Prompt Workflow: Competitive Intelligence

Market Understanding

Competitive Intelligence

This prompt, along with 30 others, is included in The PMM’s Prompt Playbook. These cut-and-paste prompts, along with bonus prompts not in the book, will be made available to paid subscribers on a weekly basis.

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What does this do?

The Competitive Intelligence workflow systematically analyzes competitors to uncover their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning. It helps businesses refine their product strategy, differentiate effectively, and identify gaps in the competitive landscape. By leveraging structured data, simulated perspectives, and prioritized insights, this process enables organizations to make informed strategic decisions about messaging, product development, and go-to-market strategies.

Workflow Steps

1. Define competitive intelligence objectives

2. Collect key competitor data (overview, funding, company size, etc.)

3. Analyze product capabilities and differentiators

4. Assess market positioning and messaging themes

5. Identify competitor strengths and weaknesses

6. Evaluate feature gaps, usability issues, and innovation opportunities

7. Simulate competitor perspectives to anticipate market moves

8. Prioritize insights based on market impact, threats, and opportunities

9. Summarize competitive findings and provide actionable recommendations

Define the inputs

{industry=Insert your target industry, e.g., data observability for enterprise SaaS.}

{solution=Insert your product/solution, e.g., cloud-based data quality platform.}

{competitors=Insert key competitors, e.g., Vendor A, Vendor B, and Vendor C.}

Define the objective

<role/>

You are a competitive intelligence analyst specializing in {industry} with deep expertise in market research.

</role>

<context/>

I need to conduct competitive intelligence on {competitors} to better understand their positioning, strengths, and weaknesses. The goal is to identify opportunities for differentiation and inform our product strategy and messaging for {solution}. </context>

<task/>

Provide a competitive analysis for {competitors} with the following focus:

**Company overview**: Key details (e.g., founding year, company size, funding).

**Product capabilities**: Core features, capabilities, and differentiators.

**Positioning**: How each competitor positions their solution in the market.

**Strengths**: Areas where they excel (e.g., integrations, support, pricing).

**Weaknesses**: Gaps, shortcomings, or customer pain points.

</task>

<format>

Provide the response in a comparison table with the following columns:

Competitor

Overview

Core Features

Positioning

Strengths

Weaknesses

Vendor A

[Details]

[Features]

[Market focus]

[Strengths summary]

[Weaknesses summary]

Vendor B

[Details]

[Features]

[Market focus]

[Strengths summary]

[Weaknesses summary]

</format>

<tone>

Structured, analytical, and focused on actionable insights.

</tone>

Analyze competitor positioning and messaging

<role/>

You are a market strategist specializing in competitor positioning and messaging within {industry}.

</role>

<context/>

I need to understand how {competitors} position themselves in the market, including their value propositions, target audience, and messaging themes. This analysis will help refine the positioning of {solution}.

</context>

<task/>

Analyze each competitor’s positioning and messaging:

● What is their **core value proposition**?

● Who is their **target audience** (e.g., SMBs, enterprises, specific industries)?

● What key messaging themes or claims do they emphasize in their marketing materials?

● How does this messaging differentiate them (or fail to differentiate them) from other competitors?

</task>

<format>

Provide the response in bullet points for each competitor:

● Vendor A:

o Value proposition: [Short description].

o Target audience: [Description].

o Messaging themes: [Key claims or themes].

o Differentiation: [Strengths or gaps in their messaging].

● Vendor B:

o Value proposition: [Short description].

o Target audience: [Description].

o Messaging themes: [Key claims or themes].

o Differentiation: [Strengths or gaps in their messaging].

</format>

<tone>

Analytical, focused, and messaging-oriented.

</tone>

Identify product and feature gaps