Glossary
Competitive analysis
The structured, point-in-time examination of competitors to surface decisions about your own strategy.
Competitive analysis is the structured examination of a competitor (or set of competitors) at a specific moment in time. It differs from competitive intelligence in cadence: analysis is a project; intelligence is a process.
A useful competitive analysis ends in decisions, not observations. The best output is a short list of moves your team can make Monday morning, ranked by effort and impact. If your analysis produces a 40-page deck and no decisions, you over-analyzed.
Three frameworks consistently produce decisions:
- Dunford's 5-step canvas — for positioning analysis
- Jobs-to-Be-Done — for revealing hidden competitive overlap
- Ries + Trout category ownership — for tracking which word each competitor claims
A useful pace for live competitive analysis is 90 minutes per competitor: 30 min reading their site, 30 min filling out frameworks, 30 min ranking moves. Done weekly across 3-5 competitors, this produces ongoing decisions. Done annually as a 40-hour project, it produces a deck nobody reads.
Example
A founder runs a Dunford canvas on each of their top 3 competitors quarterly. The canvas reveals that two competitors have nearly identical positioning to each other but very different positioning from the founder's product — meaning those two are competing with each other more than either is competing with the founder. The founder shifts marketing spend to verticals where neither competitor has presence.
Related terms
Go deeper
Apply this
Get a real competitive brief on your competitors.
Tell us what you do — we'll find your competitors + write the brief.
Try a brief in 60 seconds →