Competitor Analyzer

Scrape competitor websites to extract real messaging, pricing, CTAs, and social proof. Uses Firecrawl for direct web data extraction. Enriches competitive-intel.md with actual website data.

Purpose

Competitor Analyzer bridges the gap between what we hear about competitors and what they actually say on their websites.

competitor-finder (Perplexity) answers: "Who are they and what's their general positioning?"
competitor-analyzer (Firecrawl) answers: "What exact words, prices, and proof do they put on their pages?"

The output enriches research-memory/competitive-intel.md — adding [competitor-analyzer] tagged sections for website messaging detail, pricing intelligence, and cross-competitor patterns. This real data feeds downstream skills (brand-voice, direct-response-copy, positioning-angles) with competitor language they can actually counter.

Prerequisite

competitor-finder must have run first. This skill reads competitive-intel.md to get the competitor list and URLs. If the file doesn't exist or has no URLs, stop and instruct the user to run competitor-finder first — or ask them to provide competitor URLs directly.

Modes

Mode	When to Use	Behavior
Full Analysis	First run, or `competitive-intel.md` has no `[competitor-analyzer]` sections yet	Scrape ALL competitors in the list
Targeted	User wants to analyze specific 1-3 competitors	Scrape only the named competitors
Refresh	`[competitor-analyzer]` sections exist and need updating	Check `research-log.md` for last analysis date → re-scrape and update

Auto-Load Protocol

On every invocation, BEFORE any scraping:

Check research-memory/ directory
If files exist → Read ALL .md files (except README.md)
Critical: Read competitive-intel.md → Extract competitor names and URLs
- If file missing → STOP. Tell user: "Run competitor-finder first, or provide competitor URLs."
- If file exists but no URLs → Ask user to provide URLs directly
Check brand-memory/ (read-only) → If exists, note our own positioning for comparison context
If [competitor-analyzer] sections already exist in competitive-intel.md → suggest Refresh mode
Show the competitor list to the user and confirm which to analyze

Input Gathering

Collect conversationally. Most inputs come from competitive-intel.md — just confirm with the user.

Field	Required	Description
Analysis mode	YES	Full / Targeted / Refresh
Competitor URLs	Conditional	Only if not in `competitive-intel.md`
Analysis focus	Optional	Specific area: pricing, messaging, CTAs, all
Our own URL	Optional	Enables direct comparison
Language	Optional	결과물 작성 언어 (default: English)

If competitive-intel.md has URLs, show the list and ask: "I found these competitors. Should I analyze all of them, or specific ones?"

If this is a Refresh, show the last analysis date and ask: "What's changed or what should I re-check?"

Process

Step 1: Build Scraping Plan

Goal: Determine which competitors and which pages to scrape.

Read competitive-intel.md → extract competitor list with URLs.

For each competitor, plan these pages (in priority order):

Homepage (required): hero messaging, value prop, CTA, social proof
Pricing page (required): plans, pricing model, free tier, enterprise
Product/Features page (optional): feature list, differentiator claims

Finding pricing pages: If the pricing URL isn't obvious (/pricing, /plans), use firecrawl_map to discover it:

firecrawl_map:
  url: "[competitor-homepage]"
  search: "pricing"

Present the scraping plan to the user for confirmation before proceeding.

Step 2: Scrape Homepage Messaging

Goal: Extract every key messaging element from each competitor's homepage.

Tool: firecrawl_scrape with JSON format

For each competitor, use firecrawl_scrape with JSON format and the Homepage Messaging Schema (see references/scraping-schemas.md for full schema).

Key extraction fields: hero_headline, sub_headline, value_proposition, target_audience_signals, cta_buttons, social_proof_logos, social_proof_testimonials, social_proof_metrics, tone_keywords.

If JSON extraction returns empty or minimal: retry with formats: ["markdown"] and onlyMainContent: true, then parse manually.

If the page requires JS rendering: add waitFor: 5000.

Report progress to the user after each competitor: "Scraped [Competitor A] homepage. Moving to pricing page..."

Step 3: Scrape Pricing Pages

Goal: Extract pricing structure, plans, and framing from each competitor.

Tool: firecrawl_scrape with JSON format and the Pricing Page Schema (see references/scraping-schemas.md for full schema).

Key extraction fields: pricing_model, plans (name, price_monthly, price_annual, key_features, limitations), free_tier_details, enterprise_option, price_framing_tactics.

If no pricing page found: note "Pricing not publicly available" — this itself is a data point (likely enterprise/sales-led model).

Step 4: Cross-Competitor Analysis

Goal: Compare all scraped data to find patterns, positioning gaps, and opportunities.

This step uses NO MCP tools — it's pure analysis of the data collected in Steps 2-3.

Apply these frameworks:

A. Messaging Matrix

Dimension	Competitor A	Competitor B	Competitor C
Hero Headline	[verbatim]	[verbatim]	[verbatim]
Value Proposition	[summary]	[summary]	[summary]
Primary CTA	[verbatim]	[verbatim]	[verbatim]
Tone / Voice	[keywords]	[keywords]	[keywords]
Social Proof Type	[type]	[type]	[type]
Pricing Model	[model]	[model]	[model]

B. Value Proposition Comparison (per competitor)

Promise: What outcome do they promise?
Evidence: How do they prove it? (data, testimonials, demos)
Mechanism: How does their product deliver? (the "how it works")
Uniqueness: What do they claim only they can do?

C. Narrative Analysis (per competitor)

Villain: What enemy do they position against? (legacy tools, complexity, cost, status quo)
Hero: Who is the hero? (customer, product, team)
Transformation: What before → after do they promise?
Stakes: What happens if you don't act?

