Competitor analysis isn’t a quarterly task. It’s a content strategy input that many B2B marketing teams aren’t using.

It’s one of those activities most teams think they're already on top of. It could be a quick scroll through a competitor's LinkedIn page or a glance at what they're publishing on their website. Maybe a series of bookmarks in your browser in a folder called “keep an eye on.”

That's not how we conduct competitor analysis at Content 10x.

Done properly, it's one of the most powerful inputs to a content strategy, and many teams are only scratching the surface.

This is the third instalment in our seven-part B2B content strategy series.

ICYMI:

• Part 1: What Is a B2B Content Strategy (And Why Does It Matter?)
• Part 2: How Do You Align a B2B Content Strategy to Business Goals?
• Part 4: How Do You Build a B2B Content Strategy Around Clear Messaging and Positioning?
• Part 5: How to Choose Your B2B Content Channels & Formats
• Part 6: Why Repurposing & Distribution Should be Built into Your Content Strategy
• Part 7: How to Measure Your B2B Content Strategy (Without Drowning in Data)

In this episode, we're getting into what competitor analysis means, how to do it properly, and how to turn what you find into content decisions that help you stand out in a crowded market.

When competitor analysis comes up with most B2B marketing teams, the reaction tends to be one of two things.

The first is confidence.

"Oh yes, we keep an eye on what they're doing." But in practice, that often means a quick scroll on LinkedIn now and then.

The second reaction is flat-out reluctance where there's a concern that looking too closely at competitors means you'll end up copying them, and nobody wants to go down that route. Or, if it can be the case of ‘we just stick to our lane, we don’t need to know what others are doing.”

All those responses are understandable, but they’re also getting in the way of something genuinely valuable.

This is not about copying, it's about differentiation.

Competitor analysis is about differentiation. It's about spotting gaps and opportunities in your market, understanding what's working and what isn't, and using that intel to build the content you create.

Your competitors are already out there, publishing content, testing formats, and showing up on channels. All of that activity is valuable data. The question lies in whether you're paying attention to it and whether you're using it in the right way.

Done properly, competitor analysis is business 101.

And when it's built into your content strategy the right way, it changes everything from what you create to how you stand out. We cover the foundation of all of this in What Is a B2B Content Strategy (And Why Does It Matter)?

Not all competitors are created equal.

Most teams have a rough sense of who their direct competitors are. But competitor analysis goes wider than that, and understanding the full picture is what makes it genuinely useful.

Direct competitors are the most obvious starting point. These are businesses offering a similar product or service to yours, and are equally going after the same audience in the same space.

When most teams think about competitor analysis, they think about topics. What’s the competition talking about? What are they discussing on social channels? While that's a start, it's only part of the picture.

A thorough competitor analysis looks at several things at the same time.

There are several ways to approach this, and it often doesn’t cost a lot.

Desktop research is the foundation. Search on Google or use AI tools to dig into what competitors are publishing and how they're positioning themselves.

From that point, there are a handful of specific tools worth having at your disposal:

• Use SEO tools to see what competitors are ranking for in both traditional and generative AI search
• SparkToro for audience analysis that feeds directly into competitor understanding
• LinkedIn and other social platforms for content cadence, engagement patterns, and messaging

And then there are methods that don't require tools at all, such as subscribing to competitor newsletters, reading their industry reports and following their content regularly.

It's about understanding what's going on in your marketplace so that you can stand out.

So what are you looking for? A few things should start to shape up as you dig in. What's landing well, what's falling flat, and where the opportunities are that nobody has claimed yet.

Because that's really what this is all about. Finding what's been overlooked, everything else feeds into that.

Once you've spotted them, pull out three practical outputs.

The first is your content gap, basically any topics or audiences that aren't being served well that you could own. If nobody is talking about something your audience cares about, that's your opening.

The second is your differentiation opportunity. If everyone in your space is saying the same thing, the answer isn't to say it better. Simply say something different. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but look for the angle nobody else is taking.

The third is a format or channel opportunity. Is there a platform your competitors are ignoring? Or a content format that's barely been explored in your industry? That's worth paying attention to.

These three things should feed directly into your content pillars and your channel decisions - both of which we'll be covering later in this series

The first question is who to focus on? And that heavily depends on your industry.

In a fast-moving space like SaaS, trying to monitor everyone is hard. Instead, keep a close eye on four or five direct competitors, then do a broader sweep of the landscape quarterly.

In a niche B2B services market, you might only have a handful of direct competitors. Either way, be intentional about who you're watching and why.

The second question is how often?

Think of competitor analysis more like a practice. Build a quarterly deep-dive into your content strategy review, with lighter monitoring in between. That means following their channels and generally keeping an ear out for what's moving in your market.

Small and consistent beats big and occasional every time.

It's easy to look at a competitor's content and assume that because they're doing it, it must be the right move. But you're only ever seeing the output, not the results behind it.

The same goes for popular topics. If something is being talked about constantly across your industry, that's not necessarily an invitation to join the conversation. It might mean it's so saturated that a different angle entirely is the smarter play.

If this episode and blog post has got you thinking about where your competitor analysis stands right now, we built something that can help.

Our B2B Content Operations Benchmark is a free self-assessment personalized to your answers, with specific resources, actions, and recommendations you can act on straight away.

It covers content strategy and planning, tech and ops, and team capability and culture. And yes, there's a dedicated section on competitor analysis specifically!

Four minutes, that's all it takes. Just click here.

Thanks for reading. We hope you found this helpful, let us know on LinkedIn.

Content 10x is the world’s leading authority on content repurposing. Specializing in transforming your content into multiple formats and distributing it across various platforms, Content 10x helps maximize your reach and impact. Our expert team takes your core content and creates a diverse array of high-quality, engaging assets, including videos, podcasts, social media posts, and more. Trust Content 10x to enhance your content strategy and ensure your message is seen and heard by the right audience.

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