OUR NEXT LIVE ROUND OF PROFITABLE FUNNEL SPRINT STARTS MAR 24TH - LEARN MORE →

content marketing
MARKETING SERVICES

Content Strategy

How to Create a Competitive Content Analysis

Hailey Dale, content marketing
content marketing

HEY THERE!

I’m Hailey – content strategist and founder here at Your Content Empire where we help you create more profitable, purposeful and productive content — and hopefully enjoy yourself more while doing it too. Learn more about me here >>

Let’s Connect

Categories

Content Systems
Content Strategy
Sales Funnels
All
How to Create a Competitive Content Analysis, content marketing

How do you create a competitive content analysis that actually helps your business succeed? This post teaches you how to perform a competitive content analysis so that you can find opportunities to make your content stand out.

I work with a long-term retainer client who came to me because she was struggling to sell any of the courses and mini-courses that she’d lovingly and painstakingly put together. And even though she was marketing her butt off and promoting these things in all the right ways, she felt like she was going in circles and making zero progress.

When we sat down to finally examine why this was happening, I started things off with a competitive content analysis, and through that, we discovered that most of her paid programs and many courses were being done by other people: but for free. Even the names were similar. And we learned that she was marketing these in the same places, with the same language, and to the same people.

So while I'm all about ‘community over competition’ by embracing and cheering on other businesses in my space, I'm also not about putting your head in the sand.

If we hadn't intervened by looking at the competition with my client, how long would’ve she kept doing things the same way? How long before she’d decide to shelve her gifts permanently?

So in this post, I'm going to walk you through a process of really getting to know what your quote-unquote competitors are up to, gain a high-level view of your industry landscape, and summarize your takeaways into actionable ideas to implement into your content strategies.

Prefer to watch this blog post instead? Click on the video below!

What is a Competitive Content Analysis?

A competitive content analysis is an individualized examination of what content your competitors are creating, where they’re marketing their businesses, the language they’re using, the offers they’re making, and the results they’re getting.

The purpose is to help you survey the landscape so you can find a spot where you fit best. It also helps you gain insight on what strategies to cut or double-down on to increase your unique advantage.

REMEMBER → The point of this exercise isn’t to make you feel bad or measure yourself against them. We’re doing this so you can create better content for your audience. And see better results in your business at the end of the day.

content marketing

Competitive Content Analysis: Step 1 – Create a List of Your Competitors

Start by looking for businesses that are selling the same (or similar) offers as you do, creating content around the same topics and categories. Look for people who are further along and at the same stage as you in business.

If you’re a location-based business, search locally but also further too as you can learn a lot from what others are doing in other areas too!

At this stage, we’re just creating an unfiltered list so collect as many as you can. 

Source #1 → Write down anyone who immediately comes to mind (I’m sure there are some you can think of right away)

Source #2 → Search on Facebook for your title (i.e. wedding photographer, digital marketer, copywriter)

Source #3 → Search on Google for your title (i.e. wedding photographer, digital marketer, copywriter)

Source #4 → Search on Pinterest for your industry/niche and your product/offer (i.e. wedding photography and wedding photos, copywriting and website/email/marketing copy)

Source #5 → Search in Facebook groups for your title, industry/niche and product/offer (i.e. wedding photographer + wedding photography + wedding photos)

Once you have your big list, narrow it down to between 5-10 who you felt were the closest to what you do and create content around. 

Competitive Content Analysis: Step 2 – Complete a Platform Analysis

Next, we’re going to collect any content information we can gather from their website and social media profiles. Go through this process for everyone who you’ve added to your shortlist.

On their website and blog:

  • From the homepage: what’s the tagline, who do they work with, what do they call themselves (title wise)?
  • From their offer pages: what are their offers, price points, what’s included in those offers, and what words do their past clients/customers use to describe the results they’ve gotten?
  • From their blog: what categories do they write about, what were the titles of their last 5-7 blog posts, how much engagement is visible on these blog posts?
  • Freebies: what free offers are they using to build their email list (names, what’s included and format)?
  • Are there any media or collaboration logos visible? Add these to the featured section.

