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Competitive Intelligence

Building competitive monitoring systems, positioning frameworks, and battle cards that help you win against competitors.

40 articles
Quarterly Competitive Briefings That Execs Actually Read

Quarterly Competitive Briefings That Execs Actually Read

I used to create 40-slide quarterly competitive reports. Executives skimmed them in 3 minutes. Here's the format they actually read and act on.

April 10, 2025 9 min read
Building a Competitive Win Rate Tracking System

Building a Competitive Win Rate Tracking System

Sales told me we were 'winning most competitive deals.' The data showed 38% win rate. Here's how I built a system that surfaces truth, not feelings.

March 19, 2025 10 min read
Deconstructing Competitor Messaging (My Framework)

Deconstructing Competitor Messaging (My Framework)

Competitor messaging reveals their strategy, target customers, and positioning weaknesses. Here's how I systematically deconstruct and respond to it.

February 25, 2025 9 min read
Running Competitive Intelligence as a Solo PMM

Running Competitive Intelligence as a Solo PMM

I'm the only PMM at a 50-person company. Competitive intelligence is 30% of my job. Here's how I do it without burning out or missing critical signals.

February 3, 2025 10 min read
Analyzing Competitive Threats After M&A Announcements

Analyzing Competitive Threats After M&A Announcements

Your competitor just got acquired by a tech giant. Is this existential threat or temporary distraction? Here's how to analyze M&A competitive impact fast.

January 12, 2025 9 min read
Differentiation in a Commodity Market: Our Strategy

Differentiation in a Commodity Market: Our Strategy

When your competitors offer nearly identical products at similar prices, differentiation seems impossible. Here's how we created meaningful distinction anyway.

December 21, 2024 10 min read
Learning from Competitor Customers (Ethically)

Learning from Competitor Customers (Ethically)

Competitor customers know things their sales team won't tell you. Here's how to research them without being shady or crossing ethical lines.

November 30, 2024 9 min read
Competitive Analysis Frameworks Compared: What Actually Works

Competitive Analysis Frameworks Compared: What Actually Works

I've tried every competitive analysis framework—Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, perceptual maps, battlecards. Here's what actually helps you win deals.

October 30, 2024 10 min read
Building Defensive Strategies When You're Being Outspent 10:1

Building Defensive Strategies When You're Being Outspent 10:1

Our competitor spent $10M on marketing while we had $1M. We couldn't outspend them, so we had to out-position them. Here's what actually worked.

October 18, 2024 10 min read
Building a Competitive News Dashboard That Actually Gets Used

Building a Competitive News Dashboard That Actually Gets Used

Most competitive intelligence dashboards die from complexity or irrelevance. Here's how to build one teams actually check daily.

September 26, 2024 7 min read
Predicting Competitor Product Roadmaps from Job Postings

Predicting Competitor Product Roadmaps from Job Postings

Competitors announce features after they build them. Job postings reveal what they're building months before launch. Here's how to decode them.

September 26, 2024 9 min read
Tracking Competitor Customer Sentiment: Social Listening for Competitive Insights

Tracking Competitor Customer Sentiment: Social Listening for Competitive Insights

What customers say about competitors reveals more than marketing promises. Here's how to systematically track sentiment for competitive intelligence.

September 12, 2024 7 min read
Getting Sales to Actually Read Competitive Intel

Getting Sales to Actually Read Competitive Intel

I spent weeks building comprehensive competitive battlecards. Sales ignored them. Here's what actually works to get competitive intelligence used.

September 4, 2024 9 min read
Competitive Sales Training: Teaching Reps to Sell Against Specific Competitors

Competitive Sales Training: Teaching Reps to Sell Against Specific Competitors

Battle cards help, but reps need live practice selling against competitors. Here's how to train teams to win competitive deals confidently.

August 30, 2024 7 min read
Defending Against Competitive Attacks: When Competitors Target You

Defending Against Competitive Attacks: When Competitors Target You

Being attacked by competitors means you're winning. Here's how to defend your position without looking defensive.

August 21, 2024 7 min read
How We Created a New Category (And Why It Failed)

How We Created a New Category (And Why It Failed)

Category creation sounds glamorous until you're six months in, burning cash on awareness, and nobody understands what you do. Here's what actually happened.

August 13, 2024 10 min read
Competitive Feature Comparison: How to Present Honestly Without Losing

Competitive Feature Comparison: How to Present Honestly Without Losing

Feature comparison charts that lie create distrust. Here's how to compare honestly while still winning the positioning battle.

August 7, 2024 7 min read
Using Win/Loss to Build Better Competitive Intelligence

Using Win/Loss to Build Better Competitive Intelligence

Win/loss interviews reveal what competitive intelligence tools miss: real reasons customers choose you or competitors.

July 24, 2024 7 min read
Reverse-Engineering Competitor Sales Pitches from Demos

Reverse-Engineering Competitor Sales Pitches from Demos

You don't need to spy on competitor sales calls. Their demos reveal everything about their positioning, objection handling, and sales strategy.

