It’s important to understand how your company compares to others in your space. A strong competitive assessment looks at competitor positioning, go-to-market strategy, and digital presence, and compares that to your own.
This three-step process walks you through how to gather the right inputs, prompt your AI tool (like ChatGPT), and review the output so it’s ready to share with your team.
As with any AI-generated content, review and refine the results to make sure they reflect your brand, your market, and your priorities.
Step 1: Collect Inputs
Start by gathering the foundational information below. Don’t worry if something is missing, the AI can still help identify gaps to fill later.
Your company name
List of competitors (include names, URLs, and social media if available)
Ideal Target Profile and Buyer Personas
Geographic scope (regional, national, or global)
If you don’t have a defined Ideal Target yet, use our guide:
Step 2: Prompt
Confirm all files are correctly named and organized for easy reference (we like to put them all in one folder).
Upload your files into your GPT (like ChatGPT) and use the prompt below to generate a working draft of your Competitive Assessment.
AI Prompt to Use
Role
- You are a Competitive Analyst specializing in increasing marketing effectiveness for mid-market companies. You analyze input files and publicly available sources to provide practical, actionable insights for marketing, sales, and executive teams. All outputs must be fact-based and validated. Do not fabricate or speculate. If information is missing or unclear, mark with [NEEDS CONFIRMATION]. If data gaps exceed 30% for a competitor, summarize available data and clearly note [NEEDS CONFIRMATION] in that section.
Instructions
Research all publicly available competitor data (websites, press releases, LinkedIn, ad libraries, social profiles, industry/analyst reports). When conflicting data appears, prioritize official company websites, investor reports, and government databases over third-party aggregators.
Include both provided competitors and any additional competitors surfaced within the defined geography.
Summarize each competitor’s capabilities, positioning, differentiators, and go-to-market strategy. Summaries should feed directly into the Competitive Comparison Grid; avoid duplicating content unless for narrative clarity.
Identify overlapping positioning between the client and competitors.
Recommend sell-against messaging: how to win against each competitor (strengths to showcase, weaknesses to exploit).
Identify unique positioning opportunities based on competitive gaps.
Create comparison grids including ALL competitors, comparing capabilities, positioning themes, and go-to-market approaches.
Estimate market share using competitor data or validated assumptions (directional only). “Validated” means the data must come from publicly verifiable, first-party, or clearly cited third-party sources.
Identify competitor participation in industry associations, events, sponsorships, awards, certifications (major competitors only).
Analyze competitor digital presence (website, messaging, content cadence, SEO visibility, paid ads, social engagement).
Benchmark digital share of voice: relative visibility compared to peers (traffic indicators, ad activity, follower counts, engagement). Digital share-of-voice should be directional, using available public indicators (indexed pages, social followers, ad activity summaries, etc.), not proprietary metrics.
Using the inputs, generate a comprehensive competitive assessment in a downloadable PPT that includes the following information in individual slides. Use clean, professional formatting and emphasize readability and executive usability. Tone should be analytical and strategic, written for marketing and executive decision-makers. Keep executive slides to 12–15 max; move detailed grids, digital data, and association lists to an appendix:
Executive Summary: Competitive Landscape & Key Recommendations
Overlapping Positioning Themes: Client vs. Competitors
Unique Positioning Opportunities: Gaps to Leverage
Sell-Against Playbook: How to Win Against Key Competitors
Competitive Comparison Grid: Capabilities, Positioning, Go-to-Market Themes
Embed the full Competitive Comparison Grid directly into the PPT; not as a summary or placeholder. Do not reference a companion Excel file. Embed a condensed version of the full grid into PPT, with an optional appendix if the table exceeds visual readability.
Estimated Market Share (directional): Client vs. Competitors
Go-to-Market Opportunity: Where and How to Win
Strategic Insights: Differentiation and Growth Priorities
Seasonality & Visibility Signals (major competitors only): Associations, Events, Sponsorships, Awards
Digital Share-of-Voice Snapshot (directional):
Website authority & SEO visibility
Paid ad presence (from public ad libraries)
Social media activity & engagement
Content cadence (blogs, case studies, thought leadership)
Indirect & Adjacent Competitors: List and brief positioning overview
Final output must be in downloadable PPT format, with one slide per section unless otherwise noted.
QA Checklist
Before finalizing outputs, confirm:
All information is fact-based and validated.
Gaps are clearly labeled with [NEEDS CONFIRMATION].
Both provided competitors and additional competitors from geography research are included.
Digital Share-of-Voice analysis is relative/directional, not fabricated.
Seasonality & Visibility Signals are included only for major competitors and only if fact-based.
Inputs from the Competitor List and Ideal Target Profile & Buyer Personas are explicitly reflected.
Each competitor includes high-level positioning, go-to-market, and digital presence.
Market share estimates are labeled directional unless sourced from verified reports.
Indirect/adjacent competitors are clearly distinguished.
Ask questions for clarification.
You can also ask the AI to create a comparison grid that shows how you stack up on capabilities, positioning, and marketing approach.
Step 3: Review and Finalize
AI gives you a solid head start, but your expertise brings the output to life. Use this checklist to make sure your assessment is accurate and usable:
Are all findings based on public data or clearly marked [NEEDS CONFIRMATION]?
Are all direct and indirect competitors represented?
Are your Ideal Target or personas reflected in the recommendations?
Are the digital and go-to-market comparisons useful for your team?
Are there clear insights you can act on?
Once reviewed, share the assessment with your leadership, marketing, and sales teams. Use it to guide messaging updates, sales enablement tools, campaign planning, or content strategy.
For more of our AI guides, check out Follow These 3 Easy Steps to Draft Your Ideal Target with AI and 3 Steps to Build Your Brand Personality & Tone-of-Voice with AI.