Social media profiles (top 3): 

  • What platform are they using? Followers?
  • How often are they posting and using it?
  • What type of content are they posting?
  • What levels of engagement are their posts receiving?

Media and collaborations: 

  • In Google, search for their name and business name to see if they’ve been featured on other websites.
  • In Google, search for interviews – Interview + “NAME” (try their business name too).
  • In Google, search for guest posts – Guest + “Name” (try their business name too).
  • In iTunes, search for podcast interviews by searching for their name and business name.
  • Where have they been featured? What are the topics of those features?

Competitive Content Analysis: Step 3 – Summarize the Information

You’ve created a list of your competitors, and you’ve completed a platform analysis. Now we’re going to use the information we’ve gleaned to define your approach in each of these areas. Here’s how you do it:

Website

  • What are most people calling themselves? → What’s your title?
  • What are most of the taglines like? → What’s your unique tagline?

Offers

  • What are they offering? → What are your unique offers?
  • What are they including in their offers? → What is your unique spin?
  • What are they pricing their offers around? → What is your pricing?

Content

  • What categories are they using? → Are the categories similar to yours? 
  • What topic ideas did you come up with from looking at others? → What new topics could you cover?
  • What formats are they using? → What’s your format?

Freebies

  • What freebies are they using? → What are your freebies?
  • What formats are they using? → What format are your freebies in?
  • What problems are they solving? → What problem does your freebie solve?

Social

  • What channels are they using? → What social channels are you using?
  • What type of content are they posting? → What’s your content type?
  • What engagement are they getting? → What is your engagement like?

Media and Collaborations

  • Where have they been featured? → Where have you been featured?
  • What types of businesses have they collaborated with? → What businesses have you collaborated with? 

Takeaways

Once you've completed your competitive content analysis, I hope that in addition to seeing opportunities to take your own content to the next level, that you also see how well you're already doing.

All of us can benefit from a little insight but often don't know where to find it. What you’ve just done is create your own panel of industry experts. Now you just have to make the most of their insights!

Download the Competitive Content Analysis Template below.

content marketing

You Might Also Be Interested In These Posts

Done-For-You Price Raising Campaign, content marketing

Done-For-You Price Raising Campaign

Are you stuck at full capacity but afraid to raise your prices? One of my clients just ran a price raising campaign that converted at 35% - with mostly existing leads? Today, I'm giving you my exact step-by-step campaign framework for raising your prices without...