July 22, 2024 10 min read
Competitive Messaging Analysis: Deconstructing How Competitors Position

Competitive Messaging Analysis: Deconstructing How Competitors Position

Understanding competitor messaging reveals their strategy and exposes differentiation opportunities. Here's how to analyze it systematically.

July 10, 2024 7 min read
Automating Competitor Website Change Detection

Automating Competitor Website Change Detection

Manual website checking wastes hours weekly and misses critical changes. Here's the automated monitoring system I built to catch everything competitors publish.

June 30, 2024 9 min read
Monitoring Competitor Marketing: What to Track and How to Use It

Monitoring Competitor Marketing: What to Track and How to Use It

Tracking competitor marketing reveals their strategy before products launch. Here's what signals matter and how to capture them systematically.

June 28, 2024 7 min read
Building Competitive Battle Cards That Sales Actually Reference

Building Competitive Battle Cards That Sales Actually Reference

Most battle cards sit unused in shared drives. Here's the structure and content that makes them sales rep's first resource in competitive deals.

June 15, 2024 7 min read
Market Share Analysis Without Forrester or Gartner Data

Market Share Analysis Without Forrester or Gartner Data

Analyst reports cost $5K+ and still get market share wrong. Here's how I build accurate competitive market analysis without buying research.

June 8, 2024 10 min read
Competitive Win Rate Analysis: Using Data to Find Winnable Battles

Competitive Win Rate Analysis: Using Data to Find Winnable Battles

Fighting every competitive deal equally wastes resources. Here's how to identify which battles you can actually win.

June 1, 2024 7 min read
Analyzing Competitor Product Roadmaps: Reading Between the Lines

Analyzing Competitor Product Roadmaps: Reading Between the Lines

Competitors rarely share honest roadmaps publicly. Here's how to predict their product strategy from signals they do share.

May 17, 2024 7 min read
Building Competitive Positioning Maps That Stick

Building Competitive Positioning Maps That Stick

Most positioning maps get presented once and forgotten. Here's how to build positioning visualizations that shape how your entire company talks about competitors.

May 17, 2024 9 min read
Competitive Content Strategy: Winning Organic Search Against Established Players

Competitive Content Strategy: Winning Organic Search Against Established Players

Competing for SEO against category leaders with 5+ years of content requires strategy, not just more blog posts.

May 3, 2024 7 min read
Developing Win Themes from 50 Win/Loss Interviews

Developing Win Themes from 50 Win/Loss Interviews

Win themes should come from actual wins, not brainstorming sessions. Here's how I extracted competitive positioning from 50 real customer decisions.

April 25, 2024 10 min read
Tracking Competitor Pricing: Building a Competitive Pricing Intelligence System

Tracking Competitor Pricing: Building a Competitive Pricing Intelligence System

Competitor pricing changes affect your deals daily. Here's how to track pricing systematically without constant manual research.

April 19, 2024 7 min read
Distributing Competitive Intel to Sales: Making CI Actionable at Deal Level

Distributing Competitive Intel to Sales: Making CI Actionable at Deal Level

Competitive intelligence is worthless if sales doesn't use it. Here's how to deliver CI in formats that actually influence deals.

April 5, 2024 7 min read
Monitoring Competitor Content: My RSS-to-Slack Workflow

Monitoring Competitor Content: My RSS-to-Slack Workflow

Competitor content monitoring shouldn't require expensive tools or full-time analysts. Here's the automated workflow I built that tracks everything.

April 3, 2024 9 min read
Competitive Response Playbooks: Reacting to Competitor Launches Without Panic

Competitive Response Playbooks: Reacting to Competitor Launches Without Panic

Competitor launches always create urgency. Here's how to respond strategically instead of reactively burning resources.

March 22, 2024 7 min read
Building a Feature Gap Analysis That Sales Actually Uses

Building a Feature Gap Analysis That Sales Actually Uses

Most feature gap analyses sit in Google Docs collecting dust. Here's how to build competitive feature intelligence that helps sales win deals.

March 12, 2024 10 min read
Competitor Analysis Methodology: Systematic Approaches to Understanding Competition

Competitor Analysis Methodology: Systematic Approaches to Understanding Competition

Stop doing ad-hoc competitor research. Here's a repeatable methodology that produces actionable competitive intelligence consistently.

March 7, 2024 7 min read
How I Track Competitor Pricing Changes (Without a $40K Tool)

How I Track Competitor Pricing Changes (Without a $40K Tool)

Enterprise competitive intelligence platforms cost $40K+ annually. Here's the pricing tracking system I built for free that actually works better.

February 20, 2024 9 min read
War Gaming: How to Predict and Counter Competitor Moves Before They Happen

War Gaming: How to Predict and Counter Competitor Moves Before They Happen

Reacting to competitors keeps you on defense. War gaming helps you anticipate their strategy and respond proactively.

