{
  "schema": "https://ai-atoms.com/schemas/skill-v1.json",
  "type": "skill",
  "id": "skill/competitive-brief",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "competitive-brief",
  "description": "Research competitors and generate a positioning and messaging comparison with content gaps, opportunities, and threats. Use when building sales battlecards, when finding positioning gaps and messaging angles competitors haven't claimed, or when a competitor makes a move and you need to assess the impact.",
  "system_prompt_fragment": "# Competitive Brief\n\n> If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see [CONNECTORS.md](../../CONNECTORS.md).\n\nResearch competitors and generate a structured competitive analysis comparing positioning, messaging, content strategy, and market presence.\n\n## Trigger\n\nUser runs `/competitive-brief` or asks for a competitive analysis, competitor research, or market comparison.\n\n## Inputs\n\nGather the following from the user:\n\n1. **Competitor name(s)** — one or more competitors to analyze (required)\n\n2. **Your company/product context** (optional but recommended):\n   - What you sell and to whom\n   - Your positioning or value proposition\n   - Key differentiators you want to highlight\n\n3. **Focus areas** (optional — if not specified, cover all):\n   - Messaging and positioning\n   - Product and feature comparison\n   - Content and thought leadership strategy\n   - Recent announcements and news\n   - Pricing and packaging (if publicly available)\n   - Market presence and audience\n\n## Research Process\n\nFor each competitor, research using web search:\n\n1. **Company website** — homepage messaging, product pages, about page, pricing page\n2. **Recent news** — press releases, funding announcements, product launches, partnerships (last 6 months)\n3. **Content strategy** — blog topics, resource types, social media presence, webinars, podcasts\n4. **Review sites and comparisons** — third-party comparisons, analyst mentions, customer review themes\n5. **Job postings** — hiring signals that indicate strategic direction (optional)\n\n### Research Sources\n\nGather intelligence from these categories of sources:\n\n#### Primary Sources (Direct from Competitor)\n- **Website**: homepage, product pages, pricing, about page, careers\n- **Blog and resource center**: content themes, publishing frequency, depth\n- **Social media profiles**: messaging, engagement, content strategy\n- **Product demos and free trials**: UX, features, onboarding experience\n- **Webinars and events**: topics, speakers, audience engagement\n- **Press releases and newsroom**: announcements, partnerships, milestones\n- **Job postings**: hiring signals that reveal strategic priorities (e.g., hiring for a new product line or market)\n\n#### Secondary Sources (Third-Party)\n- **Review sites**: G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Product Hunt — customer sentiment themes\n- **Analyst reports**: Gartner, Forrester, IDC — market positioning and category placement\n- **News coverage**: TechCrunch, industry publications — funding, partnerships, narrative\n- **Social listening**: mentions, sentiment, share of voice across social platforms\n- **SEO tools**: keyword rankings, organic traffic estimates, content gaps\n- **Financial filings**: revenue, growth rate, investment areas (for public companies)\n- **Community forums**: community forums (e.g. Reddit, Discourse), industry chat groups (e.g. Slack communities) — user sentiment\n\n### Research Cadence\n- **Deep competitive analysis**: quarterly (full research across all sources)\n- **Competitive monitoring**: monthly (scan for new announcements, content, messaging changes)\n- **Real-time alerts**: ongoing (set up alerts for competitor brand mentions, press, job postings)\n\n## Competitive Brief Structure\n\n### 1. Executive Summary\n- 2-3 sentence overview of the competitive landscape\n- Key takeaway: your biggest opportunity and biggest threat\n\n### 2. Competitor Profiles\n\nFor each competitor:\n\n#### Company Overview\n- What they do (one-sentence positioning)\n- Target audience\n- Company size/stage indicators (funding, employee count if available)\n- Key recent developments\n\n#### Messaging Analysis\n- Primary tagline or headline\n- Core value proposition\n- Key messaging themes (3-5)\n- Tone and voice characterization\n- How they describe the problem they solve\n\n#### Product/Solution Positioning\n- How they categorize their product\n- Key features they emphasize\n- Claimed differentiators\n- Pricing approach (if publicly available)\n\n#### Content Strategy\n- Blog frequency and topics\n- Content types produced (ebooks, webinars, case studies, tools)\n- Social media presence and engagement approach\n- Thought leadership themes\n- SEO strategy observations (what terms they appear to target)\n\n#### Strengths\n- What they do well\n- Where their messaging resonates\n- Competitive advantages\n\n#### Weaknesses\n- Gaps in their messaging or positioning\n- Areas where they are vulnerable\n- Customer complaints or criticism themes (from reviews)\n\n### 3. Messaging Comparison Matrix\n\n| Dimension | Your Company | Competitor A | Competitor B |\n|-----------|-------------|--------------|--------------|\n| Primary tagline | ... | ... | ... |\n| Target buyer | ... | ... | ... |\n| Key differentiator | ... | ... | ... |\n| Tone/voice | ... | ... | ... |\n| Core value prop | ... | ... | ... |\n\n(Include user's company only if they provided their positioning context)\n\n### 4. Content Gap Analysis\n- Topics your competitors cover that you do not (or vice versa)\n- Content formats they use that you could adopt\n- Keywords or themes they own vs. opportunities they have missed\n\n### 5. Opportunities\n- Positioning gaps you can exploit\n- Messaging angles your competitors have not claimed\n- Audience segments they are underserving\n- Content or channel opportunities\n\n### 6. Threats\n- Areas where competitors are strong and you are vulnerable\n- Trends that favor their positioning\n- Recent moves that could shift the market\n\n### 7. Recommended Actions\n- 3-5 specific, actionable recommendations based on the analysis\n- Quick wins (things you can act on this week)\n- Strategic moves (longer-term positioning or content investments)\n\n## Analysis Frameworks\n\n### Messaging Comparison Frameworks\n\n#### Value Proposition Comparison\n\nFor each competitor, document:\n- **Promise**: what they promise the customer will achieve\n- **Evidence**: how they prove the promise (data, testimonials, demos)\n- **Mechanism**: how their product delivers on the promise (the \"how it works\")\n- **Uniqueness**: what they claim only they can do\n\n#### Narrative Analysis\n\nIdentify each competitor's story arc:\n- **Villain**: what problem or enemy they position against (status quo, legacy tools, complexity)\n- **Hero**: who is the hero in their story (the customer? the product? the team?)\n- **Transformation**: what before/after do they promise?\n- **Stakes**: what happens if you do not act?\n\nThis reveals positioning strategy and emotional appeals.\n\n#### Messaging Strengths and Vulnerabilities\n\nFor each competitor's messaging, assess:\n- **Clarity**: can a first-time visitor understand what they do in 5 seconds?\n- **Differentiation**: is their positioning distinct or generic?\n- **Proof**: do they back up claims with evidence?\n- **Consistency**: is messaging consistent across channels?\n- **Resonance**: does their messaging address real customer pain points?\n\n### Content Gap Analysis Methodology\n\n#### Content Audit Comparison\n\nMap content across competitors by:\n\n| Topic/Theme | Your Content | Competitor A | Competitor B | Gap? |\n|-------------|-------------|--------------|--------------|------|\n| [Topic 1] | Blog post, ebook | Blog series, webinar | Nothing | Opportunity for B |\n| [Topic 2] | Nothing | Whitepaper | Blog post, video | Gap for you |\n| [Topic 3] | Case study | Nothing | Case study | Parity |\n\n#### Content Type Coverage\n\n| Content Format | You | Comp A | Comp B | Comp C |\n|----------------|-----|--------|--------|--------|\n| Blog posts | Y | Y | Y | Y |\n| Case studies | Y | Y | N | Y |\n| Ebooks/Whitepapers | N | Y | Y | N |\n| Webinars | Y | Y | Y | N |\n| Podcast | N | N | Y | N |\n| Video content | N | Y | Y | Y |\n| Interactive tools | N | N | N | Y |\n| Templates/Resources | Y | N | Y | N |\n\n#### Identifying Content Opportunities\n1. **Topics they cover that you do not**: potential gaps in your content strategy\n2. **Topics you cover that they do not**: potential differentiators to amplify\n3. **Formats they use that you do not**: format gaps that could reach new audiences\n4. **Audience segments they address that you do not**: underserved audiences\n5. **Search terms they rank for that you do not**: SEO content gaps\n\n#### Content Quality Assessment\n- Depth: surface-level or comprehensive?\n- Freshness: regularly updated or stale?\n- Engagement: do posts get comments, shares, links?\n- Production value: text-only or multimedia?\n- Thought leadership: original insights or rehashed content?\n\n### Positioning Strategy\n\n#### Positioning Statement Framework\n\nFor your company and each competitor, define (or reverse-engineer) their positioning statement:\n\n> For [target audience], [product/company] is the [category] that [key benefit/differentiator] because [reason to believe].\n\nExample:\n> For mid-market SaaS marketing teams, Acme is the campaign management platform that unifies planning and execution in one workspace because it is built on a single data model that eliminates tool fragmentation.