competitive-platform-analysis

---
name: competitive-platform-analysis
description: >-
  Use when scoping a competitive landscape — identifying, categorising, and
  score-filtering a competitor set before any benchmarking begins. Decides who
  counts as a competitor, which tier they belong to, and which sources to mine.
  First step in the three-skill competitive pipeline; precedes
  benchmark-methodology.
---

# Competitive Platform Analysis

Use this skill to decide **who to benchmark** and **where to find them** before
any scoring begins. A competitive analysis is only as good as its frame: the
wrong set makes the client look either unbeatable or doomed. The goal is a
defensible, decision-relevant set — not an exhaustive census.

## When to Activate

- About to start a competitive benchmarking project and need to define the competitor set first.
- Unsure which companies belong in Direct / Adjacent / Aspirational tiers.
- Need a defensible, pruned scope for a market landscape report.
- Has a positioning brief and wants to identify who contests that position.
- First step before running benchmark-methodology.

## Client positioning brief (establish first)

Before scoping the set, establish the client's positioning brief. If you don't
already have it, run a short brand-discovery interview to elicit it — do **not**
invent one and do **not** scope the set blind. The brief supplies:

- **Identity / aesthetic register** — what kind of studio or company this is and
  how it presents itself.
- **Offer** — what services or products it delivers.
- **Target clients** — who it sells to.
- **Differentiator** — the moat or positioning argument the client believes in.
- **Scoping consequence** — the implication for how to weight competitors (e.g.,
  prioritize by distinctiveness vs. capability overlap vs. price).
- **Strategic tension** — the paired axes that define the client's white-space
  (e.g., memorability × hireability).

**Do not proceed without the positioning brief.** A competitor list scoped
without the client's lens is noise, not intelligence. The scoping consequence in
particular determines which competitors are *strong* rivals (those that contest
the client's moat) vs. merely overlapping on service menu.

## Selection criteria

For each candidate, capture these axes — they decide both inclusion and tier:

- **Size / model** — solo, micro-studio (2–8), boutique (sub-30), mid-size
  agency. Match the client's own band; same-band studios are the realistic
  head-to-head set.
- **Niche / specialization** — how closely the candidate's focus overlaps with
  the client's offer. Tighter overlap = more direct.
- **Geography / market** — EU vs US vs global-remote; language; time-zone reach.
  Note whether they win the same clients the client targets.
- **Pricing & engagement model** — productized sprints, retainer, project,
  day-rate; transparent vs "contact us". Signals positioning maturity.
- **Portfolio style** — generic vs. opinionated/editorial vs. contrarian. Closer
  to the client's aesthetic register = more they contest the client's
  distinctiveness.
- **Technical depth / craft maturity** — relevant if the client's credibility
  story includes public process work, open tooling, or documented systems.
- **Brand strength** — does the studio have an ownable verbal/visual identity, or
  is it interchangeable? Weight this per the client's scoping consequence.

## Player taxonomy — axes to populate across

Don't sort competitors into niche-specific buckets; sort them along a few
generic axes so the landscape isn't skewed toward one archetype. These axes
apply to any creative-service market (design, motion, copywriting, branding,
content, film, etc.). Aim for breadth across each axis first, then prune to the
most instructive.

1. **Positioning stance** — *brand-led / editorial* (competes on identity,
   voice, POV) vs *capability-led* (competes on craft, throughput, outcomes).
   Populate both poles; the client's closest mirror sits at its own end.
2. **Specialization** — *specialist* (one tight discipline or vertical) vs
   *generalist* (broad service menu). Tighter overlap with the client's focus =
   more direct.
3. **Size / model** — *solo / micro* vs *boutique* vs *mid-size* vs
   *enterprise-scale*. Same-band players are the realistic head-to-head; larger
   bands are the aspirational/commercial-maturity reference.
4. **Engagement format** — *productized* (named sprints, audits, fixed packages)
   vs *bespoke* (custom project / retainer). Signals positioning maturity.
5. **Distinctiveness posture** — *conventional / safe* vs *contrarian /
   manifesto-driven*. The opinionated end is key for distinctiveness
   benchmarking in any niche.
6. **Evidence / credibility model** — *outcome-led* (metrics, named clients,
   case depth) vs *aesthetic-led* (portfolio, awards). Tells you how each player
   earns trust.
7. **Brand strength of the operator** — *interchangeable* vs *cult / ownable
   identity* (including senior independents who prove the "memorable solo brand"
   model).
8. **Market / reach** — *local / regional* vs *global-remote*; note whether they
   win the same clients the client targets.

Plot each candidate on the relevant axes; a competitor is *direct* when it sits
near the client on positioning, specialization, size, and market at once.