February 20, 2024 7 min read
Competitive Positioning Frameworks: How to Find Your Differentiated Position

Competitive Positioning Frameworks: How to Find Your Differentiated Position

Standing out in crowded markets requires more than features. Here's how to find positioning that competitors can't easily copy.

February 3, 2024 7 min read
Competitive Monitoring Tools: The Stack That Actually Delivers Insights

Competitive Monitoring Tools: The Stack That Actually Delivers Insights

Cut through the noise of 50+ competitive intelligence tools. Here's the practical stack that catches 95% of important competitor moves.

January 18, 2024 7 min read
Building a Competitive Intelligence System That Scales Without Dedicated Headcount

Building a Competitive Intelligence System That Scales Without Dedicated Headcount

Most companies can't afford a full-time competitive intelligence team. Here's how to build a CI system that runs on 5 hours per week.

January 5, 2024 7 min read

Explore More Topics

Strategy

Frameworks for positioning, competitive strategy, and market analysis that drive long-term GTM success.

Go-to-Market

Tactical playbooks for coordinating cross-functional launches, aligning teams, and executing GTM motions.

Product Launch

Launch planning, timing, and execution strategies that maximize impact and drive adoption.

Sales Enablement

Battlecards, training programs, and sales tools that turn reps into product experts.

Messaging & Positioning

Crafting value propositions and messaging that resonates with buyers and differentiates from competitors.

Pricing & Packaging

Pricing strategy, packaging decisions, and monetization models that optimize revenue.

AI Agent Optimization

Optimizing product content, documentation, and data for AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude that recommend products to buyers.

Win/Loss Analysis

Systematic approaches to understanding why deals are won or lost and feeding insights back to product and GTM.

Customer Research

Methods for gathering customer insights through interviews, surveys, and jobs-to-be-done research.

Demand Generation

Lead generation strategies, campaign planning, and lifecycle marketing that drives pipeline.

Content Marketing

Content strategy and distribution frameworks that drive qualified leads and revenue.

Product Analytics

Using product usage data to inform GTM decisions, identify expansion opportunities, and prevent churn.

Market Research

Primary and secondary research methodologies for understanding markets, competitors, and customer needs.

Partner & Channel Marketing

Co-marketing programs, partner enablement, and channel strategies that drive revenue through partnerships.

Product-Led Growth

Self-serve onboarding, free trial optimization, and PLG strategies that turn users into paying customers.

Customer Marketing

Retention programs, advocacy initiatives, and expansion campaigns that grow revenue from existing customers.

Product Marketing Operations

Team structure, tech stack, processes, and KPIs that make product marketing teams more effective and efficient.

Developer & Technical Marketing

Marketing to developers and technical buyers through docs, community, advocacy, and technical content.

International GTM

Strategies for international expansion, localization, regional planning, and managing global product launches.

Platform & Ecosystem Marketing

App marketplaces, developer platforms, partner programs, and ecosystem growth strategies for multi-sided platforms.

Founding PMMs

For the first PMM hire: building the function from scratch, proving value, working with limited resources, and establishing credibility.

Marketers at Scale-ups/Series A

Transitioning from startup to scale-up: building teams, standardizing processes, managing complexity, and driving systematic growth.

Product Marketing Frameworks

Proven frameworks, models, and methodologies that product marketers use to structure thinking, drive decisions, and execute consistently.

RevOps & PMM Alignment

Building partnerships with revenue operations to drive attribution, forecasting, pipeline management, and cross-functional GTM execution.

Event Marketing & Field PMM

Trade shows, conferences, webinars, and field marketing strategies that drive pipeline and build brand presence in target markets.

Product Adoption & Onboarding

Strategies to drive user activation, reduce time-to-value, increase feature adoption, and build product-led growth flywheels.

Executive Communication

Communicating with C-suite and board members through executive briefs, presentations, storytelling, and strategic influence.

PMM Visibility & Impact

Dashboard frameworks, attribution models, political navigation, and career strategies that help PMMs prove value and build executive influence.

Budget Season

Q4 planning strategies, budget defense tactics, and ROI frameworks for protecting PMM resources during annual planning cycles. Navigate finance scrutiny and prove necessity.

Pragmatic Framework

Practical guides for implementing the Pragmatic Institute framework, from market and focus to programs and readiness, helping PMMs get the most value from this popular methodology.

Future of PMM

How AI, product-led growth, and evolving buyer behaviors are reshaping product marketing. What skills, tools, and career paths will define PMMs in 2030.

Industry Marketing

Go-to-market strategies tailored for specific industries and verticals. How PMM approaches differ across SaaS, fintech, construction tech, healthcare, and other specialized markets.

Buyers Guides

Practical guides for choosing PMM tools and platforms. Evaluating competitive intelligence, messaging frameworks, and launch management solutions that consolidate workflows and save time.