Setting the skill. One moment.
Marketing
Skill 74 of 200
Research competitors and generate a positioning and messaging comparison with content gaps, opportunities, and threats.
7 minutes · 1,641 words · 49 sections
Install
npx skills add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill competitive-briefnpx skills add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-pluginsThe first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.
If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md (opens in a new tab).
Research competitors and generate a structured competitive analysis comparing positioning, messaging, content strategy, and market presence.
User runs /competitive-brief or asks for a competitive analysis, competitor research, or market comparison.
Gather the following from the user:
Competitor name(s) — one or more competitors to analyze (required)
Your company/product context (optional but recommended):
Focus areas (optional — if not specified, cover all):
For each competitor, research using web search:
Gather intelligence from these categories of sources:
For each competitor:
| Dimension | Your Company | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary tagline | … | … | … |
| Target buyer | … | … | … |
| Key differentiator | … | … | … |
| Tone/voice | … | … | … |
| Core value prop | … | … | … |
(Include user’s company only if they provided their positioning context)
For each competitor, document:
Identify each competitor’s story arc:
This reveals positioning strategy and emotional appeals.
For each competitor’s messaging, assess:
Map content across competitors by:
| Topic/Theme | Your Content | Competitor A | Competitor B | Gap? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Topic 1] | Blog post, ebook | Blog series, webinar | Nothing | Opportunity for B |
| [Topic 2] | Nothing | Whitepaper | Blog post, video | Gap for you |
| [Topic 3] | Case study | Nothing | Case study | Parity |
| Content Format | You | Comp A | Comp B | Comp C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog posts | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Case studies | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Ebooks/Whitepapers | N | Y | Y | N |
| Webinars | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Podcast | N | N | Y | N |
| Video content | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Interactive tools | N | N | N | Y |
| Templates/Resources | Y | N | Y | N |
For your company and each competitor, define (or reverse-engineer) their positioning statement:
For [target audience], [product/company] is the [category] that [key benefit/differentiator] because [reason to believe].
Example:
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.
Plot competitors on a 2x2 matrix using the two most important dimensions for your market:
Common axis pairs:
Identify which quadrant is underserved or where your differentiation is strongest.
A competitive battlecard is a one-page reference for sales and marketing teams. Include:
| If the prospect says… | Respond with… |
|---|---|
| “[Competitor] does X too” | “Here is how our approach differs…” |
| “[Competitor] is cheaper” | “Here is what that price difference gets you…” |
| “I’ve heard good things about [Competitor]” | “They are strong at X. Where we differ is…” |
Questions to ask prospects early that highlight your advantages:
Questions competitors might encourage prospects to ask you, with prepared responses.
Present the full competitive brief with clear formatting. Note the date of the research so the user knows the freshness of the data.
After the brief, ask:
“Would you like me to:
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.
The verbatim description from this skill’s front matter — the string an agent matches on to decide whether to load it.
main, last pushed 23 September 2026.SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 27 distinct layouts observed: bio-research/skills/*/SKILL.md, cowork-plugin-management/skills/*/SKILL.md, customer-support/skills/*/SKILL.md, data/skills/*/SKILL.md, design/skills/*/SKILL.md, engineering/skills/*/SKILL.md, enterprise-search/skills/*/SKILL.md, finance/skills/*/SKILL.md, human-resources/skills/*/SKILL.md, legal/skills/*/SKILL.md, marketing/skills/*/SKILL.md, operations/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/apollo/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/brand-voice/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/common-room/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/slack/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/contact-center/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/meeting-sdk/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/meeting-sdk/web/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/video-sdk/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/virtual-agent/*/SKILL.md, partner-built/zoom-plugin/skills/zoom-mcp/*/SKILL.md, pdf-viewer/skills/*/SKILL.md, product-management/skills/*/SKILL.md, productivity/skills/*/SKILL.md, sales/skills/*/SKILL.md.h1 and no skipped levels:.claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Anthropic, declaring 120 plugins. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree./anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.