D. Gaps & Opportunities

Look for:

Messaging blind spots: claims NO competitor makes that customers care about
Price gaps: underserved price tiers
CTA weakness: unclear or generic calls to action
Social proof gaps: types of proof nobody uses (e.g., ROI data, case studies)
Tone uniformity: if everyone sounds the same, there's room to stand out

Step 5: Save & Log

Goal: Write all findings to competitive-intel.md as enrichment and log the execution.

5a. Enrich competitive-intel.md

Language rule: 섹션 헤더와 테이블 컬럼명은 영어로 유지합니다. 본문, 셀 값, 설명, 분석 텍스트는 사용자가 지정한 언어로 작성합니다. 언어가 지정되지 않으면 English로 작성합니다. Firecrawl에서 스크랩한 원문(headline, CTA 등)은 원래 언어 유지. 분석·패턴·갭 텍스트만 지정 언어로 작성.

CRITICAL: Do NOT delete or modify any [competitor-finder] or [competitor-visual] tagged sections. Only add/update [competitor-analyzer] sections.

Append or update these sections:

## Website Messaging Detail  [competitor-analyzer]
> Last enriched: [YYYY-MM-DD]

### [Competitor Name]
- **URL**: [scraped URL]
- **Hero Headline**: "[exact text]"
- **Sub-headline**: "[exact text]"
- **Value Proposition**: [analysis]
- **Target Audience Signals**: [signals from copy]
- **Primary CTA**: "[button text]"  |  Secondary: "[button text]"
- **Social Proof**: [type + key content]
- **Tone**: [3-5 keywords]

[Repeat for each competitor]

## Pricing Intelligence  [competitor-analyzer]
> Last enriched: [YYYY-MM-DD]

| Competitor | Model | Lowest | Highest | Free Tier | Enterprise |
|-----------|-------|--------|---------|-----------|-----------|
| [Name] | [type] | [price] | [price] | [Y/N] | [Y/N] |

### [Competitor Name] — Pricing Detail
[Plan structure, framing tactics, key differentiating features per tier]

[Repeat for each competitor]

## Messaging Patterns  [competitor-analyzer]
> Last enriched: [YYYY-MM-DD]

### Messaging Matrix
[Step 4-A table]

### Value Proposition Comparison
[Step 4-B findings per competitor]

### Narrative Analysis
[Step 4-C findings per competitor]

## Gaps & Opportunities  [competitor-analyzer]
> Last enriched: [YYYY-MM-DD]

[Step 4-D findings — append to any existing gaps from competitor-finder, do NOT delete them]

For Refresh mode: Update only the [competitor-analyzer] sections. Change > Last enriched: date. Never touch [competitor-finder] or [competitor-visual] content.

5b. Update research-log.md

Append one row:

| [YYYY-MM-DD] | competitor-analyzer | Full/Targeted/Refresh | [# competitors analyzed + key pattern summary] | Firecrawl |

Firecrawl Tool Guide

Tool	When to Use	This Skill
`firecrawl_scrape`	Single page structured extraction	Primary tool — homepage + pricing per competitor
`firecrawl_map`	Discover URLs on a site	Find pricing page URL when not at `/pricing`
`firecrawl_extract`	Multi-URL structured extraction	Alternative for 5+ competitors (batch mode)

Common settings:

onlyMainContent: Always true — strip navigation/footer noise
formats: Prefer JSON with schema for structured extraction
waitFor: Add 5000 if page content loads empty (JS-rendered SPAs)
Fallback: If JSON returns empty → switch to ["markdown"] format and parse manually

Error handling:

403/blocked → Skip competitor, log as "access restricted"
Timeout → Retry once with waitFor: 10000
Empty content → Try firecrawl_map to find alternative landing page URL
All retries fail → Skip and note in output: "Could not scrape [URL] — [reason]"

Quality Checklist

Before saving, verify:

Hero headlines recorded verbatim (not paraphrased or translated)
CTA button text recorded exactly as shown on the page
Pricing includes currency, billing cycle, and scrape date
Messaging Matrix includes at least 3 competitors
All [competitor-analyzer] sections have > Last enriched: date
Existing [competitor-finder] sections are untouched
Failed scrapes are documented (URL + reason)
research-log.md has new execution record

Example (Abbreviated)

Input: competitive-intel.md has 3 competitors with URLs.

Competitor A (homepage scrape):

Hero: "The all-in-one marketing platform for growing businesses"

CTA: "Start Free Trial" | "See Pricing"

Social Proof: "Trusted by 5,000+ businesses" + 6 logos

Tone: confident, action-oriented, aspirational

Competitor A (pricing scrape):

Model: Freemium + 3-tier subscription

Free: 500 contacts, basic email

Growth: $49/mo | Pro: $149/mo | Enterprise: "Talk to Sales"

Cross-analysis pattern:

All 3 use "all-in-one" messaging → weak differentiation

Nobody targets solo creators specifically → positioning gap

$10-40/mo price tier is empty → pricing opportunity

What This Skill Does NOT Do

Find competitors → Use competitor-finder (this skill needs URLs as input)
Capture visual design/screenshots → Use competitor-visual (Playwright)
Analyze reviews or third-party mentions → Use competitor-finder (Perplexity)
Make strategic recommendations → Use research-synthesizer (cross-analysis)
Create battlecards or positioning docs → Use marketing execution skills

Competitor Analyzer stays focused on what competitors actually put on their websites — their words, their prices, their proof.