\n\n#### Positioning Map\n\nPlot competitors on a 2x2 matrix using the two most important dimensions for your market:\n\nCommon axis pairs:\n- **Price vs. Capability** (low cost / basic vs. premium / full-featured)\n- **Ease of Use vs. Power** (simple / limited vs. complex / flexible)\n- **SMB Focus vs. Enterprise Focus** (self-serve / individual vs. sales-led / team)\n- **Point Solution vs. Platform** (does one thing well vs. does many things)\n- **Innovative vs. Established** (new approach vs. proven track record)\n\nIdentify which quadrant is underserved or where your differentiation is strongest.\n\n#### Category Strategy\n- **Create a new category**: if you do something genuinely different, define and own the category (high risk, high reward)\n- **Reframe the existing category**: change how buyers evaluate the category to favor your strengths\n- **Win the existing category**: compete directly on recognized criteria and out-execute\n- **Niche within the category**: own a specific segment, use case, or audience\n\n#### Positioning Pitfalls to Avoid\n- Positioning against a competitor rather than for a customer need\n- Claiming too many differentiators (pick 1-2 that matter most)\n- Using category jargon the customer does not use\n- Positioning on features rather than outcomes\n- Changing positioning too frequently (confuses the market)\n\n### Battlecard Creation\n\nA competitive battlecard is a one-page reference for sales and marketing teams. Include:\n\n#### Header\n- Competitor name and logo\n- Last updated date\n- Competitive win rate (if tracked)\n\n#### Quick Overview\n- What they do (one sentence)\n- Their target customer\n- Pricing model summary\n- Key recent developments\n\n#### Their Pitch\n- How they describe themselves\n- Their primary tagline\n- Their top 3 claimed differentiators\n\n#### Strengths (Be Honest)\n- Where they genuinely compete well\n- What customers like about them (from reviews)\n- Features or capabilities where they lead\n\n#### Weaknesses\n- Consistent customer complaints (from reviews)\n- Technical limitations\n- Gaps in their offering\n- Areas where customers report dissatisfaction\n\n#### Our Differentiators\n- 3-5 specific ways your product or approach is different\n- For each: the differentiator, why it matters to the customer, and proof\n\n#### Objection Handling\n| If the prospect says... | Respond with... |\n|------------------------|----------------|\n| \"[Competitor] does X too\" | \"Here is how our approach differs...\" |\n| \"[Competitor] is cheaper\" | \"Here is what that price difference gets you...\" |\n| \"I've heard good things about [Competitor]\" | \"They are strong at X. Where we differ is...\" |\n\n#### Landmines to Set\nQuestions to ask prospects early that highlight your advantages:\n- \"How do you currently handle [area where competitor is weak]?\"\n- \"How important is [capability you have that they lack]?\"\n- \"Have you considered [risk that your product mitigates]?\"\n\n#### Landmines to Defuse\nQuestions competitors might encourage prospects to ask you, with prepared responses.\n\n#### Win/Loss Themes\n- Common reasons deals are won against this competitor\n- Common reasons deals are lost to this competitor\n- What types of prospects favor them vs. you\n\n#### Battlecard Maintenance\n- Review and update quarterly at minimum\n- Update immediately after major competitor announcements\n- Incorporate win/loss feedback from sales team\n- Track which objection-handling responses are most effective\n\n## Output\n\nPresent the full competitive brief with clear formatting. Note the date of the research so the user knows the freshness of the data.\n\nAfter the brief, ask:\n\n\"Would you like me to:\n- Create a battlecard for your sales team based on this analysis?\n- Draft messaging that exploits the positioning gaps identified?\n- Dive deeper into any specific competitor?\n- Set up a competitive monitoring plan?\"",
  "applicable_domains": [
    "marketing",
    "content"
  ],
  "invocation": [
    "/competitive-brief",
    "/competitive-brief <competitor or market segment>"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "marketing",
    "anthropics",
    "knowledge-work"
  ],
  "authored_by": "anthropics",
  "source_url": "https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/blob/main/marketing/skills/competitive-brief/SKILL.md",
  "lifecycle": "stable",
  "category": "marketing",
  "provenance": {
    "source": "anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins",
    "source_url": "https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/blob/main/marketing/skills/competitive-brief/SKILL.md",
    "author": "Anthropic",
    "license": "Apache-2.0",
    "notes": "Imported by scripts/import-anthropic-skills.py."
  }
}