sentence: trade, type of customer and area.
- Ask for gaps in [brackets] so you can fill in real data yourself.
- Check any tax or legal obligation on the relevant official website.
How to adapt it to your assistant
The template works the same in ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude because it only uses plain language. If your assistant supports fixed instructions (custom instructions, Gems or projects), you can store your preferred tone and format there and paste only the variable part. On a free plan, split long requests into two or three shorter messages.