The direct competitors
The businesses a customer would shortlist alongside yours. Keep the list short and honest. A few real rivals tell you more than every name in the category.
Business intelligence · Competitor research
If a competitor could say it too, it is not positioning.
Competitor research shows where a business is genuinely different, so its messaging can claim something specific. Organise it in Mengo next to the rest of the business foundation, for your own business or for each client you market.
- Rivals and real alternatives in one place
- Kept with the business foundation
Competitor researchIllustration
- What competitors claimFeeds: positioning statement
- Gaps they leave openFeeds: landing page angle
- Alternatives customers use todayFeeds: comparison content
- Objections competitors createFeeds: sales script answers
An example of how competitor research feeds later work. A simplified view, not a full analysis.
Why it matters
Most messaging would still be true with a competitor's name in it.
Try it on any homepage. Swap the business name for a rival's. If the sentence still holds, it gives a buyer no reason to choose.
The research that would fix this is usually scattered. Competitor notes sit in bookmarks, screenshots and a spreadsheet nobody has opened since the last pitch. And the option your customer is really weighing is often not a direct competitor at all. It might be doing nothing, doing it themselves, hiring an agency or stitching tools together. Competitor research brings all of it into one place, next to the business it describes, so the real difference is easy to see.
Turn the findings into a SWOT analysisThe swap testRead each claim with a competitor's name in place of yours. Keep only the lines that stop being true.
The real alternativeDoing nothing or doing it in-house competes for the same budget and attention as any named rival.
The method in practiceThis site's own comparison pages, Mengo vs an agency and Mengo vs a tool stack, are built the same way: against the alternatives buyers actually weigh.
What to record
Good competitor research records four things.
You do not need an exhaustive audit. You need enough to say plainly why a customer should pick this business over everything else they could do instead.
The alternatives customers use today
A spreadsheet, an in-house hire, an agency, a mix of tools or simply doing nothing. These are often what your marketing actually has to beat.
What each one claims
How each presents itself: the headline promise, the proof it offers, the tone it takes. This shows which claims are already crowded and not worth repeating.
Where each leaves a gap
The need each one leaves unmet, or meets badly, that your business covers. That gap is where your positioning and your strongest copy come from.
Keep it current. Competitors change their offers and their messaging. Revisit the research before a new campaign or launch, so the claims you build on still hold up when a prospect compares.
Where it is used next
Research that turns into a position you can defend.
Everything the system creates is built from your business context. Competitor research gives that context an outside view, so the work that follows knows what it is up against.
SWOT analysis
Competitor findings shape the opportunities and threats, so the analysis reflects the market you are really in.
ExploreMOAT analysis
Knowing what rivals already offer helps you judge which strengths are hard to copy and which are not.
ExploreSales scripts
Prepared answers for when a prospect says they are talking to someone else, or thinking of doing it themselves.
ExploreBusiness intelligence
More in the business foundation
Competitor research makes most sense next to the rest of the foundation. Open any capability to see what it holds and where it is used.
Find the claim only your business can make.
Tell us who your customers compare you with, or who your clients are up against. We will show you how competitor research sits in the business foundation and where it shapes positioning and sales messaging.
- Competitor research organised for a real business or client
- How gaps in the market become positioning and copy
- A straight answer on fit for your situation
Rather write directly? Email info@mengo.si.