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-

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.

competitive-platform-analysis