## Competitive tiers (how the set resolves)

Group the final set into three tiers — this structure carries through to the
report:

- **Direct** — same band, overlapping offer, same client targets. The realistic
  head-to-head.
- **Adjacent** — partial overlap (one capability, or a different client size)
  that pressures at the edges.
- **Aspirational** — players the client is not competing with today but whose
  brand or commercial maturity sets the bar to aim at.
- *(Watch also for substitutes: no-code/AI tools, in-house teams, generalist
  freelancers — note as a threat vector, not a profiled competitor unless
  materially relevant.)*

## Data sources (where to look)

Match the source to the dimension you need. The platform *types* below are
generic; substitute the ones native to the client's niche (e.g. Dribbble/Behance
for design, showreel/Vimeo for motion, writing samples/published work for copy):

- **Portfolio / craft platforms** — craft quality, range, aesthetic register
  (e.g. Dribbble, Behance, Vimeo, or the niche's equivalent showcase).
- **Awards / curated showcases** — craft ambition and editorial recognition;
  over-indexes on flashy, so cross-check commercial credibility (e.g. Awwwards,
  industry award lists).
- **Competitor's own site** — primary source for positioning, voice, offer
  packaging, pricing posture, named clients, manifesto/POV.
- **LinkedIn** — team size/model, founder narrative, post cadence, client logos,
  geography.
- **Review directories** — reviews, named clients, project sizes, engagement
  models; strongest signal for commercial credibility and enterprise-readiness
  (e.g. Clutch.co or the niche's equivalent).
- **Open / public work** — process repos, published samples, open creative
  output: depth and craft-transparency evidence.
- **Conference talks / podcasts / newsletters** — thought-leadership depth and
  POV ownership.

Always **verify claims across at least two sources** before treating a competitor
attribute as fact (self-reported site copy ≠ verified outcome). Carry an
adversarial-verification discipline into every profile.

## Scoring matrix template (selection stage)

A lightweight pre-filter to decide who graduates into full benchmarking. Score
1–5; keep candidates that score high on **either** distinctiveness **or**
credibility — the client's strategic tension means both poles are instructive.

| Candidate | Positioning stance | Specialization | Size band | Tier | Offer overlap (1–5) | Distinctiveness (1–5) | Commercial credibility (1–5) | Craft proximity (1–5) | Include? |
|-----------|--------------------|----------------|-----------|------|---------------------|------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------|----------|

Rules of thumb (apply per the client's scoping consequence in the positioning brief):

- High distinctiveness **and** high credibility → must-profile (proves the
  client's target tension is achievable).
- High distinctiveness, low credibility → cautionary case (memorable but
  un-hireable — a potential failure mode to learn from).
- High credibility, low distinctiveness → "competent but forgettable" mass the
  client defines itself against.
- Low on both → drop unless needed for landscape breadth.

## Output of this stage

A scoped, tiered competitor set (typically 10–18 candidates → 8–12 profiled),
each tagged with its axis positions, tier, and source links, ready to hand to
`benchmark-methodology`.

## Anti-Patterns

- **Scoping without a positioning brief.** A competitor list built without the client's lens is noise. The brief determines what counts as a real rival.
- **Listing every similar company.** The goal is a defensible 10–18 candidate set, not a census. Breadth without pruning makes benchmarking unmanageable.
- **Blurring the Direct/Adjacent/Aspirational tiers.** These tiers serve different strategic purposes. Mixing them produces a flat list that can't drive decisions.
- **Relying on a single source per competitor.** Self-reported site copy is marketing, not fact. Verify attributes across at least two sources.
- **Jumping straight to scoring.** This skill scopes and tiers the set. Benchmark-methodology handles scoring. Don't conflate the two steps.

## Examples

**Scenario:** A boutique brand-identity studio (2-person, EU-remote, productized
sprints, contrarian/manifesto-driven aesthetic) wants to scope its competitive
set before benchmarking. The strategic tension from the positioning brief is
*memorability × hireability*.

**Step 1 — eight-axis population (sample candidates):**

| Candidate | Positioning stance | Specialization | Size band | Engagement | Distinctiveness | Evidence model | Brand strength | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio A | brand-led / editorial | identity only | micro | productized | contrarian | aesthetic-led | cult | global-remote |
| Studio B | capability-led | broad DS+motion | boutique | bespoke | conventional | outcome-led | interchangeable | US |
| Agency C | capability-led | brand+digital | mid-size | retainer | conventional | outcome-led | interchangeable | EU |
| Freelancer D | brand-led | brand voice only | solo | day-rate | editorial | aesthetic-led | ownable | global |
| Studio E | brand-led | brand strategy | micro | productized | manifesto-driven | outcome-led | cult | EU-remote |

**Step 2 — pre-filter scoring (client scoping consequence: weight distinctiveness
because the client's moat is POV-first, not capability breadth):**

| Candidate | Offer overlap (1–5) | Distinctiveness (1–5) | Commercial credibility (1–5) | Craft proximity (1–5) | Tier | Include? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio A | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Direct | ✓ must-profile |
| Studio B | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | Adjacent | ✓ credibility anchor |
| Agency C | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | Aspirational | ✓ scale reference |
| Freelancer D | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | Direct | ✓ cautionary case |
| Studio E | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Direct | ✓ must-profile |

**Step 3 — output handed to `benchmark-methodology`:**
Five candidates (3 Direct, 1 Adjacent, 1 Aspirational), each tagged with
axis positions, tier, and source links. Studio A and Studio E are the
sharpest head-to-head rivals; Freelancer D is the "memorable but
un-hireable" cautionary case to learn from.

## Related Skills

- `brand-discovery` — use first to establish the positioning brief and strategic tension that scopes the competitor set.
- `benchmark-methodology` — the next step; takes the tiered set and scores each competitor across nine dimensions.