Competitor analysis for small teams

We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Most advice about competitor analysis assumes a team that does not exist at your size. Here is the version that does not.

Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. The failure mode is not doing it wrong, it is doing it once and assuming it stays done.

What to keep

Look for the gaps, not just for what to copy. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.

What to drop

Process that exists to coordinate ten people is overhead when there are two of you. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions.

How we handle it

Check what they rank for that you do not. Getting it slightly wrong is survivable. Ignoring it entirely is not. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.

How to tell if yours is fine

The projects that go badly are rarely the ones with the hardest technical problems. Three things worth confirming about competitor analysis before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Look for the gaps, not just for what to copy — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.