Pin It on Pinterest

Your Content Empire - Competitor Content Analysis Worksheet, content marketing
content marketing
content marketing
Hailey Dale, content marketing
content marketing
How to Create a Competitive Content Analysis, content marketing
content marketing
content marketing
Steal My Daily Writing System That Generated 260 Posts (In Just 25 Mins a Day), content marketing
Done-For-You Price Raising Campaign, content marketing
How to Simplify Your Content with This One Page Content Strategy Template, content marketing
Freebies vs. Low-Ticket: Which is ACTUALLY better for growing your list? 🤔 Everyone’s raving about low-ticket offers being the holy grail of list building... but is that really true for YOU? I’m breaking down the honest pros and cons of both strategies so you can make the right choice for your business right now. Swipe through to see: ✅ The hidden advantages of freebies that nobody talks about ✅ When low-ticket actually makes sense (and when it’s a money pit) ✅ 5 key factors to consider before making your decision The truth? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But swipe this carousel to figure out which path is right for YOUR specific situation. P.S. I’m hosting a workshop on March 12th all about how to create a sales funnel that works in 2025. Comment WORKSHOP and I’ll send you the link to sign up., content marketing
That bundle or summit you just contributed to? It’s filling your list with dead weight... Yes, there’s some anecdotal evidence and Cinderella stories from those who they’ve worked for but the majority are doing a lot more harm than good. From the participant/customer side: Yes, they get a firehose of information but there’s also so much information that very little (if any) of it gets implemented. From the contributor/speaker side: Yes, you get exposure and a big jump in email sign ups, but because all of those people are also signing up for 10+ other people’s lists too, they’re below the lowest form of validated. I worked with a client who had started hosting bundles and had grown her email list from just over 1000 to 40000 in a year (!) but when she launched her brand new course couldn’t get a single sale. We worked together after the fact to work on nurturing and validating that list so it came down to around 10K left on the list but after a lot of content, they started converting. There’s no way to short cut growing your email list. You’re better off with validated people who want to be there than a whole heap of people who have nearly zero buy-in. If you have grown through summits and bundles, have a really good welcome sequence (longer than you think you need) and don’t be afraid to remove people who don’t interact with it. One of the things I’m covering in my upcoming workshop all about how to design a funnel offer that’ll sell in 2025 is the validation process. Want in? Comment WORKSHOP and I’ll send you the link to sign up for the free workshop on Mar 12th!, content marketing
Launching your funnel is just the FIRST step—not the end goal! Too many business owners hit publish and call it a day, then wonder why they’re not seeing results. The real magic happens in what you do AFTER launch, and I’ve got a system that’s helped my clients’ funnels outperform industry standards by 3X. Here are the 4 crucial steps I implement after every funnel launch: 1️⃣ Set up a proper measurement system (no more guessing!) 2️⃣ Optimize all your online hotspots (most people miss this completely) 3️⃣ Run my proprietary Testing Protocol with your existing audience 4️⃣ Create a sustainable traffic strategy that fits YOUR business The Testing Protocol is my secret weapon—it lets you perfect your messaging while generating initial sales to fund your scaling efforts. Your audience becomes both your testers AND your initial investors! Want me to walk you through my complete post-launch system step-by-step? Watch the full breakdown on YouTube to get the entire step-by-step strategy! #funnelstrategy #marketingtips #onlinebusiness #salesfunnel #digitalmarketing #conversionoptimization #funnelhacks, content marketing
Stop treating your funnel launch as the finish line! After you hit publish is when the REAL work begins. My “Testing Protocol” strategy has helped client funnels outperform industry standards for years—here’s why: Instead of leaving your funnel to die after launch, strategically run your existing audience through it in small groups. These “test subjects” (aka your most engaged followers) help you: ✅ Optimize message open rates ✅ Improve click-through performance ✅ Generate initial sales to FUND your paid ads The best part? Your audience helps perfect your funnel AND gives you the capital to scale it with confidence. No more guessing if your funnel will convert when you start running traffic! Comment “FUNNELLAUNCH” if you want the full video with ALL 4 strategies for what to do after launching your funnel (hint: most people skip #2 completely!), content marketing
What happens after the funnel purchase matters more... The main goal of your funnel is to make a sale, right? But after you make that sale comes your biggest window of opportunity (my customer multiplication formula) and most people are majorly dropping the ball here ↓ They send the offer and then treat new customers like everyone else on their email list → when they should be treated like anyone but. Those who do take advantage of this opportunity turn new customers into brand ambassadors, repeat purchases and referrals. How does this relate back to touchpoints? This comes back to building your funnel around touchpoints. Looking at data for 2025: 📊 Past customers only need 1–3 touches on average 📊 Warm inbound leads need 5–12 touches 📊 Cold prospects require 20–50 touches Even though it takes WAY less touchpoints to upsell existing customers, most people hyper focus on bringing in new sales when focusing on your existing customers is a much better way to bring in repeat AND new sales. What is the delight and invite funnel? That’s where the delight and invite funnel comes in. It becomes your offer delivery sequence with more delight and invite opportunities woven in. The main goals of this funnel: 🏆 Incorporate feedback loops to get ahead of challenges your customers experience + be first to hear about wins 🏆 Create assets and campaigns around customer results 🏆 Connect directly with new customers to let them know they’re seen and appreciated 🏆 Incentivize them to share the offer with their audiences and friends 🏆 Invite them to exclusive offers Here’s the customer multiplication formula this funnel is built upon: Delight x Invite = Turning Every Happy Client Into 2-3 More This formula (and the strategies behind it) is one of the things I’m covering in an upcoming workshop about designing a funnel offer that’ll sell in 2025. Want in? Comment WORKSHOP and I’ll send you the link to sign up for the free workshop on Mar 12th!, content marketing
content marketing
Share This